He was 70 years old and had been ill for months. In Bologna, he won a Cup Winners’ Cup and two Italian Cups; his career as a top-tier NBA player was marred by cocaine use, leading to three positive drug tests and eventual expulsion from the league

Mourning in the world of basketball. Michael Ray Richardson, known to everyone as “Sugar,” passed away at the age of 70 after a long illness. A former star of Virtus Bologna, he was one of the most iconic and beloved foreign players ever to play under the Two Towers and in our league in general: even today, when discussing the strongest foreign players to ever grace the courts of Serie A, mentioning Richardson of Virtus comes naturally.

His draft position alone speaks volumes: fourth overall in 1978. Two picks later, the Celtics selected Larry Joe Bird… Born in Texas but moving with his family to Denver, Colorado at an early age, he was recruited by many universities during high school, including Iowa, Colorado State, and Montana. He played in the NBA for eight years, primarily with the New York Knicks from 1978 to 1982 and the New Jersey Nets from 1983 to 1986. In 1984, he tested positive for cocaine for the third time and was suspended from the NBA, before being permanently expelled in 1986.

italia—  He arrived in Italy in 1988 to play for what was then Knorr Bologna, coached by Bob Hill with Ettore Messina as assistant coach: it was Porelli’s Virtus, featuring Villalta and Brunamonti. He played in Italy until 1994, winning the Italian Cup in 1989 and being named MVP of the All-Star Game. The following year, still with Virtus, he won the Italian Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup. He scored 50 points in the All-Star Game, setting a new record. In 1991, he began training with Bologna and tested positive for cocaine. ‘Sugar’ justified himself by saying it was an anesthetic. That’s when his tour of Europe began: Split, Livorno, Antibes, Cholet, Forlì, before ending his career at AC Golfe-Juan-Vallauris, near Nice, at age 47.

son—  His son Amir, born in 2002, moved from Reims to Fiorentina last year. He also won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics with Morocco, scoring a stunning goal with a curling shot from the edge of the box against Iraq in Nice, in the final match of the group stage. Born on the French Riviera, where Sugar played his final season before retiring, he began his career at Le Havre in Ligue 2, a club that has produced talents such as Pogba, Mahrez, Benjamin Mendy, and Payet. A technically gifted midfielder, as they used to say, he was voted by L’Equipe last year as one of the top 5 young players in the league.
Fiorentina—  The Viola club also offered its condolences: “President Rocco Commisso, his wife Catherine, General Manager Alessandro Ferrari, Sporting Director Roberto Goretti, and the entire Fiorentina organization stand with Amir Richardson and express their deepest condolences to him and his family on the passing of his father.”

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