Pino Palmieri, doctor and president of the Hockey Club Bra, died

Doctor Giuseppe Palmieri, known to everyone as Pino, died this morning around 7 o’clock due to the worsening of some health problems. He was 74 years old. He was president of the Hockey Club Bra (men’s Serie A on grass and indoors), vice president of the Italian hockey federation, as well as president of the local section of the Italian Red Cross, which he founded, bringing it to levels of excellence from a medical and organizational point of view. He was also general practitioner and airport delegate doctor of the Cuneo-Levaldigi airport. The date of the funeral has not yet been established (by his will, they will be celebrated in strictly form private). Roman by origin, Pino Palmieri had moved to Granda in the Sixties driven by a passion for hockey, of which he was a very good player at the time. “We met during my military service in Rome, I was serving in the Athletes Company and I told him about our team in Bra which was growing very well – recalls his friend of the same age Bartolo Ferrero -. He was enthusiastic about it and decided to come to Bra ». A sporting fortune for everyone, because Pino Palmieri, right wing of the Italian national team, was among the drivers of the Benevenuta Bra which in 1975 won the historic field hockey championship. In goal was Bartolo Ferrero. «In that season we played the European Cup final in Amsterdam, we lost 1-0 against Frankfurt, we could also have won. We were very close with Pino. I have always considered him a genius, I am very saddened ». After his glorious past as a player, Giuseppe Pino Palmieri became president of the HC Bra, sponsored by Farmaflor, bringing the company to the pinnacle of field and indoor hockey, with the record series of league titles. The most successful men’s field hockey club of the last 20 years, with 9 Tricolors won in total (4 in the last 5 seasons), the “treble” is fantastic of 20919 between the Scudetto, the Italian Cup and the indoor title (8 won overall). His role at the federal level is also important, as vice president in close and fruitful collaboration with president Sergio Mignardi. The relationship with the women’s club Lorenzoni Bra of Giuseppe Calonico and Silvia Brizio was also excellent, especially in recent times, with whom a project for sports promotion was underway. After graduating from the Nautical Institute, he entered the Military Academy of Livorno, was ensign. In the meantime he also worked as a lifeguard, he was a driving school instructor. “Then – adds Bartolo Ferrero – the interest in medicine, which became his profession”. Pino Palmieri had a degree in Geological Sciences at the Sapienza University of Rome (110) and in Medicine and Surgery again at the Sapienza University (110 with honors). He acquired the specializations in Diabetology and metabolic diseases, health statistics. Occupational physician, he was a former health officer of the Piedmont Region Local Health Authority, former medical assistant of the State Railways. With his partner Ornella, Pino Palmieri leaves his sons Alfredo, an Army officer, and Irma, who works in a bank. «Pino Palmieri has poured his commitment into sport also in federal cadres, he was the dean of the current Federal Council, in which he held the role of (respected and listened to) vice president. It leaves an unbridgeable void in all of us – we read on the website of the Italian Hockey Federation -. He also brought the team from Bra, the city that had adopted him and of which he had become an authentic ambassador, to participate for the first, historic time, in the EuroHockey League: no Italian team had succeeded before him ». The memory of the federal president Sergio Mignardi was moved: «I cry for a friend and a reference. The first thought goes to the family, to Ornella and to the children. Italian hockey loses one of its most important figures and I lose a partner in many sporting successes. Hi Pino ». The mayor of Bra, Gianni Fogliato, he declares: «Roman by origin and Braidese by adoption, since the 1960s Pino Palmieri has acted to bring the city section of the Italian Red Cross to its current levels of excellence; animated by a passion for hockey, of which he was a very good player, he reached the position of national vice president of the Federation. He spent a lot of energy both for medicine and for sport. An important loss for the whole community. We are close to the family ». The former mayor, current city councilor, Bruna Sibille, she recalls: «Together with Pino we shared the foundation of the Braid section of the Italian Red Cross, of which I have long been the referent in the women’s branch. Then he became its president; today it leaves a structure that has one of the best offices in Italy. A medical professional with great skills and availability. A serious loss for the city of Bra and for the whole territory ».