Gabriel Vaquer
One of the greatest players in the history of Brazilian basketball, Wlamir Marques, who died on Tuesday (18) at the age of 87, was hired from ESPN until the last day of his life.
The column had informed, in the second half of last year, his last renewal of his bond with Disney’s sports channel to be a commentator of basketball broadcasts.
Wlamir, however, had been away since the past decade. However, for gratitude and respect for its trajectory, ESPN has always kept its contract in force, renewed practically automatically.
It is something like what Globo did with great stars of its, something internally called “lifetime contract”. Names like Cid Moreira (1927-2024) and Leo Batista (1932-2025) had this benefit.
Wlamir Marques had been hired from ESPN since 2002. Before, he had made history as a basketball commentator on open TV. In 1982, he was a Globo commentator during the Paulista Basketball Championship, which was screened on Sunday mornings.
Shortly thereafter, he covered by the extinct Manchete Network (1983-1999) four Olympic Games: Los Angeles-1984, Seoul-1988, Barcelona-1992 and Atlanta-1996.
Wlamir Marques died on Tuesday (18), after a period hospitalized in the ICU of a private hospital in Sao Paulo.
The information was released by CBB (Brazilian Basketball Confederation). “Wlamir leaves an eternal legacy, being remembered as one of the greatest athletes to represent Brazil in world sport,” wrote the entity.
He left as one of the biggest names in basketball history in Brazil. For many fans of the sport, he was the largest of all in the country.
Source: Folha
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