Mourning in the world of journalism: well-known Veronese journalist Rino Tommasi passed away at the age of 90.
News of the sad passing of Rino Tommasi, a well-known Verona-born journalist who passed away after a long career, has just arrived in these hours. Born in 1934, Tommasi began his adventure in journalism when he was only 19 years old at the “Sportinformazioni” agency and only later joined the editorial staff of Tuttosport, then became a regular presence for more than four decades at the Gazzetta dello Sport. Throughout his career, he has also worked with Repubblica, Il Gazzettino di Venezia and Il Mattino di Napoli.
A pioneer of Italian journalism, he also devoted himself to organizing boxing matches through his company ITOS (Italiana Organizzazioni Sportive), bringing events to the Palazzo dello Sport in Rome and becoming the youngest boxing event organizer in the world. Tennis was also a passion of his, so much so that he directed the monthly magazine Tennis Club for about ten years.
Addio a Rino Tommasi: portò lo sport su Canale 5
In 1981 he became Channel 5’s first director of sports coverage. In the 1980s he was the creator and host of “La grande boxe,” a weekly program devoted to boxing broadcast on the then Fininvest networks. Often joined by his friend Gianni Clerici, he commented on major tennis events for several broadcasters, including Sky Sport, until 2010. Between 2009 and 2011 he also collaborated with Dahlia TV for boxing commentaries on the digital terrestrial platform.
In addition to the aforementioned boxing, Tommasi was a pioneer for American sports in Italy, acquiring the rights to and bringing the SuperBowl and NBA basketball from such holy monsters as Larry Bird and Magic Johnson to our country.
