Mason Rocca, an Evanston teacher and school administrator who played professional basketball in Italy from 2001 to 2015, was recently inducted into the Olimpia Milano Hall of Fame, a distinction reserved for the team’s top players, coaches and managers.
At the halftime break during an April 5 game in Milan hosted by his former team, the celebrated Evanston-raised hooper appeared on the spot-lit court to deliver his thank yous in flawless Italian, much to the delight of the cheering crowd.
“The hall of fame is an incredible honor,” said Rocca, during a recent interview. “There have only been 37 players inducted into the hall of fame in Olimpia’s nearly 100-year history – players like Bill Bradley, Bob McAdoo, Dino Meneghin and coaches Sandro Gamba and Dan Peterson. I was lucky enough to have gotten to know Dino, Sandro and Dan during my time in Milan, and they helped teach me what it means to play for this storied club and how to lead on the court.”
The trip back to Milan allowed Rocca a chance to step away briefly from his duties as interim head of Baker Demonstration School and revisit the country that provided the colorful backdrop for so much of his young adult life.
During his 14 years in Italy, the 1996 Evanston Township High School graduate attained dual citizenship and played for professional Italian clubs in Jesi, Naples, Milan and Bologna. In 2006 he successfully tried out for the Italian National Team and traveled to Japan for the World Cup, where he competed against Yao Ming, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and other basketball legends.
During Rocca’s four years with Olimpia Milano, the team reached the Italian league championship three times and competed in the EuroLeague club competition each year.
Connecting with his Italian heritage
In Italy, Rocca discovered not only competition and camaraderie on the court but also a deep appreciation for his cultural roots. During the mid-1800s, Rocca’s great-great grandfather had ventured from Italy to California in search of gold and, though the precious metal proved elusive, the traveler found a new home in the United States.
“I had Italian heritage, so there was that connection,” said Rocca, who first became enamored with Italy during a family trip while he was in high school. “I had always wanted to live abroad.”
At ETHS, Rocca was a star athlete, excelling in soccer, baseball and basketball. Ultimately, he chose basketball and went on to play four years at Princeton University.
As a Tiger, the 6-foot-8 post player perfected his trademark hook shot and made two trips to the NCAA tournament. His sophomore year, his team traveled to Italy for a two-week preseason tour. It was a trip that reawakened Rocca’s interest in the country of his ancestors.
Senior year, he returned to explore his options for playing professionally. There was interest, but no firm offers.
Rocca graduated from Princeton in 2000 with a degree in electrical engineering and while there was no lack of job opportunities, he held out for pursuing his dream of a career in basketball. The new grad was drafted by the Trenton Shooting Stars, a professional men’s team in the short-lived International Basketball League. After a successful year in New Jersey, the Italians took notice.
Rocca joined the Aurora Jesi club in 2001 and immediately set about immersing himself in the local culture. He borrowed an Italian language textbook and enrolled in classes.
“The first vocabulary that I learned was all basketball related,” said Rocca. “I wanted to know what my coaches were yelling at me. I also tried to hang out with my Italian teammates as much as possible, and gradually I started to learn some things.”
New home
In the town of Jesi, Rocca flourished, forging friendships, putting down roots and finding success on the court. His longtime girlfriend, Corinne Wildenradt, whom he first met at ETHS, joined him there and the two were soon married.
The couple bought a 2-acre parcel of land near Jesi with 80 olive trees and a 200-year-old tumbledown farmhouse, which they set about restoring. In Rocca’s third year with Aurora Jesi, the team won the championship game against the favored Virtus Bologna and earned an historic promotion to the league’s top A1 division.
From Jesi, Rocca moved on to a four-year stint with Basket Naples where his fearless playing style landed him a spot on the Italian National Team and a trip to the world championship in Japan. Rocca and his teammates defeated China and advanced to play the U.S. team.
“We lost to them,” said Rocca, “but we played them pretty tight. We were winning at halftime, but Carmelo Anthony had a really good second half. The world championship was probably the pinnacle moment of my career because I got to play against the best players in the world.”
One of Rocca’s most memorable matchups was against Chinese superstar Yao Ming.
“He’s almost a foot taller than me so I basically just tried to keep him from getting the ball,” Rocca said. “I ran in front of him and around him and tried to make it difficult for him to receive the ball because once he got it there was not much I could do to stop him.”
On offense Rocca said his smaller stature proved to be an asset: “He [Yao] was a lot bigger than me, but I was a lot faster, so I was able to run the fastbreak and get some advantage that way.”
After playing for Naples and the Italian National Team, Rocca moved on to Milan. Olimpia Milano, the club that would one day induct him into its hall of fame, had recently been purchased by fashion icon Giorgio Amani and was in a transition phase.
“He had aspirations to build the team up,” said Rocca, “and that was really attractive to me.”
During Rocca’s years with Olimpia Milano, the charismatic Italian fashion entrepreneur invested heavily in talent and made great strides in expanding the club’s fan base. Today it is considered to be one of the top basketball teams in Italy.
Rocca left Milan and played one year with Virtus Bologna before returning to Jesi – the town that felt most like home – and the team that first welcomed him so warmly.
He and Corinne had friends and a renovated farmhouse waiting. Their family now included three young children, who had known no other home than Italy, but Rocca said his body was sending him not-so-subtle signals that his basketball career was ending. In 2015 the couple returned to Evanston.
Opting for a career shift that would better suit a busy father, Rocca attended Northwestern University, where he earned a master’s degree in education. He went on to teach math at ETHS and Beacon Academy before accepting a position in 2022 as interim head of school at Baker, his children’s elementary school.
After much soul-searching, Rocca decided against pursuing a permanent appointment. In June, he will turn over the reins to the new head, Kate Cicchelli, and focus on family time with his wife and five children: Sophia, 19; Theo, 17; Vito, 15; Renzo, 12 and Livia, 6.
Rocca believes his years in Italy influenced his current decision to take a step back and seek a more balanced lifestyle.
“Living in another country is an amazing experience,” he said. “It forces you to reexamine all the ways you live your life that you just take for granted.”
Rocca recalled feeling frustration when he first moved to Jesi, and the small-town businesses shut down from 1 to 4 p.m. each day, “but I got used to it,” he said, “and I appreciated having the time to decompress a little.
“Then I came back to the states, and it was like go, go, go. I miss that respect for slowing things down. I never would have said that if I hadn’t gone to Italy.”
Excellent work Nancy! Mason is a friend, but I have never heard the full Italy story—he is too humble to tell it. You told it very well.
What great story!