As the Laurentian Voyageurs assembled more than competitive men’s basketball teams through the seventies, the rosters often featured local talent, front and centre.
Unfortunately, the rest of the province was already well aware of that secret niche of elite basketball gents that were housed in northern Ontario.
The University of Windsor Lancers captured five straight provincial university titles (1962 – 1967) and four national crowns in large part due to the efforts of standout Sudbury guard Angelo Mazzuchin.
As he graduated, the baton would be passed to fellow St Charles College graduate Tino Lenti, with the Lancers claiming CIAU bragging rights in his rookie year (1968-1969) and earning bronze twice more before the future teacher would complete his fifth and final year of eligibility with the Western Mustangs.
Born in Italy but moving to Sudbury by the age of two, Lenti would force the issue of basketball upon a family unit of six (parents and four children) in somewhat unconventional fashion.
“My mother sent me to the supermarket with a book of gold bond stamps; I was supposed to come home with a set of dishes,” recalled Lenti, recently celebrating his 76th birthday and still looking forward to catching the NBA playoffs in his south end home.
“I came home with a Voit basketball,” Lenti continued. “Actually, I didn’t go home. I was too afraid.”
A regular visitor to the outdoor courts situated at King George Public School (now the Montessori School) and various other West End outposts, Lenti was in his element, spinning a ball on his finger or dribbling between his legs.
And shooting. And shooting. And shooting, some more.
“We would just show up at the court, see who was there and play pickup games.”
A graduate of St Albert Catholic Elementary School, Lenti made the very natural transition to the home of the Cardinals. “There was no question,” he laughed. “You didn’t even think about it. You just went to St Charles College.”
Cut from the junior tryouts while attempting to crack the roster while still injured, Lenti would latch on to a midget squad that claimed SDSSAA supremacy that year (1963-1964) – not bad at all for a tall (6’1” in grade nine) young man who had not yet developed a strong belief in his game.
“I wanted to play basketball (at St Charles), but I didn’t know if I was good enough,” said Lenti. “I had good marks (Lenti is a member of The Society of Descartes Medallists), so the kids thought of me as a bit of a nerd. I wanted to be good at something else; I wanted to be good at sports.”
The confluence of his basketball development included a successful high-school program that travelled the province and earned a silver medal at OFSAA in his final year at SCC and a street game setting that was apparently the place to be in those days.
“There was a grass embankment at King George where everybody would sit,” recalled Lenti. “Players would get changed at the Destefano garage next door - and people would come in with the convertibles, at the top, just to watch the basketball. The games were packed, really well attended.”
Whether it be a growth in confidence or simply a bit of a stubborn streak, Lenti was adamant where his path would lead next.
“I didn’t get an invite from Windsor; I just went there on my own,” he said. “People said: don’t go, you’ll never make the team. They had won four championships – but that’s where I wanted to go.”
A walk-on in the midst of 60-70 similarly inclined gents, Lenti would catch the eyes of the coaching staff, slowly moved along that scale as relative unknowns are forced to work twice as hard, to show twice as much are required to do.
“One of the guys was hurt, the coach put me in and I got something like 13 points – and then he never forgot my name again,” said Lenti.
Quickly, the Lancers realized they had stumbled upon that diamond in the rough, the non-recruited talent who would become a key cog with some of the most impressive university teams of that time.
“What I could do was shoot,” said Lenti. “I don’t know why. Maybe because I just practiced so much. At Windsor, they had the video camera and would analyze everything and they really taught me how to shoot, even better.”
Topping out at 6’4”, the young man who studied Math, Physics and Chemistry at Windsor was something of a tweener on a team that featured some clear-cut fits in the roster. “We already had the guards at Windsor, so I wasn’t really allowed to play guard,” stated Lenti. “I played forward against guys that were 6’6”, 6’7”.”
“Now if they hung back, I could shoot – that was my thing. And if they were too close, they were slower than me. I had certain advantages.”
The Lancers had added even more Sudbury flavour to a basketball era that also saw Gary Polano and Guy Delaire, Claude McMillan and Jack Orange and Bill Tonelli all make their way to southwestern Ontario.
Returning home, Lenti would kick-start a teaching career that spanned more than three decades between Lively DSS, Lasalle SS and Lo-Ellen Park SS, all while devoting 30 years to coaching high-school basketball in the area.
“I would much rather play than coach,” he said. “Playing is fun.”
And when it came to playing, well – there were far worse places to be than the University of Windsor, walking off the court as national champions in your first year with the team.
“It was such an incredible feeling,” said Lenti. “We won the league three different times, but it wasn’t nearly as exciting.”
