One of Italy's most famous basketball players has died. Liliana Mabel Bocchi, also known as "Mabel," died at the age of 72. She embodied for the Italian basketball community the same stature as legends such as Cheryl Miller or Diana Taurasi in the United States: a trailblazer who permanently transformed the perception of the game. Bocchi, born in Parma in 1953, was the most well-known figure in Italian women's basketball for more than a decade. Her technical approach, scoring ability, and impact on the teams she played for made her an unstoppable force during a period when European women's basketball was taking its first steps toward professionalism. At the age of 15, she made her debut with Partenio Avellino, instantly leading the team to promotion to Italy's premier league, Serie A. But her major triumph came in 1969, when she joined Geas Sesto San Giovanni, a Milan-area club that, under her leadership, became a dominant force in Italy and throughout Europe. During her decade with Geas, Bocchi helped the team win eight national championships, the most notable being the 1978 Champions Cup—the European counterpart of today's Women's EuroLeague—which was the first continental success in Italian women's basketball history. This success altered the country's perspective of the sport and propelled the club to an international level it had never reached before. Following her time at Sesto San Giovanni, she went on to play for Accorsi Torino and GBC Milano, finishing her Italian career with 241 games and 3,319 points, which are still considered standards in the history of the Women's Serie A. During her tenure with the Italian national team, she participated in 113 matches and accumulated 984 points. Furthermore, she played a pivotal role in securing the bronze medal at the 1974 European Championships, which took place in Cagliari, Sardinia. Bocchi's absolute pinnacle, however, occurred at the 1975 World Cup in Colombia, where she was the tournament's second-leading scorer, including a spectacular 33-point performance against Brazil. At the end of the competition, FIBA proclaimed her the greatest player in the world, a remarkable honor for a European athlete at that time. In 2007, her name was added to the Italia Basket Hall of Fame, which honors the most significant personalities in national basketball history. While her athletic career was still in progress, Bocchi took an unexpected turn and began working as a television sportscaster in 1978, quickly becoming a familiar figure on Italian sports programs. Her stage presence and magnetism were so strong that she was even approached to pose for the Italian version of Playboy, which she politely declined.