Pierre Galle

Pierre Galle, born January 13th, 1945, in Calais (France), was a basketball player and is a basketball coach. Called "the Brain" by the daily newspaper L'Équipe, he was a particularly skilful left-handed leader and a long distance shooter. Very lucid guard and of a great clearness, his reading of the game and situations enabled him to make shine other players.

He became the leader of the mythical AS Berck, coached by his brother Jean Galle : twice Champion of France in 1973 (MVP 1973) and 1974 (MVP 1974), and twice semi-finalist of the Euroleague in 1974 and 1975 (with an incredible strike of half of the team during the last game of the semi-final 1975, which had scandalized world sport). He was the genius guard of the French selection during the seventies (74 official games).

The businessman Louis Nicollin made of him the head-coach of its armada of Montpellier, with Sam Mitchell (basketball) (current coach of Toronto Raptors), Rick Raivio and Appolo Faye (the mythical big center of the CSP Limoges) as players. The Raivio-Mitchell tandem will remain in the history of the French League like the most productive, the two players scored each one more than 30 points and 10 rebounds.

In the 1990’s ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, chaired by the Minister for Defence Charles Hernu, gave him the destinies of this "green team" of Lyon.

Pierre Galle now retired in Montpellier as director of the basketball centre, is one the genuine stars of the French basketball with Jean-Paul Beugnot, Alain Gilles, Jacques Cachemire, Jean-Claude Bonato, Hervé Dubuisson, Richard Dacoury, Stephane Ostrowski, Antoine Rigaudeau, Tony Parker and Boris Diaw.