{"id":427437,"date":"2026-10-14T08:36:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T08:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/427437\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T08:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T08:36:16","slug":"former-fortitudo-bologna-star-artis-gilmore-enters-jacksonville-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/427437\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Fortitudo Bologna star Artis Gilmore enters Jacksonville politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Johnny Askounis\/ info@eurohoops.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Artis Gilmore, who concluded his 18-year career in Italy, playing the 1988\u201389 season for Arimo Bologna, now known as Flats Service Fortitudo Bologna, is entering politics.<\/p>\n

Despite being nearly 40 years old, the Hall of Fame center took his talents overseas. Dominating on the court by averaging a double-double with 12.3 points and 11.0 rebounds earned him a European All-Star Team selection.<\/p>\n

Decades earlier, he became a Florida icon by leading Jacksonville to the NCAA title game in 1970. Establishing himself as A-Train, he went on to make 11 All-Star teams across the ABA and NBA, and win a championship with the Kentucky Colonels as the Playoffs Most Valuable Player in 1975. Between 1976 and 1988, he suited up for the Chicago Bulls<\/a>, San Antonio Spurs<\/a>, and Boston Celtics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At 77 years old, the Chipley, Florida, native is transitioning into local government. On Tuesday, he officially launched his campaign for the Jacksonville City Council, running as a Democrat for a countywide, at-large seat in 2027. As a political newcomer, he is challenging incumbent council president Nick Howland.<\/p>\n

Since 2007, Gilmore has served as a special assistant to the university president at Jacksonville and as a radio color commentator for Dolphins games.<\/p>\n

\u201cJacksonville gave a kid from Chipley a scholarship, an education and a home, and I\u2019ve spent my life trying to pay that forward,\u201d he said. \u201cI grew up one of ten children. My father fished for a living, and my mother was a teacher, and they taught me that you show up for your neighbors. That\u2019s what I will do on the City Council. Every child in this city deserves the chance to finish their education, including our children and adults with special needs. And every family deserves a neighborhood with safe parks, good roads, and streets free of blight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the latest News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Johnny Askounis\/ info@eurohoops.net Artis Gilmore, who concluded his 18-year career in Italy, playing the 1988\u201389 season for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-427437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}