Paolo Maldini, great Italian center/full back was of Slovenian descent.
I had no idea about this, but after you posted I checked it out and you're right. Like I said, some parts of Slovenia and Istria still have Italians who keep their culture. Smaller parts, but there's still some.
Originally Posted By: getthesenets
CB,
Do you know if the Canadian boxer George Chuvalo is ethnically Italian? His family is from Croatia(I think) but I always thought that he was Italian.
Also, the pics that AG put up remind me of a publicity stunt that GC did where he dressed up as a "washer woman" and upstaged Muhammad Ali.
Chuvalo(or in Croatian Čuvalo) is definitely a name from Balkan. I just read on Wikipedia that both of his parents are from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is right next to Croatia. His mother's last name is Kordić. Definitely not Italian.
The same way that many Italians changed their first and last names(Francesco became Frank etc), Balkan people changed theirs. So Ivan became John, Jura became George, as well as last names. Čuvalo became Chuvalo(the letter Č in our alphabet is read the same as the mix of CH in English). George is definitely of Balkan descent, not Italian.
