Since Monday, February 14, the Mondial La Marseillaise à pétanque, the largest boules competition in the world, has been an orphan: its founder and historic president Michel Montana died at the age of 90, succumbing to Covid-19. .
It is in Oran in Algeria, on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, that the ” man of a thousand and one lives », says Benoît Payan, the mayor of Marseille, was born in 1931 under the name of Albert Tordjmann. Very quickly, the man of music hall, whimsical and imitator of his true profession, chose Montana for his stage name, because ” it sounded like Montand he liked to recall the smile on the corners of his lips.
His destiny would then be unfailingly linked to the newspaper La Marseillaise, where he began as a seller at the auction at the end of 1949. After having navigated in various departments of the title resulting from the Resistance, installed on the course of Estienne- d’Orves, Michel Montana will be its director of publicity and external relations for several decades.
His life changed for the second time in September 1961 when Paul Ricard came to find him, accompanied by his sales manager at the time, a certain Charles Pasqua. The creator of the most famous “yellow” has just left the patronage of the prestigious long competition of Provençal, which then brings together more than 2,000 teams. Michel Montana and Pierre Andreis, the daily’s head of sports, suggest that he bet on pétanque. A crazy bet as long as it was at the time, and by far, the most popular discipline. However, the biggest boules competition in the world had just been born…
“A modest and flamboyant man at the same time”
Over the years, the Critérium du Sud-Est, its first name in 1962, became the “ Roland-Garros balls “, as Yves Mourousi had nicknamed it, bringing together more than 4,000 teams (12,000 players) at the start of summer in the alleys of Parc Borély and making Marseille the world capital of petanque. A competition whose destiny Michel Montana chaired until spring 2017.
« We wish to pay tribute to this committed man, a modest and flamboyant man at the same time, a man with multiple lives, deeply rooted in Marseille whose colors he wore throughout his life.reacted Jean-Luc Chauvin, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Aix-Marseille Provence. Capable of mobilizing all the forces of our territory, he knew how to make Marseille and Provence shine by making the Mondial La Marseillaise à pétanque a leading sporting and international event, an event in his image, popular and festive. »
Benoît Payan also wanted to pay tribute to the man who had spent his childhood in the heart of the 15e arrondissement of Marseille, remembering ” his warm personality and natural charisma ». « Passionate about pétanque, Michel Montana was the architect of the success of the Mondial La Marseillaise à pétanque, the first gathering in the world of its kind and the pride of our city. Close to the communists as well as to the entertainment world, he has enabled this festival to bring together amateur bowlers and media celebrities every year. This man of conviction, faithful to his humanist ideas, was a formidable ambassador for our city. », greets the mayor of Marseille.