🇬🇷SPORTS NEWS🇺🇸

The Alpha Omega Council Honors Gala 2025 celebrated Greek American Sports Excellence with 400 guests in Boston on November 1st. Greek Americans attending the event were so proud when the youngest honoree Erica Kontos was presented with the Emerging Leader Award from Nancy Agris Savage. 

Erica Kontos is a young inspiring Greek American that is an extraordinary leader for our

community. Erica was named recently to the Forbes 30 Under 30 sports list. Erica has made a name for herself in the NBA’s and WNBA’s international industry that is still largely male- dominated. She has redefined how fans worldwide experience the NBA and WNBA by traveling to key markets like Greece, China, and Japan talking to fans and stakeholders. Erica enjoys getting insights on the ground and learning firsthand how fired up international NBA fans view basketball. These insights have helped her expand the NBA presence worldwide for fans, but also, she has inspired women to take charge of their careers.

Erica is the business strategy and financial lead for the NBA' and WNBA's international media team, working to increase the leagues'; global footprint by distributing games and programming to more than 200 countries and territories in more than 50 languages. Her work helped support the negotiations of 11-year global media rights agreements announced in July, 2024 with Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon.

Erica’s success serves as a role model for Greek Americans, showcasing the power

of cultural pride and perseverance in achieving professional excellence.

Erica is very proud of her Greek heritage. She credits her Greek American roots for having

profoundly shaped her identity, fostering a deep appreciation for culture, family, and

perseverance that she carries into aspects of her life.

Alexander Kontogiannis is a senior at Scottsbluff HS in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. He has been

playing soccer from a young age and plays for the Scottsbluff HS soccer team and this will be his fourth year also playing center back for the Nebraska Olympic Development Team (ODP). This past summer he was invited to try out for the Midwest Regional ODP Team.

He also has played for the Western Nebraska Football Club (WNFC) most recently for the U19 HS select team where they participated in three tournaments in three states (Wyoming, Nebraska and South Dakota) winning two Championships (WY and S. Dakota) and finishing second in Nebraska Alex is also a member of the National Honor Society (GPA 3.6) and volunteers for Keep Scottsbluff/Gering Beautiful, the Monument Marathon which raises funds for scholarships and delivers food to those in need for Thanksgiving and Christmas. His goal is to play soccer in college while pursuing a degree in computer science.

Alex has been involved with the Greek communities in New Haven, CT and Scottsbluff, NE

where he served in the altar and helped with the Greek Festival and other church events. 

His father, Stan Kontogiannis is a first generation American coming from Greece. Alex’s

grandmother is from Lesvos and his grandfather is from Corinth.

Michael Zafiropoulos is a senior at Westwood High School in Massachusetts. He has always had a passion for sports. He plays offense and defense. Michael is having a very successful season playing both at right guard and weak side inside linebacker. He leads the team in tackles this year and is having a great year at right guard and will be playing lacrosse in the spring for his 4th and final year for Westwood High. Michael had a standout moment this season with an interception against Hopkinton at the end of the game to seal it for the Wolverines. Michael is looking forward to playing against Holliston on Thanksgiving Day. Michael Zafiropoulos is very proud of his Greek heritage and his roots are in Athens, Greece.

Lucas Manatos is a third generation Manatos quarterback - preceded by Papou, Dad and two uncles.  He plays at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD where his dad and all 3 uncles captained their football teams.

After the first game of the season this year, Lucas was pulled up from the JV and led the varsity team for the remainder of the year as a Sophomore.

He attends St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Bethesda, MD and is very active in his community. Lucas is very proud of his Cretan heritage. (“Manatakis”)

Alexandra Loucopoulos is a talented 5 foot 8 inch star guard that competed in volleyball and basketball at Holmdel High School in New Jersey. Alexandra had a great high school career earning All-Division honors in 2022 and 2023. She was named the New Jersey Basketball Player of the Week in 2022 and earned second team All-Shore in 2023. She competed in the North Shore All-Star game where she was named MVP. 

Loucopoulos would take her basketball talent to Emory University (Harvard of the South) and had a good freshman year in 2023-24. Last season 2024-25 her sophomore year she dazzled the fans with her hoop skills on the court and was referred to as ”Greek Freakess” by Emory’s Announcer. Her talent did not go unnoticed being named to the prestigious D3hoops.com All-Region team. She also earned first team All-UAA selection.

Loucopoulos was the leading scorer for Emory last season pacing the team with 11.8 points per game and tallying 295 points for the season. She posted a 43.4 field goal percentage making 116 total while making 24 three pointers last season. Loucopoulos had 44 steals during the 2024-25 season which ranked 5 th  in the UAA. Alexandra final game of the season against Rochester she notched a career-high 22 points also converting 4-7 three- point attempts.

Alexandra received special recognition with the distinguished honor of being named to the UAA 16 th Presidents Council Scholar -Athlete Team in 2025. She is majoring in business.

Ana Toumazatos is from Great Falls, Virginia and a graduate of Langley High School. Ana is currently playing volleyball at James Madison University D1 as a six foot, outside hitter.

Ana had an outstanding career in high school and received many honors. She led Langley High School to back-to-back Virgins state championship. Washington Post All-Met Second Team (2024), AVCA All-American (2024), 3x First Team All-Liberty District, 2x First Team All-

Region (2024, 2025), 2x First Team Virginia All-State, Team MVP for Virginia Elite Volleyball

Club in 2024. 

Ana enjoyed competing this year as a freshman in the Sunbelt Conference and is majoring in Health Sciences.

Shane Alexander Donovan, an 18-year-old central midfielder and Sporting KC Academy

product, was named Sporting Kansas City's team MVP in his first fully professional season. He started in 24 of his 27 appearances during the 2025 MLS Next Pro campaign and led the team with 45 key passes, 20 more than any other player. In addition to recording two assists, Donovan had a team-best 26 successful crosses on an impressive 34% crossing accuracy. The Boston native represented Sporting at the U-15 through U-19. Academy levels before signing professionally for SKC Il in March.

Shane recently graduated from the The Barstow School in Kansas City. They were extremely supportive of his rigorous training and travel schedule as was his previous school in Boston, Thacher Montessori. His grandfather, Thrasivoulos Kouris was from a small village called Sopoto in the region of Kalavrita. 

His grandmother, Panagiota Gianikopoulos was from Patra in the Peloponnisos

regions. They met on a boat to Australia and eventually move to the United States in Boston where they raised their children and shared their Greek heritage and culture with their grandson Shane. He has dual citizenship and would love an opportunity to play for the Greek National Soccer Team.

AHEPA had a strong presence at the Alpha Omega Council Sports Excellence Awards. With the Harry Agganis Statue in the backdrop which AHEPA helped become a reality under late

Supreme Presidents John Economy and Charles Georgeson. AHEPAN Sports leaders were

photographed left to right National Ahepa Basketball Director Costa Papademetriou, Ahepa Hall of Fame Chairman Atty. Gregory Stamos, AHOF Nick Tsiotos, AHOF Fred Smerlas, NFL 14 years.AHOF Niko Koutouvides NFL 8 years, Ahepa Boston President & AHOF Chris Tsiotos. Fred “Foti” Smerlas and Niko Koutouvides both played for the New England Patriots and are very proud of their Greek Heritage.

Every Kuriakee ON AIR WNTN Grecian Echoes WNTN1550AM from Boston “The Athens of

America” The one and only Greek-American Sports show “THE BENCHWARMERS”

Hosted by Greek radio legend Ted Demetriades, Bill Galatis, Nick Ypsilantis, and Nick

Markopoulos.

Greek Idiom- Ρίχνω λάδι στη φωτιά. I throw oil on the fire. Pίχνω λάδι στη φωτιά! This means

that I or my actions will make things worse.

Greek Philosophy- Plato- By caring about the happiness of others, we find our own.

Attention: If you are interested in sharing your information please send email us student-athlete submissions:greekamericansports@gmail.com

The submission must include all types of information such as high school or college name, sport, academic honors or GPA, extracurricular activities, varsity athletic team, and if there are any athletic honors such as League All-Star or All-State. Hellenic community involvement is encouraged but optional such as Greek Orthodox community participation, how you feel about your Greek heritage ,and your family roots in Greece. You must also include two photos and GAS staff will choose one for publication. There are many samples of submissions that can be found on our website www.GreekAmericanSports.com.

GAS would like to thank all our followers for your incredible submissions! We've been proud to publish each one promptly. As we continue to manage a high volume of entries, along with live interviews, events, and comprehensive sports coverage, please know that we remain committed to sharing your submissions in a timely manner.

Ευχαριστούμε, Οικογένεια! (Thank you, family!); 

"To all the amazing parents who have shown so much AGAPE for our Greek American Sports, GAS Initiative, we extend our heartfelt gratitude. Your support not only celebrates our student- athletes but also strengthens the bonds of our heritage and community. Your thoughtful emails have been touching our cardia, thanks for sharing our posts with pride, and proving that an honest grass roots effort can grow nationally. GAS has tried passing down the AGAPE OF SPORTS AND HELLENIC IDEALS to the next generation. Thank you, PARENTS, for being such an integral part of our website. Your enthusiasm is the Greek spirit that drives us forward." 

Greek American Sports “GAS” would like to thank every person and organization that reached out to us from so many communities in the USA, Canada, Greece, and Cyprus. Our September post article marked our GAS TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY. GAS had so many submissions of Greek American student athletes last month that we had to leave out our message on our Hermes section out of our media posts. We are very grateful for your ongoing support of our SPORTS INITIATIVE. We are proud to see so many Greek Americans and Hellenes from all over the world on our social media platforms. A Megalo Euxapisto to all the collaborating Greek sites sharing our Facebook posts, Instagram, Tik Tok, and videos. We also are proud to have our Social Media being shared by so many leading universities that honors our athletes and community. Our staff has worked long hours and produced positive content in all forms to promote our young athletes in high school and college THE PAST TWO YEARS. We have built a dynamic sports community and have shown how intelligent and how athletic our next generation of student-athletes are all over the United States. For GAS it is all about the KIDS and future Golden Greeks. We will do our best to overcome the many challenges it takes to keep a national sports site like this vibrant for as long as we can. F HARRY STOWE, Thank you, for all the thousands of comments on our remarkable young student-athletes, college, amateur, professional and seniors.

🏈GOOD LUCK TO ALL Greek American HS  FOOTBALL PLAYERS ON THANKSGIVING DAY & IN YOUR  STATE'S  PLAYOFF  CHAMPIONSHIP FROM CALIFORNIA TO MAINE!🦃

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Contact us:  If you are interested in submitting a highlight on your Greek American High School or Collegiate Athlete.  Please email us your submission at greekamericansports@gmail.com.  We are looking for submissions that highlight achievements in athletics, academics, extra curricular activities, Greek Community involvement, and information relating to family place of origin in Greece.