🇬🇷SPORTS NEWS🇺🇸

The Order of AHEPA Supreme Athletic Director Chris Atsaves and Atty. Gregory J. Stamos, who Chairs the Hellenic Athletic Hall of Fame Selection Committee inducted the 2026 Hall of Fame Athletes selectees at the AHEPA National Convention in Philadelphia. This year’s AHEPA HOF inductees were truly a star-studded class.

STEVE KIORPES BULPETT, Nahant, Massachusetts, is a journalist covering the National Basketball Association since 1985, the first 35 of those years as Celtics beat writer and columnist for the Boston Herald. More recently, he has been senior NBA columnist for Heavy.com. During his career, Steve has earned National Top 10 honors from the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) for column writing, beat reporting and feature writing. 

Since 2014, he ha s served as a vice president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association (PBWA). Steve is a graduate of the University of Dayton, where he is a guest lecturer. Following his playing days in Greek basketball, he remained active in the Hellenic community. Stephen is currently on the Board of Governors for AHEPA Athens Chapter No. 24 in Boston;

PATRICK CALATHES, Casselberry, Florida, was a standout collegiate basketball player at St. Joseph’s (PA) University, followed by a ten-year professional career in Europe. At St. Joseph’s University, he led the Hawks to the 2008 Atlantic Ten Title game and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2008, averaging 17.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. He is 27th on the St. Joseph’s career scoring list with 1,251 points and 22ndwith 630 rebounds. In 2008 he was an All-Atlantic Ten First Team selectee and the Co-Player of the Year in the Philadelphia Big Five.

Pat had a ten-year professional career in Europe including stints with the Greek League Clubs Maroussi and Athens Panathinakos. In 2013, he was the Most Valuable Player in the Israeli Basketball League. Pat was also a member of the Greek National Team in 2011, along with his brother Nick, AHEPA’s Agganis Most Outstanding Athlete Awardee in 2025;

FOTIOS (FRANK) KLOPAS, Prosymna, Greece, was a professional soccer player and is currently a professional soccer coach. After immigrating to the United States from Greece, he became a member of the USA National Team from 1987 – 1995; in 39 international games he scored 12 goals, which ranked 4th on the USA All-Time goal scoring list at that time.

He played professionally from 1983 – 1999 for a number of teams in the North American Soccer League, including the Chicago Sting and the Kansas City Wizards, ending his career with the Chicago Fire, leading the`m to the Major League Soccer Cup in 1988. Frank thereafter started a career as a Head Coach and General Manager in Professional Soccer and serving as a color commentator on television broadcasts;

JASON PALUMBIS, Lake Oswego, Oregon, was an outstanding collegiate quarterback for Stanford University. At Lakeridge High School, in Illinois, Jason was named as the First Team All-American Quarterback, and to the All-State team. Thereafter, he had a four-year career at Stanford University.

In 1990, Jason led the nation in passing completion (69%) and was in the top-five in several other passing categories, and he led Stanford to an upset win over Notre Dame University when Notre Dame was the number one team in the nation. He was named as an honorable mention All-Pac-Ten Conference, then signed a one-year contract with the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League; Jason was named an AHEPA Scholar-Athlete Awardee at the New Orleans AHEPA Convention in 1987.

JIM RAPPIS, Waukesha, Wisconsin, was a standout college professional basketball player at the University of Arizona. At Waukesha High School in Wisconsin, he was a member of the All-State Team in both his junior and senior years, and in 1972 was the UNICO National High School Athlete of the Year.

At the University of Arizona, he was a four-year starter for the Wildcats, was named to the Pac Ten All-Academic Team in 1974, 1975 and 1976, and was an Academic All-American in 1976, as well as a member of the All-Pac Ten Conference Team, and the University of Arizona Team MVP. He averaged 12.1 points per game during his University of Arizona career and then played for Panionios Athens in Greece. In 1974, Jim was a member of the AHEPA All-Star Team that toured Greece and in 1976 he was the AHEPA William Chirgotis Collegiate Awardee for the Most Outstanding Hellenic College Athlete of the Year.

Editor’s Note: Greek American Sports would like to thank AHEPA HOF Chairman Gregory

Stamos for granting permission and contributing information for this AHEPA post.

Jason Masick recently graduated from Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ) with a BA in

Human Resource Management. While at Rutgers, he was a pitcher with a season high of 5 strikeouts in 4 innings against Michigan. Masick stands 6-foot-3, 240 pounds, has big time arm strength with a fastball in the upper 90s and is a good prospect at the next level.

Jason signed to pitch for the NY Boulders where he has struck out 6 batters in 5 innings thus far.

He aspires to join to enter the draft and follow his career path. He attends St. Basil the Great Greek Orthodox Church in Houston, Texas. His familial roots are from the Anatolian city of Smyrna.

Eva Tzelepis is an outstanding junior two-sport athlete who attends Sickles High School in

Tampa, Florida. Eva, is the varsity girls' flag football captain, is highly versatile on the football field excelling as a defensive safety, wide receiver, and punter.

Eva is a strong 5-foot-9 goalkeeper in soccer. She has great shot-stopping reflexes, aerial ability, and positions herself well to cut angles making saves. She is looking forward to her senior year at Sickles High leading her Gryphon teammates. Eva is also a dedicated student maintaining a 3.9 GPA through her hard work and determination.

Vasilia Agelidakis, a recent graduate of Berea-Midpark High School in Ohio, was a three- year member of the girls’ flag football team and had an outstanding high school career. She is committed to attend Ursuline College to study biology. Vasilia is a member of the Annunciation Cleveland Greek Orthodox Church. 

Vasilia delivered a breakout season for the Titans, establishing herself as a premier two-way star at wide receiver and defensive back. On offense, her sharp route-running, lateral agility, and burst made her a constant big-play threat capable of shaking defenders and stretching the field. On defense, she anchored the secondary with exceptional poise, using her quick instincts and ball-tracking skills to jump routes, break up passes, and make crucial flag pulls in space. Tenacious and reliable on both sides of the ball, Vasilia consistently made high-impact plays that energized Titan fans and earned the respect of coaches across the league. Vasilia is very proud of her greek heritage.

Greek American Sports would like to extend our heart felt thanks to the AHEPA Family at The 104th National Convention for their hospitality during AHEPA’S 250th Celebration of the United States in Philadelphia. We truly appreciate the opportunity to set up our booth and connect with hundreds of members of the AHEPA from the USA, Canada, Hellas, and Cyprus that embraced our mission of recognizing our student athletes.

A special thank you AHEPA’S Executive Director Basil Mossaidis and Stephanie Maniatis,

Executive Administrative Assistant Director for their dedication and unwavering support for our young Greek American student athletes the past three years.

PLEASE SIGN YOUR CHILDREN UP FOR GREEK SCHOOL!  🇬🇷

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