🇬🇷SPORTS NEWS🇺🇸

Boston University’s junior Alexandra Giannaros is simply an amazing basketball player. The 5-foot 5-inch eagle-eyed sharp shooting guard led the country in 3-point percentage in Division 1 last season. She became a champion beating out 1,033 Division 1 players that shot at least 80 3-pointers last season. Giannaros simply torched the opposition shooting a red-hot 51.5 percent rate becoming the first Greek American to lead the nation in 3-point shooting percentage. Giannaros play earned her Patriot League All Rookie team honors & all third team Patriot League honors respectfully. AXIA!

The Brockton, Massachusetts native was an outstanding two team captain at Tabor Academy in volleyball and basketball as well as earning all ISL honors in both Sports. Most notably a member of the prestigious 1000-point  basketball scorers club at Tabor Academy. Alexandra continues to excel on the basketball court and in the classroom majoring in BU’s Wheelock School of Education and Human Development specializing in Youth Development and Justice.

Wrestling for Andover High School is a very distinct honor in a town that has wrestling at all levels from youth to adult wrestling clubs. Wrestling this year for The Warriors are brothers Anthony and Nicholas Archambault. They both wrestled in the recent Londonderry Holiday Tournament and helped their team get off to a great season.  Sophomore Anthony finished in first place in the 165-pound category and senior Nicholas finished second in the 132-pound category. The brothers hard work in the off-season will pay off this season. They attend Saint Constantine and Helen in Andover where they serve as altar boys. 

Sienna Manatos is a senior at the Edmund Burke School in Washington, DC.  She walked onto the volleyball court for the first time her Sophomore year.  After two years in a program that struggled to win one match, her senior year as Captain she led the team to the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference semi-finals and Sienna was selected to PVAC 2nd Team honors.  In December Sienna was accepted early decision to Boston University where she plans to major in Behavioral Biology. She is a passionate singer and performer, having acted in 11 musicals, 8 as a lead/supporting role, and won Broadway World’s Award for Best Actor in a Musical (nonprofessional) in 2022.  She has sung solo at events of 300+ people in Washington, DC (including before the Prime Minister of Greece) and has released 5 songs on Spotify with over 11,000 streams. She is her senior class Co-President, an honor roll student and founder and President of her school’s Make-A-Wish Foundation Club. 

Senior Eli Nikolopoulos has been a three-sport varsity athlete at North Reading High School in Massachusetts. He has competed in baseball, basketball and track. Eli was named captain of the Hornets basketball team this winter season. The 6-foot one inch forward recently scored 10 points and had 10 rebounds helping North Reading beat Winthrop 53-48. He has also played five years of AAU Basketball for Mass Elite and Rival Elite.

Eli is an Honor Roll student and is a member of the school’s Deca Business Club. He has been busy applying to colleges and will major in Accounting and Finance. He attends church at Saint George of Lynn and is a Greek School graduate. Eli commented, “It’s an honor to be Greek and the impact Greeks have left on society is remarkable. I am very proud to be Greek and to be able to speak Greek.”

Sam Anas, (Sarantos Anastasakos) a former first team NCAA All-American hockey star at Quinnipiac University and two-time AHEPA Athletic Award winner has had an amazing hockey odyssey. Sam Anas signed a one-year deal last season 2023 with the Hershey Bears and was an instrumental player helping lead them to a Calder Cup Championship. Anas a Potomac, Maryland native after his championship signed a Kontinental Hockey League deal with Dinamo Minsk in Belarus. He is currently at the break and is leading his team in scoring with 34 points. 

Hockey Honors                                     

NHL AHL (American Hockey League)

• He was the second ever in the Washington DC metropolitan area to sign an NHL contract, 7 years ago.:
• His stats in the AHL include 305 points in 398 games of the AHL championship team Hershey Bears (June 2023)
• Had his jersey selected for the NHL Hall of Fame in an AHL exhibit 
• Winner of the AHL Fred Hunt Award as the AHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of sportsmanship, determination and dedication to hockey, across 32 teams in US and Canada.
• Played 8 exhibition games with NHL teams (Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues), scoring 1 overtime goal for St. Louis vs Dallas Stars and several assists.
• Selected to the AHL All Star Team in 2020
• Won the AHL scoring championship in 2020
• Several scoring records in the American Hockey League (AHL) with:
  • Iowa Wild
  • Springfield Thunderbirds

Anastasia (Ana) Hareas is an 18 year old junior at the University of South Florida (USF). This year, USF started its first-ever women’s hockey team and Ana is the goalie. She graduated high school and got her A.A. Degree when she was 17. She is pursuing her dream of becoming a cardiac surgeon! She was the ONLY goalie on the USF Inaugural girls hockey team. She’s a tremendous athlete as well as proud of her Greek Cypriot heritage. Ana attends St. Stefanos Greek Orthodox Church in St. Petersburg, FL, and is active in her church volunteering in many different ministries including the adult Kefi Dance Group.

Sports Industry legend Charles Theokas went back to his hometown Lowell, Massachusetts where he was inducted into the Lowell High School Hall of Fame. Charles starred as a basketball and football player sixty years ago leading Lowell to a Massachusetts State Football Title. Theokas would kick off, play center on offense and linebacker on defense. He remembered some of his teammates from “The Acre” the Greek section of Lowell including left tackle Peter Elidas, guard George Andricopoulos, and defensive end Jimmy Koulaharas. 

Charles spoke proudly that evening about his Hellenic Heritage. 

“I am so proud to be Greek. We had 30,000 Greeks living in Lowell and the Greeks stuck together. Our community had Holy Trinity Church, lots of Kafenia, Greek School, Black Hawks Greek Football Team and it was incredible.” Theokas an Army veteran spoke proudly about his three brothers that saw action in WW2 and his fourth brother that saw action in Korea.

Theokas was successful in many sports businesses including three years in the National Football League. He exhibited exceptional sports management as General Manager of American Basketball Association Champions New Jersey Nets. The talented Theokas would also serve as Vice-President of the United States Football League and Commissioner of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Theokas would serve as Athletic Director at Temple University when Peter Liacouris was president.

Charles' family, his wife Virginia and his sons, Michael and Andrew, and their wives attended the event with their excited grandchildren. Also attending the event were his Greek friends from his youth. Including philanthropist George Behrakis. 

Charles Theokas has been an active member of AHEPA Lowell Hellas Chapter 101 and The Sons of Pericles for over 60 years. He was inducted into the AHEPA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013.He is a devout Greek Orthodox and has been a member several church choirs for decades starting at Holy Trinity in Lowell, Saint George in New Brunswick, New Jersey and several others Greek Orthodox churches.

United Cup fans were cheering for Maria Sakkari when she defeated Angelique Kerber in a quarter final United Cup Clash giving Hellas a 1-0 lead over Germany. The United Cup features WTA players in an 18 country teams’ event which is played over 10 days across two Australian cities Perth and Sydney. Passionate Greek Australian fans could be heard cheering in the crowd. 

Hey mate, we know about Australian Adam Gotsis who was born in Melbourne to Greek parents. Gotsis played American Football in Australia and is currently a defensive end wearing number 96 for the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL. He was an outstanding player at Georgia Tech and was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the second round in the 2016 NFL draft. He became the highest drafted Australian player in NFL History and signed a four-year contract with a signing bonus in 2016. The 6ft. 41/2 in. 290lbs. strong eight -year veteran star Gotsis has had a good NFL career. Gotsis has many fans in the USA and Australia. 

Every Kuriakee ON AIR WNTN Grecian Echoes WNTN1550AM from Boston “The Athens of America”  The one and only Greek-America Sports show “THE BENCHWARMERS” Hosted by Greek radio legend Ted Demetriades, Bill Galatis, Nick Ypsilantis, and Nick Markopoulos. They are serious and hilarious. They brilliantly discuss all sports along with the Three Stooges, the koutala and pantofles.

The  94th NHIBT-National Hellenic Invitational Basketball Tournament will take place in Chicago on March 20-24th, for High School and Senior Divisions. The tournament will be here before you know it. NHIBT President Dr. Peter Petrovas is urging leaders to enter a team from their community. Treasurer/Director Frank Korbos is waiting for your call at 708-691-8500. OLI MAZH STO CHICAGO! OPA! You Can stay a day extra and celebrate Greek Independence on March 25th.

The  78th Harry Agganis Basketball Tournament has announced their tournament will take place April 5-7, at the Saint George Community Center in Lynn, Massachusetts.

The George Mougolias Memorial Basketball Tournament announced that the tournament will take place on April 18-21, 2024 in Chicago. They were the first to announce in the Greek-American Basketball Circuit for 2024.

Last Week Greek Sports Question of The Week? Who is the former New England Patriot that has three Super Bowl Rings and is the 17th person in his family to be named Leonidas? 

Answer- Patriots long snapper Lonnie Paxton legal name Leonidas Paxton  his family has their roots in Sparta. Guess what Leonidas Lonnie Paxton named his first son? You got it LEONIDAS!! He is the 18th in his family to keep the Spartan King’s name alive and immortal as the Ancient Prophecy said King Leonidas name would be immortal.  

Winners of Last Week's Greek American Sports Question of the Week:

Atty. Greg Stamos from Ansonia, Connecticut. AHEPA Athletic Hall of Fame Chairman! BRAVO GREG!!  

Tina Papadopoulos, from Marlborough, Massachusetts, Daughters of Penelope, Orion Chapter #130 President!

BRAVO TINA!!

Who are the two Princeton University Tigers Men’s Basketball Greek American players to score over 1,000 points?  Send your answers to greekamericansports@gmail.com 

Greek Idiom- βρίσκο το μπέλα μου. When you try to help others and you get caught up in their troubles!

Greek Philosophy- 

Να είστε ελεύθεροι στοχαστές και μην δέχεστε όλα όσα ακούτε ως αλήθεια. Να είστε επικριτικοί και να αξιολογείτε τι πιστεύετε. Αριστοτέλης

We hope the New Year 2024 brings all our GAS fans good health. GAS has truly been overwhelmed with your kind emails and overwhelming support. Our small staff was elated to see over 1500 followers in less than a month follow our new GAS Instagram platform, several thousand on our website, and hundreds on our Facebook. A BiG  ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΩ to all our GAS fans who have helped our grassroots efforts. Please keep sharing our posts. The spirit of Hellenism, our deep sense of community, love for Greek youth and athletes has driven this national community grassroots effort. We have launched the first ever GAS/Kosmos effort and we have kept our promise to fulfill our mission statement. We will keep working and fighting to deliver GAS to every Greek American Sports fan. So pick up your telephono and check us out right now! We hope your community takes on our GAS Sports Challenge and sends us your sports video.  GAS would love to see your community sports video. 

In our next issue, we will be featuring three Greek Americans on a Division 1 college basketball team, our first college gymnast, and more high school and collegiate stars.  GAS has already connected athletes throughout the United States with each other, as well as received wonderful feedback from parents as well as elderly grandparents who have commented how proud they are of their grandchildren from the U.S.A. and Greece.