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American Football

Harry Agganis, The Golden Greek (Aristotle George Agganis) (30.4.1930 Lynn/Massachusetts – 27.6.1955), his parents from Longanikos Pellana in Lakonia. A Football and Baseball player. Sadly his promising future ended when he died of a massive pulmonary embolism at the age of 26. From Joe Pickering Jr. I have the following information: “When Harry Agganis was alive he was given by the King and Queen of Greece a silver wreath like the ancient wreaths of the Olympics. He contributed money for sports to Greek children for Soccer. When Harry Agganis died the Greek Orthodox Church had a 40 day memorial ceremony to which nearly 50,000 people attended from 400 churches in North and South America. He was buried in Lynn and among the things in his casket was placed the silver wreath given by the King and Queen of Greece “.

"No longer are we foreigners. Thanks to Harry we are the Golden Greeks once more.", The mother of Harry after his death.

From http://www.kingoftheroadmusic.com/ Baseball Songs Sport Heroes a song dedicated to the Golden Greek Agganis , for the text see A FenwayNation Reader Writes , THE DAY NEW ENGLAND AND THE SPORT'S WORLD CRIED ,

Nick Tsiotos, Andy Dabilis, Harry Agganis, " the Golden Greek": An All-American Story, Hellenic College 1995

Pete Pihos

Alex Karras

Alex Spanos, Real estate magnate Alex owns the NFL's San Diego Chargers

Fred Smerlas

Peter Karmanos software magnate owns the NHL's Carolina Hurricane

Niko Koutouvides

Garo Yepremian (Greek-(Armenian) Cypriot) of the Miami Dolphins Super Bowl winner.

Australian Football

Angelo Lekkas (29.6.1976) His mother is from Greece

Anthony Koutoufides, Australia

Ang Christou

Andrew Dimitriou (Cyprus)

Louie captains the centurions

Athletics

Olympic Stadium

Olympic Stadium

Olympic Stadium

Marathon, Ultramarathom

Spiros (or Spyridon) Louis, (Σπυρίδων Λούης ) (18.1.1872 Marousi – 26.3.1940 Marousi), first modern Olympic Marathon winner 1896. Hellene, Hellene was the cry of the crowd waiting the Marathon runners to enter the stadium and hearing the news that a Greek was the leader. He was invited as a guest of honour by the organizers of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. He visited Adolf Hitler offering him an olive branch from Olympia Greece, a symbol of peace.

Stylianos (Stelios) Kyriakides (Στυλιανός (Στέλιος) Κυριακίδης) (4.5.1910 or 15.1.1910 Statos/Pafos in Cyprus - ?.12.1987) winner of the Boston Marathon 20.4.1946 (in 2 hr 29 min 27 sec), ”A true son of Pheidippides, Grecian immortal who ran the first marathon almost 2500 years ago, The New York Times, 21.4.1946”, Journey of a Warrior , " ο ξεχασμένος ήρωας"
Running With Pheidippides, Nick Tsiotos, Andy Dabilis , Johnny Kelley (Foreword) Syracuse University Press 2001 , ISBN: 0815607032

Dean Karnazes http://www.ultramarathonman.com/ , http://www.thenorthface.com/na/athletes/athletes-DK.html , Greek American from San Francisco, the best ultramarathon runner in the world: ran for 3 days without stopping a distance of 226 miles! That's ten

marathons in a row! He also ran to the south pole and through death valley for many miles,Dean Karnazes , Ultramarathon Man , Tarcher 2005 ISBN: 1585422789

Olympics , Athens 2004, from the shadows it seems that none of the athletes touches the ground.

Stamati Revithi, a Greek women in 1896 who completed the Marathon run but was not allowed to enter into the stadium as no women were allowed to participate in the Games. Not knowing her name she was called Melpomene, the name of the Muse of tragedy.

Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos (1874 - 1956) , Silver medal, Discus throw, 1896 Olympics

Ioannis Persakis (1877 - 1943) 1896 Olympics , bronze, triple jump.

Dimitrios Golemis 1896 Olympics , bronze, 800 m

Konstantinos Tsiklitiras (Κωνσταντίνος Τσικλητήρας )(1888-1913), 1912 Standing long jump

Nikolaos Andriakopoulos , Gold in rope climbing 1896 Olympics

Thomas Xenakis , Silver in rope climbing 1896 Olympics

Sotirios Versis , Bronze medals in discus throw and in Two-handed Weightlifting, 1896 Olympics

Christos Papanikolaou (Xρήστος Παπανικολάου) World record in the pole vault 5.49 m. 24 Oct 70, Piraeus (Now at 6.14 m by Sergey Bubka UKR Sestriere 31-July 1994)

Georgios Roubanis bronze medal in the pole vault with 4.5 0m at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games

Konstantinos Kenteris (Κωνσταντίνος Κεντέρης ) (11.7.1973 Mytilene) http://www.kenteris.gr/welcome_en.htm Olympic, World and European Champion Sprinter, involved in one of the greatest doping scandals in Olympic history.

Voula (Paraskevi) Patoulidou (Βούλα Πατουλίδου) (29.3.1965 Tripotamo , Florina) 100m Hurdles in Barcelona in 1992, the first Greek woman to win an Olympic Games gold medal

Niki Bakogianni (Νίκη Μπακογιάννη ) (9.6.1968 Lamia) Silver Medal Wome High Jump Atlanta 1996 Olympics

Athanasia Tsoumeleka, (Αθανασία Τσουμελέκα ) 20 km Race Walk Women Athens 2004 Olympic Champion