Nikos Galis

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Basketball player
Nikos Galis
Nikos Galis Panathinaikos 1992.jpg
Player information
birthday July 23, 1957 (63 years and 35 days)
place of birth New York City , New York , United States
size 183 cm
position Shooting Guard
college Seton Hall
NBA draft 68, Boston Celtics , 1979
Clubs as active
1975–1979 Seton Hall 1979–1992 Aris Thessaloniki 1992–1995 Panathinaikos AthensUnited StatesUnited States
GreeceGreece
GreeceGreece
National team
1980-1991 Greece 168

Nikos Galis b. Nikolaos Georgalis ( Greek Νίκος Γκάλης ; born July 23, 1957 in New York City , New York ) is a former Greek basketball player and is considered the greatest sports icon in his country and one of the best basketball players in Europe of all time. In 2017 he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame .

Career

The United States- born son of Greek parents grew up in Union City , New Jersey . He was an avid boxer, but when his mother began to worry about him, Nikos promised at the age of 14 that she would switch sports for her sake. He attended the relatively small Seton Hall University in New Jersey after high school (1975-79). He scored 1,651 points and was fifth on Seton Hall's eternal basketball list when he left college. In his senior game year 1978/79, Galis finished third on the NCAA-wide basket hunter list with 27.5 points per encounter, behind Lawrence Butler from Idaho State University and Larry Bird from Indiana State University . Galis' manager, who also had singer Diana Ross under contract, missed the opportunity to get the player in the trial training of NBA teams, Galis was ultimately selected in the 1979 NBA draft in the fourth round in 68th place by the Boston Celtics . He then trained with the Boston team, but suffered an ankle injury and was not given a contract. Boston coach Red Auerbach later said not having signed Galis was the biggest mistake of his career.

Galis, who later stated that he did not know at the time that basketball was being played in Greece and that his eyes were on the NBA, accepted an offer from Aris Thessaloniki , and in 1979 he switched to the Greek basketball league. His great success story finally began with Aris, which has made him a myth to this day. In the following years he won eight Greek championships and five cup wins, before he reached the high point of his career in 1987 - winning the European basketball championship with the Greek national team. At the European Championships in his own country he was the best scorer with 37 points per match, he was elected MVP of the tournament and thus laid the foundation for his award for European Basketball Player of the Year 1987. During his career, Galis received offers from the NBA, from the Boston Celtics and the New Jersey Nets . Since, as an NBA professional, according to the FIBA ​​regulations at the time, he should not have played for the Greek national team, he decided against it. In 1992 Aris' president tried to persuade him to switch to the coaching business, but Galis wanted to continue playing and moved to record champions Panathinaikos Athens , with whom he celebrated winning the Greek club cup again the following year. In the early stages of the 1994/95 season, there was a dispute between the now 37-year-old Galis and Panathinaikos' coach Kostas Politis halfway through a game. Politis wanted to use younger players against a weaker opponent and therefore put Galis on the bench. Galis did not agree with this, left the team and ended his career.

National team

Galis made his debut with the Greek national team on May 6, 1980 in an encounter against Sweden , which Greece lost 71:79 despite 25 points scored by Galis. In the following eleven years Galis was one of the regular players in Greece and took part in five European championships, one world championship and three Balkan championships . In 1991, after an encounter against Czechoslovakia (95-79 victory for Greece), Galis ended his national team career after 168 appearances and 5117 points (30.5 on average).

To this day, Galis' point records are unmatched in the Greek championship (62 points in one game), in the European Cup (57 points in one game) and at national team level (53 points in one game).

After his active career

After his active career, Nikos Galis, who carried the Olympic torch into the Olympic Stadium at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens , founded a basketball academy for young talent, which he headed until the end of 2006.

In June 2007, Galis was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame . In 2008 Galis was named one of the 50 most important players in the history of the Europa League .

On May 7, 2013, the central sports hall of Alexandrio Melathro was renamed Nick-Galis-Halle during a friendly game in honor of Gali . In addition, Aris Thessaloniki officially withdrew the number 6 on his back.

successes

Awards

Career statistics

competition Games Points cut
Greek championship 385 12,714 33.0
Greek cup 55 1,935 35.2
European competitions 148 4,846 32.7
National team 168 5,129 30.5
total 756 24,624 32.6

See also

Web links

Commons : Nikos Galis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Seton Hall individual career leaders. (PDF) In: 2016-17 SETON HALL MEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA SUPPLEMENT. Retrieved July 2, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b A. Makris: Basketball Legend Nikos Galis Nominated for NBA Hall of Fame | USA.GreekReporter.com. January 11, 2013, Retrieved July 2, 2020 (American English).
  3. ↑ Nick Galis, le Diable en personne… In: Basket Retro. August 25, 2014, accessed on July 2, 2020 (French).
  4. ^ A b Five Things to Know About Hall of Famer Nick Galis. In: Seton Hall Pirates. Retrieved July 2, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Top 5 Celtics That Never Were- # 5: Nick Galis. Retrieved July 2, 2020 .
  6. ^ A b c Ken Maguire: Basking in a Fonder Farewell, 19 Years Later . In: The New York Times . May 13, 2013, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed July 2, 2020]).
  7. ↑ archive.fiba.com: 1987 European Championship for Men: Greece. Retrieved July 2, 2020 .
  8. ↑ FIBA.basketball. Retrieved July 26, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Aris Thessaloniki pulls back the jersey with the number 6 (Greek) ( Memento of the original from June 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sentragoal.gr
personal data
SURNAME Galis, Nikos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Georgalis, Nikolaos (maiden name); Γκάλης, Νίκος (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek basketball player
DATE OF BIRTH July 23, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH New Jersey , USA