Steve Giatzoglou

Stylianos "Steve" Giatzoglou (alternate spellings: Yatzoglou, Yantzoglou; Greek: Στυλιανός "Στηβ" Γιατζόγλου; born 11 December 1949), is a Greek American professional basketball coach, and the president of the Union of Greek Basketball Athletes. He's also a former basketball player, having competed professionally in the Greek Basket League. During his playing career, his nickname was "The Lion".^[1]

Steve Giatzoglou
Στήβ Γιατζόγλου

Personal information
Born	(1949-12-11) 11 December 1949 (age 75) United States
Nationality	Greek
Listed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight	205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
College	UConn (1967–1971)
NBA draft	1971: undrafted
Playing career	1971–1985
Position	Point guard / shooting guard
Number	5
Coaching career	1985–2016
Career history
As a player:
1972–1984	Olympiacos Piraeus
1984–1985	PAOK Thessaloniki
As a coach:
1985–1986	Aris Thessaloniki (assistant)
1986–1989	Olympiacos Piraeus
1989–1990	Sporting Athens
1990–1992	Iraklis Thessaloniki
1992–1993	Aris Thessaloniki
1993–1994	AEK Athens
1994	Pagrati Athens
1994	Peristeri Athens
1996	Iraklis Thessaloniki
1996–1999	Gymnastikos S. Larissas
2000–2001	Aris Thessaloniki
2006–2007	Aigaleo Athens
2014–2015	Goyang Orions (assistant)
2015–2016	Kavala
Career highlights
As a player: 2× Greek League champion (1976, 1978) 4× Greek Cup winner (1976–1978, 1980) 4× Greek Cup Finals Top Scorer (1977–1980)
Medals Event 1st 2nd 3rd Mediterranean Games 1 0 0 Balkan Championship 1 1 3 Total 2 1 3 Men's Basketball Representing  Greece Mediterranean Games 1979 Yugoslavia Balkan Championship 1979 Greece 1972 Yugoslavia 1974 Greece 1976 Bulgaria 1980 Romania

College career

Under the name Steve Young, Giatzoglou played college basketball at the University of Connecticut, where he played with the school's men's team, the UConn Huskies.

Professional career

After college, Giatzoglou began his professional club career in Lebanon. Giatzoglou's pro career was mainly noted for his successes with the Greek Basket League club Olympiacos Piraeus. He's considered today as one of the greatest players in the club's history. With Olympiacos, he won 2 Greek League championships and 4 Greek Cups. He was the Greek Cup Finals Top Scorer in 1977, 1978, 1979, and 1980. He also played with the Greek club PAOK Thessaloniki.

In the top-tier level amateur Greek Championship (1963–1992), he scored a total of 6,044 points, which was the which was the 10th most total points scored in the competition.^[2]

National team career

Giatzoglou made his debut with the senior Greek national team, on 6 May 1973. With Greece's senior national team, he had a total of 115 caps, in which he scored a total of 1,468 points,^[3] for a scoring average of 12.8 points per game.

Giatzoglou played in three FIBA EuroBasket tournaments with Greece's national team. He played at the 1973 FIBA EuroBasket, the 1975 FIBA EuroBasket, and the 1979 FIBA EuroBasket. His last game with the Greek national team was on 18 February 1981, in a friendly game against the Bulgarian national team.

Coaching career

As a basketball head coach, Giatzoglou worked in several clubs in Greece, including: Olympiacos Piraeus, Sporting Athens, Iraklis Thessaloniki, Aris Thessaloniki, AEK Athens, Pagrati Athens, Peristeri Athens, Gymnastikos S. Larissas, Aigaleo Athens, and Kavala. In 2014, Giatzoglou was hired as an assistant coach to work in South Korea, with the Goyang Orions of the Korean Basketball League.^[4] In 2015, Giatzoglou returned to Greece to coach Kavala.^[5][6]

Awards and accomplishments

Pro career

Olympiacos Piraeus

• 2× Greek League Champion: (1976, 1978)
• 4× Greek Cup Winner: (1976, 1977, 1978, 1980)
• 2× Greek Cup Finalist: (1979, 1983)
• 4× Greek Cup Finals Top Scorer: (1977–1980)
• Olympiacos Piraeus Club Legend^[7]

Greek national team

• 1972 Balkan Championship:  Silver
• 1974 Balkan Championship:  Bronze
• 1976 Balkan Championship:  Bronze
• 1979 Mediterranean Games:  Gold
• 1979 Balkan Championship:  Gold
• 1980 Balkan Championship:  Bronze

Personal life

In October 2016, Giatzoglou endorsed the Neo-Nazi^[8] political party Golden Dawn, and attended the celebration of their newspaper's 1,000th issue.^[9] In 2020, he joined the Greek nationalist party Greeks for the Fatherland, as a party executive.^[10]

See also

• Players with the most points scored in the Amateur Greek Basketball Championship (1963–1992)