David Stergakos ( el, Ντέιβιντ "Ντέιβ" Στεργάκος; born October 24, 1956) is an American retired professional basketball player and

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

. At a height of 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), he played at both the power forward and center positions.

College career

Stergakos played college basketball under the name David Nelson, at a small college in New Jersey, Bloomfield College.

Professional playing career

Stergakos was selected by the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

, in the 4th round of the 1978 NBA Draft, with the 72nd overall draft pick. He was the first Greek player ever selected by an NBA team. However, he never played as a professional in the NBA.Historic list of NBA players, National Basketball Association Players List, retrieved February 10, 2020
/ref> A year later, in 1979, he moved to

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

, in Greece. He is one of the greatest players in Panathinaikos history, as he won 4 Greek League championships (1980, 1981, 1982, 1984), and 4 Greek Cups (1979, 1982, 1983, 1986). He was also a Greek Cup finalist in 1985. He was the Greek Cup Finals Top Scorer in 1986. In the 1987–88 season, he was the top rebounder in the Greek League, with an average of 12.2 rebounds per game.

National team career

Stergakos was an important member of the senior men's Greek national basketball team that won the silver medal at EuroBasket 1989. He was also a member of the Greek national team that finished in 6th place at the

1990 FIBA World Championship The 1990 FIBA World Championship was the 11th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. It was hosted by Argentina from 8 to 19 August 1990. The final phase of the competition was held at the Luna Pa ...

Coaching and managing career

After his playing career ended, Stergakos went into coaching, and then became a club general manager. Stergakos coached Milon and

Papagou Papagou ( el, Παπάγου or Παπάγος ''Papagos'') is a suburb and municipal unit in the eastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. The town is named after Marshal Alexandros Papagos, a general who led the Greek Army in the Second ...

, and he managed

AEK A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelf ...

, and Maroussi.

References

External links

FIBA Archive ProfileHellenic Basketball Federation Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stergakos, David 1956 births Living people American men's basketball players American people of Greek descent Bloomfield Bears men's basketball players Boston Celtics draft picks Centers (basketball) Greek basketball coaches Greek Basket League players Greek men's basketball players 1990 FIBA World Championship players Milon B.C. coaches Panathinaikos B.C. players Papagou B.C. coaches Power forwards (basketball) Basketball players from Kansas City, Missouri