Georgios Amerikanos (alternate spelling: Giorgos) (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Γιώργος Αμερικάνος; 21 December 1942 – 7 October 2013) was a Greek professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

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 ...

. He was nicknamed Global, or Worldwide. In honour of his great contributions to the club as a player, his number 10 jersey was retired by

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

Club career

Amerikanos started playing basketball with the youth clubs of XAN Nikaias (YMCA). He then moved to the Greek club

, where he would become one of the best players in the history of the club. With AEK, he won 6 Greek League championships (1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, and 1970). He also led the team to the final four of the FIBA European Champions Cup of the 1965–66 season, which was the first time that the EuroLeague ever used a final four system, thus leading a Greek team to a final four in the EuroLeague for the first time ever. He also led AEK to the championship of the 2nd-tier level

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

of the 1967–68 season, which was the first European championship won by any Greek team. He scored 29 points in the tournament's final game. He was also the Greek League Top Scorer twice during his career, in 1965 and 1968. He also played with

Apollon Patras :''The first version of this article has been based in the text of :el:Α.Σ. Απόλλων of the Greek Wikipedia published under the GFDL.'' A.S. Apollon Patras (Greek:''A.Σ. Απόλλων Πατρών'') is a multi-sports club that is ba ...

National team career

Amerikanos was also a member of the senior men's

Greek national basketball team The Greece men's national basketball team ( el, Eθνική Oμάδα Καλαθοσφαίρισης Ελλάδος) represents Greece in international basketball. They are controlled by the Hellenic Basketball Federation, the governing body for ...

. In 68

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

played with Greece's senior men's team, he scored 1,076 points, for an average of 15.8 points per game. He played at the FIBA EuroBasket 1961 and the

FIBA EuroBasket 1965 The 1961 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1961, was the twelfth FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. Nineteen national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation ...

, being Greece's leading scorer in both tournaments, with scoring averages of 15.5 points and 17.4 points per game. He also played at the

1967 Mediterranean Games The 1967 Mediterranean Games, officially known as the V Mediterranean Games, and commonly known as Tunis 1967, were the 5th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Tunis, Tunisia over 9 days, from 8 to 17 September 1967, where 1,249 athletes ...

, 4 Balkan Championships (1962, 1964, 1967, 1969), and the 1960 Pre-Olympic Tournament.

Coaching career

Amerikanos has also coached

Ergotelis The Gymnastics Club «Ergotelis» Heraklion Crete ( el, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος «O Εργοτέλης» Ηρακλείου Κρήτης, Γ.Σ. Εργοτέλης), commonly known simply as Ergotelis ( el, Εργοτέλης), ...

, and

Aigaleo Aigaleo or Egaleo ( el, Αιγάλεω ) is a suburban municipality in the western part of Athens, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo. Its population was 69,946 at the 2011 census. Ge ...

. He led AEK to the final of the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

in 1978.

References

External links

FIBA ProfileGreek Basketball Federation Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amerikanos, Georgios 1942 births 2013 deaths AEK B.C. coaches AEK B.C. players Aigaleo B.C. coaches Apollon Patras B.C. coaches Apollon Patras B.C. players Ergotelis B.C. coaches Greek basketball coaches Greek men's basketball players Shooting guards Small forwards Basketball players from Piraeus