Stylianos "Steve" Giatzoglou (alternate spellings: Yatzoglou, Yantzoglou;

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 ...

: Στυλιανός "Στηβ" Γιατζόγλου; born 11 December 1949), is a

American professional

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 ...

, and the president of the Union of Greek Basketball Athletes. He's also a former

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, having competed professionally in the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

. During his playing career, his nickname was "The Lion".

Playing career

College career

Giatzoglou played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college w ...

, under the name Steve Young.

Professional career

Giatzoglou's pro career was noted for his successes with the

club

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

. 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. In the top-tier level Greek League, he scored a total of 6,044 points, which is the 10th most total points scored in the competition, since the 1963–64 season.

National team career

Giatzoglou made his debut with

Greece 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 ...

on 6 May 1973. He played in 115

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

, scoring a total of 1,468 points,Steve Giatzoglou
Hellenic Basketball Federation website for a scoring average of 12.8 points per game. Giatzoglou played in 3

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

tournaments with Greece's national team : in 1973, 1975, and 1979. His last game with the Greek national team was on 18 February 1981, in a friendly game against the

Bulgarian national basketball team The Bulgaria men's national basketball team ( bg, Български национален отбор по баскетбол, Balgarski natsionalen otbor po basketbol) represents Bulgaria in international basketball. The governing body is the Bu ...

Coaching career

As a basketball

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

, Giatzoglou worked in several clubs in Greece, including:

, Sporting, Iraklis,

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...

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 ...

Pagrati Pangrati or Pagrati ( el, Παγκράτι) is a neighborhood in Central Athens, Greece, having an estimated population of 35,173 residents. Named after the ancient sanctuary of Hercules Pancrates ("All Powerful"), its frontage runs from Vasil ...

Peristeri Peristeri (Greek language, Greek: Περιστέρι, meaning "pigeon/dove" in Greek) is a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. With 139,981 inhabitants (2011 census), it is the seventh-largest municipali ...

, Gymnastikos S. Larissas,

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 ...

, and

Kavala Kavala ( el, Καβάλα, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos and on the Egnat ...

. In 2014, Giatzoglou was hired as assistant coach to work in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, with the

Goyang Orions Goyang Carrot Jumpers (Korean: 고양 캐롯 점퍼스) is a professional basketball club based in Goyang, South Korea which plays in the Korean Basketball League. Before the change of ownership in 2022, they were called Orions. History Da ...

of the

Korean Basketball League The Korean Basketball League (KBL; ) is a professional men's basketball league in South Korea which was established in 1997. The league consists of ten teams and each team plays a total of 54 games (27 home and 27 away) in the regular season. H ...

. In 2015, Giatzoglou returned to Greece to coach

Awards and accomplishments

Pro career

* 10th all-time leading scorer of the Greek Basketball Championship, with 6,044 total points scored in the Greek A National League (1963–64 season to present).

Olympiacos

*2× Greek League Champion: (1976, 1978) *4×

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 ...

Winner: (1976, 1977, 1978, 1980) *4× Greek Cup Finals Top Scorer (1977–1980)

Greek national team

*1972 Balkan Championship: *1974 Balkan Championship: *1976 Balkan Championship: *

1979 Mediterranean Games The 1979 Mediterranean Games, officially known as the VIII Mediterranean Games, and commonly known as Split 1979, were the 8th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Split, Yugoslavia, from 15 to 29 September 1979, where 2,408 athletes (2,00 ...

: *1979 Balkan Championship: *1980 Balkan Championship:

Personal life

In October 2016, Giatzoglou endorsed the

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

political party Golden Dawn, and attended the celebration of their newspaper's 1,000th issue. In 2020, he joined the Greek nationalist party

Greeks for the Fatherland The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, other ...

as a party executive.

References

Additional sources

Legends of the Legend : Steve Giatzoglou
at the Olympiacos website

FIBA website

FIBA Europe website
Τα “κανόνια” του ελληνικού Πρωταθλήματος: Στιβ Γιατζόγλου
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giatzoglou, Steve 1949 births Living people AEK B.C. coaches Aigaleo B.C. coaches American men's basketball players American people of Greek descent Aris B.C. coaches Connecticut College Camels men's basketball players Connecticut College alumni Greek basketball coaches Greek men's basketball players Greek Basket League players Gymnastikos S. Larissas B.C. coaches Iraklis Thessaloniki B.C. coaches Kavala B.C. coaches Olympiacos B.C. coaches Olympiacos B.C. players Pagrati B.C. coaches P.A.O.K. BC players Peristeri B.C. coaches Point guards Shooting guards Sporting B.C. coaches Competitors at the 1979 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Greece Mediterranean Games medalists in basketball