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".

Playing career

College career

Giatzoglou played college basketball at Connecticut College, under the name Steve Young.

Professional career

Giatzoglou's pro career was noted for his successes with the Greek Basket League club Olympiacos. 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 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 Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

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, Giatzoglou worked in several clubs in Greece, including: Olympiacos, Sporting,

Iraklis Gymnasticos Syllogos Iraklis ( el, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Ηρακλής, en, Gymnastics Club Heracles), commonly referred to as Iraklis, is a Greek multi-sports club based in Thessaloniki. The club was founded in 1908 as "Mace ...

, Aris, AEK, Pagrati, Peristeri, Gymnastikos S. Larissas, Aigaleo, and Kavala. In 2014, Giatzoglou was hired as assistant coach to work in South Korea, with the Goyang Orions 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 Kavala.

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 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 Golden Dawn or The Golden Dawn may refer to: Organizations * Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a nineteenth century magical order based in Britain ** The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Inc., a modern revival founded in 1977 ** Open Source ...

, and attended the celebration of their newspaper's 1,000th issue. In 2020, he joined the

Greek nationalist Greek nationalism (or Hellenic nationalism) refers to the nationalism of Greeks and Greek culture.. As an ideology, Greek nationalism originated and evolved in pre-modern times. It became a major political movement beginning in the 18th century, ...

party Greeks for the Fatherland 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