DAVID STERGAKOS

He is one of the players that will certainly be remembered by those who were fortunate enough to see him play, since he knew basketball very well and had a …regal way of playing the game. He was born in Kansas (Missouri, USA) on October 24, 1956, and saw the world from the vantage point of his 2.06 height.

The… clover got into his life early on, since in 1978 he was drafted by the Boston Celtics at number 72. A year later, he wore the Panathinaikos’ outfit for the first time and won the Greek Championship in 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1984; he also won the Greek Cup with Panathinaikos in 1979, 1982, 1983, and 1986. The Greek National Team came later on in his life, only to repay his late entry by winning the silver medal in the 1989 Eurobasket in Zagreb. The following summer he played in the World Championship in Argentina where the Greek National Team ranked 6^th. Overall, he played 65 times with the national Team, scoring 585 points (with a 9- points average). In the mid 90s, he found himself even taking on an administrative post in Panathinaikos. Stergakos was a scorer, rebounder (he was top Greek Championship rebounder in the 1987-88 season, averaging 12.2 rebounds per game), capable of shooting with both hands, and had an impeccable technique, but he had something much more than all that: he always put his heart and soul in his game, and fought passionately, showing his love for his team by often playing with minor health problems, and knew how to be the ideal team-mate, since he never seemed to care about his stats. His words regarding the title game against Aris played in the neutral Corfu arena, with the “Greens” clinching the championship, are a crystal clear reflection of his faith in the team: “It may be the only time that the championship title is decided in a single game in a neutral arena. The year 1984 will go down in history; I, at least, do not remember this having happened ever before. It was a preparation that was important to us all; in both teams. We however had the advantage our bonding. We had been playing together more years than our opponents, we  were more of team, and when a team, or a group of people even,  has common goals and work all together to reach those goals, I believe that they draw some extra strength from that. This is why we won that game!”

He is definitely one of those players and personalities that are hard to be forgotten by those who have seen him play or have gotten to know him.