Esperos Kallitheas B.C. is the men's basketball section of the Greek
multi-sports club
A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports.
Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...
of
Esperos Kallitheas
Esperos (in ) is a sports club in Kallithea (within greater Athens, Greece), founded in 1943 during the Nazi occupation of the country (1941–44).
History
Started as a football club and participated during World War II in the games organised by ...
(full name: POK Esperos/Panathlitikos Omilos Kallitheas Esperos). The basketball club was founded in 1945, two years after the establishment of the parent athletic club.
The club has played six times in the
top-tier level
Greek Basket League
The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the Greek basketball league system, first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the ...
, (the last time was in the 1999–2000 season).
History
Esperos Basketball Club was founded in 1945, thanks to the efforts of Takis Kontouzoglou. In the 1972–73 season, they played for first time in the
top-tier level
Greek first division. They also played in the Greek first division in another 5 seasons (in the 1978–79, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1989–90, and 1999–2000 seasons), making it six seasons in total that they played in Greece's first division, counting the 1972–73 season.
[
Esperos also won the Greek 2nd division championship once, in the 1998–99 season, and they have also won four Greek B League championships (Greek 3rd-tier), in 1978, 1980, 1982, and 1987.
]
Notable players
* Liveris Andritsos
Liveris Andritsos (; born December 31, 1959, in Athens, Greece) is a retired Greek professional basketball player and coach. At a height of 2.02 m (6'7 ") tall, he could play at both the small forward and power forward positions.
Professional ...
* Dimitris Dimakopoulos
Dimitris Dimakopoulos (alternate spelling: Dimitrios, ; born January 28, 1966, in Thessaloniki, Greece) is a Greek former professional basketball player and coach.
Youth career and early years
Dimakopoulos began playing the sport of basketball in ...
* Makis Nikolaidis
Prodromos "Makis" Nikolaidis (alternate spelling: Nikolaides) (Greek: Πρόδρομος "Μάκης" Νικολαΐδης; born July 13, 1978) is a former Greek-Cypriot professional basketball player. At a height of tall, and in weight, he cou ...
* Dimitrios Marmarinos
* Giannis Giannoulis
Giannis Giannoulis (alternate spellings: Gioannis, Yannis, Ioannis, Yiannis (Greek: Γιάννης Γιαννούλης; born June 5, 1976) is a Greek-Canadian former professional basketball player. During his playing career, at a height of tall ...
* Alekos Petroulas
Alexandros "Alekos" Petroulas (Greek: Αλέξανδρος "Αλέκος" Πέτρουλας; born June 2, 1978) is a Greek professional basketball player. At a height of tall, he can play at both the power forward and center positions.
Profess ...
* Dimitrios Katiakos
Dimitrios Katiakos (alternate spelling: Dimitris) (born March 10, 1987, in Cholargos, Attica, Greece) is a Greek former professional basketball player. At a height of tall, he played at the power forward and center positions.
Professional care ...
* Spyros Magkounis
Spyridon "Spyros" Magkounis (alternate spellings: Spiridon, Spiros, Magounis) (; born December 10, 1985, in Greece) is a Greek professional basketball player. He is a tall small forward.
Professional career
Some of the clubs that Magkounis has ...
* Nikos Michalos
Nikolaos "Nikos" Michalos (alternate spelling: Mihalos) (Greek: Νικόλαος "Νίκος" Μίχαλος; born May 21, 1977, in Maroussi, Athens, Greece) is a Greek former professional basketball player. At a height of 1.92 m (6'3 ") tall, he ...
* Roy Tarpley
Roy James Tarpley Jr. (November 28, 1964 – January 9, 2015) was an American professional basketball player. He played the power forward and center positions in the National Basketball Association (NBA), earning an NBA Sixth Man of the Year Awa ...
* Alvin Young
Head coaches
* Minas Gekos
* Antonis Mantzaris
Antonis Mantzaris (alternate spelling: Antonios) (; born 20 June 1986) is a Greek professional basketball player and coach. He is tall. He can play at the shooting guard and small forward positions.
Professional career
Mantzaris begin his pro c ...
Women's team
Esperos also had a women's basketball team. The women's team was the original founder of the successful club Esperides Kallitheas, that was founded in 1995.
References
External links
Official website
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Eurobasket.com Team Page
Basketball teams in Attica
Basketball teams in Greece
Basketball teams established in 1945
Kallithea