Panagiotis "Panos" Fasoulas (alternate spelling: Fassoulas; Greek: Παναγιώτης Φασούλας; born May 12, 1963 in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

) is a Greek politician and former 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. He was selected in the second round by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1986 NBA draft, but never decided to play in the NBA. Considered to be one of the best big men ever in European basketball, Fasoulas became a FIBA Hall of Fame player in 2016.

Basketball career

College career

Fasoulas 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 ...

in the United States at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The univers ...

, with the N.C. State Wolfpack, where he played under legendary coach

Jim Valvano James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, most notably at North Caroli ...

. In his sole season in college, he averaged 2.8

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by nu ...

, 3.2 rebounds per game and led the school with 1.8 blocks per game in 29 games.

Professional career

During his professional career, Fasoulas played for PAOK and

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 numbe ...

. With PAOK, he won the FIBA Cup Winners' Cup championship in the 1990–91 season. With Olympiacos, he won the EuroLeague championship and the Triple Crown in the 1996–97 season. In total, he won 5 Greek League championships and 3 Greek Cups. He was also named to the

FIBA European Selection FIBA All-Star Games were all-star basketball exhibition games, which were also known as "FIBA Festivals". The "FIBA Festival All-Star Games" were held from 1964 to 1995. The FIBA European Selection teams won most of the FIBA Festival All-Star Ga ...

three times, in the years 1990, 1991, and 1995. He was also named the Greek League MVP in 1994 and 1995, and a

FIBA EuroStar FIBA EuroStars was an annual event, organized by FIBA Europe, as a showcase basketball game, from the 1996–97 season, until the 1999–2000 season. Commonly considered as the European equivalent of the NBA All-Star Game, the FIBA EuroStars game ...

in 1996.

National team career

Fasoulas was also a member of the

Greece men's 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 ...

, where he was the starting center during Greece's

1987 EuroBasket The 1987 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1987, was the 25th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Greece between 3 and 14 June 1987. Twelve national teams entered the ev ...

gold medal victory, being also named to the All-Tournament Team. He also won the silver medal with Greece at the 1989 EuroBasket. In

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Canada, at the

1994 FIBA World Championship The 1994 FIBA World Championship was the 12th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. The tournament was hosted by Canada from August 4 to 14, 1994. The tournament was held at SkyDome and Maple ...

, where Greece finished in fourth place, Fasoulas played the best basketball of his career. Fasoulas appeared in 244 games for Greece, averaging 9.77 points per game. He is second all-time in games played and third all-time in points scored for Greece.

Managerial career

After his basketball playing career ended, Fasoulas became a basketball executive. He became the

sports director The title of sports director can refer to the director of a live sports broadcast. It can also refer to an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. Director {{Job-stub ...

of Olympiacos Women, of the Greek Women's League and the EuroLeague Women.

Awards and accomplishments

Club titles

* EuroLeague: 1 (with

: 1996–97) * FIBA Cup Winners' Cup: 1 (with PAOK: 1990–91) * Greek League: 5 (with PAOK: 1991–92 and

: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97) * Greek Cup: 3 (with PAOK: 1983–84 and

: 1993–94, 1996–97)

Greece national team

: * 1989 EuroBasket:

Personal awards

* EuroBasket All-Tournament Team: ( 1987) *

: 3 (1990, 1991, 1995) *

: 1 (1996) * Greek League Finals MVP: (1992) * Greek League MVP: 2 (1994, 1995) * Greek League Rebounding Leader: (1987) * FIBA Hall of Fame: (2016) * Professional Greek League all-time leader in blocks

Political career

A charismatic personality, Fasoulas entered politics after retiring from sport, joining the political party of

PASOK The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...

. He contributed in the organization of the

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

, in 2004. He was elected Mayor of

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saro ...

on October 15, 2006, and served as Mayor through 2010.

References

External links

* *
FIBA Euroleague profileBasketball-Reference.com profileRealGM.com profileHellenic Basketball Federation profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fasoulas, Panagiotis 1963 births Living people Sport in Thessaloniki Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Centers (basketball) Mayors of Piraeus FIBA EuroBasket-winning players FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Greek men's basketball players 1990 FIBA World Championship players Greek expatriate basketball people in the United States Greek Macedonians Greek MPs 2000–2004 Greek MPs 2004–2007 Greek sportsperson-politicians NC State Wolfpack men's basketball players Olympiacos B.C. players Olympic basketball players of Greece PASOK politicians P.A.O.K. BC players Politicians from Thessaloniki Portland Trail Blazers draft picks Power forwards (basketball) Basketball players from Thessaloniki 1994 FIBA World Championship players