Minas Gekos (alternate spelling: Gkegos) (

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

: Μηνάς Γκέκος; born November 7, 1959, in

Kurtuluş Kurtuluş is a neighbourhood of the Şişli district of Istanbul that was originally called ''Tatavla,'' meaning 'stables' in Greek (). The modern Turkish name means "liberation", "salvation", "independence" or "deliverance". On 13 April 1929, si ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey) is a Greek 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 a retired 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 (appro ...

player. At 6' 1" (1.87 m) in height, he played at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

and

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

positions.

Professional career

Gekos started his playing career with İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi in 1975. He later went to Greece, and joined

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

, where he played until 1991. With AEK, he won the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

in 1981, and also played in the Greek Cup finals in 1978, 1980, and 1988. Then he continued his career with

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club based in the City of Athens. Panathinaikos is one of the mos ...

, from 1991 to 1994. As a member of the

roster, he won the Greek Cup in 1993, although he did not play in the final. Overall, he played in 4 Greek Cup Finals, and scored a total of 73 points in those games. He returned to

, for the last season of his career as a player (1994–95). In the top-tier level

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

Greek Championship (1963–1992), he scored a total of 6,511 points, which was the which was the 9th most total points scored in the competition.Τα “κανόνια” του ελληνικού Πρωταθλήματος: Μηνάς Γκέκος .
/ref> In the Greek A1 National League (which only counts Greek League games played since the 1986–87 season), he played in a total of 188 games, and scored 2,701 points.

National team career

Gekos played in 53

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

with the senior men's Greek national team. With Greece's senior national team, he played at the 1979 FIBA EuroBasket and the

1983 FIBA EuroBasket The 1983 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1983, was the 23rd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It took place from 26 May to 4 June 1983 in France. Italy defeated Spain in the final ...

. He also won gold medals at the 1979 Balkan Championship, and the

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, Croatia, Split, SFR Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia, from 15 to 29 September ...

Coaching career

After he retired from playing professional basketball, Gekos started his

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

career in 1995, when he became an assistant coach under Vlado Đurović and

Slobodan Subotić Slobodan "Piksi" Subotić ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Суботић, ; born 15 August 1956) is a Greek-Slovenian professional basketball coach and former player. He last served as the head coach for Budućnost of the ABA League, Montenegrin Lea ...

, in

. In 1997, he became an assistant coach, under

Subotić Subotić ( sr-Cyrl, Суботић, ) is a South Slavic surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Dejan Subotić (1852–1920), Serbo-Russian general * Ana Subotić (born 1983), Serbian long-distance runner *Bojan Subotić (born 1990), Ser ...

, with

. He became the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

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 ...

, in 1999. He then became the head coach of

Apollon Patras :''The first version of this article has been based in the text of :el:Α.Σ. Απόλλων of the :el:Κύρια Σελίδα, Greek Wikipedia published under the GFDL.'' A.S. Apollon Patras (Greek language, Greek:''A.Σ. Απόλλων Πατ ...

, in 2000. He next became head coach of

Papagou Papagou ( or Παπάγος ''Papagos'') is a suburban town and municipal unit in the eastern part of the Athens#Athens Urban Area, Athens agglomeration, Greece. The town is named after Marshal Alexandros Papagos, a general who led the Greek Army ...

, in 2003. After that, he was

Panagiotis Giannakis Panagiotis "Notis" Giannakis (, ; born January 1, 1959), alternatively spelled Panayiotis Yiannakis or Yannakis, is a former Greek professional basketball player and coach. He is considered to be one of the greatest sportspeople of Greece. He st ...

' assistant coach in

Maroussi Marousi or Maroussi (), also known as Amarousio (), is a city and a suburb in the northeastern part of the Athens urban area, Greece. Marousi dates back to the era of the ancient Athenian Republic; its ancient name was '' Athmonon'' () and it r ...

, and

Luka Pavićević Luka Pavićević ( sr-cyr, Лука Павићевић; born 17 June 1968) is a Montenegrin professional basketball coach and former player. Most recently, he served as the head coach for Alvark Tokyo of the Japanese B.League. A point guard, P ...

's assistant coach in

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis''), ...

. He then worked as the head coach of

, and Kolossos.

Awards and accomplishments

Achievements as a player

* 2×

Winner: (1981, 1993) * 3×

Runner-up: (1978, 1980, 1988)

Achievements as an assistant coach

* 2× Greek League Champion: (1998, 1999)

References

External links

FIBA Europe Player ProfileHellenic Basketball Federation Player Profile

Τα “κανόνια” του ελληνικού Πρωταθλήματος: Μηνάς Γκέκος

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gekos, Minas 1959 births Living people AEK B.C. players AEK B.C. coaches Apollon Patras B.C. coaches Constantinopolitan Greeks Esperos B.C. coaches Greek basketball coaches Greek men's basketball players Greek Basket League players İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi B.K. players Kolossos Rodou B.C. coaches Panathinaikos B.C. players Panionios B.C. coaches Panathinaikos B.C. non-playing staff Papagou B.C. coaches Basketball players from Istanbul Point guards Shooting guards Turkish people of Greek descent Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Greece Mediterranean Games medalists in basketball Competitors at the 1979 Mediterranean Games People from Şişli 20th-century Greek sportsmen