The Eurobasket started almost quietly, in an unsuspecting Athens and scorched by the unprecedented heat that hit the country. The first match of the National Team against Romania had not moved so many people, as a result the brand new Peace and Friendship Stadium to have enough empty seats in its platforms. The event was at the center of sports news, but initially it was aimed at the die-hard basketball fans. Within 12 days it would change all of Greece, which would suddenly become "first in all of Europe", with a wonderful team taking thousands of people out into the street, who might have never caught the orange ball in their lives.
In the course of these two weeks, the tickets became objects of desire for those who had not taken care to secure them, they were sold at double and triple prices on the black market of Omonia, they even caused fainting spells, later ... well-known columnists of 24media, the 12 international and Kostas Politis, became an amalgamation of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, causing pandemonium in every public appearance, for their sake we saw the political leadership together for the first time on the field, while for the victory over the Soviet Union in the final, the Holy Synod prayed!
Is true. On June 15, 1987, a different Greece dawned. Overnighted by the festivities, two or three points taller, happy and somehow better than all the rest of the Europeans. It didn't happen to her often, it didn't happen again and many times in the future, it was like an electric shock to the whole society.
Panagiotis Fasoulas, in the foreword to my book "87 Nothing stopped us" (released in 2017, by Physical Goods of 24Media) wrote:"I think there is no Greek who has experienced this festival and does not remember exactly where he was once it ended the final with the Soviet Union. It was the first time that Greece felt capable, that it understood that it could be the star somewhere so much that in the end it was the first of all. We were all unsuspecting. Both we who played, and those who they came to see us, or watched us on TV. Unsuspecting, innocent but also ready to accept challenges one by one".
The former international center and candidate for president of the basketball federation is right, exactly 34 years after the miracle of Eurobasket, a milestone for Greek sports and modern Greek history. For those who lived through the era, the date 1987 does not bring to mind the deadly heat wave with 1000 dead, or the very little war conflict with Turkey, but the national team's gold medal. Galis, Giannakis, Fasoula, Fanis.
The magnitude of the success, with the current data, cannot be accurately estimated. The impact on society was huge hence the huge popularity of the athletes as well as the preoccupation of the country's brightest minds with their feat. From the anonymous fans who ran to the fountain of Omonia, to spiritual people, who wrote articles in the Sunday newspapers, the "effort of the national team" had its own, special meaning.
Perhaps for this reason, the triumph of that June, remained indelible through the passage of time. Many sporting successes followed (both in basketball itself and in other sports) '87 remains there, sacred and sacred, which no one has ever dared to deconstruct. This explains the widespread outrage at the jokes recently uttered by Sarunas Martsoulionis, then a young star of the Soviet Union, now an NBA veteran and an elected MEP in Lithuania (he resigned immediately after his election, considering that he did not have the formal qualifications for the role )...
They even sent them underwear...
The internationals also woke up differently, the heroes of the dream victory, who within ten days had entered the homes of all Greece with every family considering them their own children. "If elections were held in Greece and we nominated, we would form a government" Nikos Galis declares to "Fos ton Spor" and he is right. Everyone wants to thank them for the great moments they lived together. Some, like Michalis Romanidis, are opening an account at the Bank for the first time! With the Eurobasket premium, his family bought an apartment in Thessaloniki.
No one started playing basketball for money, but what they achieved by beating Yugoslavia twice, for the first time against Italy and in the final against the Soviet Union (a year later they became Olympic gold medalists), makes them rich among others. The group shares approximately 200 million drachmas. The amount is legendary, considering that the base salary in 1987 was about 36,900 Dr.
Giannis Latsis offers the most, as on the morning of June 15, at the national team's hotel-strategy, the famous John's in Glyfada, every international is waiting for a check of 2 million dollars. The Greek shipowner sends a trusted man, on the eve of the semi-final with Yugoslavia, to meet Kostas Politis. At first the federal coach thinks he wanted to ask for tickets, but he is wrong. The envoy of Giannis Latsis reveals the intention of the "captain" to give a premium of 500,000 drachmas to each player of the team, in case of qualifying for the final,
"And if we play well and get the gold, I give 2 million to each player" was the message of Latsis, who later after the triumph asked Politis for the videotape of the final. He wanted to send it to ... the king of Saudi Arabia, who could not believe that "ten million defeated two hundred". At the same time he gives the Greek coach a letter asking him never to share it. Something like a secret that only the two of them knew.
Yiannis Latsis passed away in 2003. Two years later, within the framework of the EEC-Eurobank cooperation, the late Politis made public the letter, from which a few lines are read. It is a poem, written by the shipowner, inspired by the course of the National Team. Of course, he is not the only one offering money to the National Team. Businessmen, the State, the federation, artists like Marinela give their premiums.
Whatever the mind can imagine, the internationals got. Televisions, cars, furniture for the home, or ... the terrace. One company even sends them underwear! The hoteliers association of Rhodes invites the whole team for a vacation, while similar proposals come from Mykonos, Spetses, Crete. All of Greece wants to embrace the children of Eurobasket. Named and anonymous, rich and poor, send telegrams, flowers, express their love in every way.
The appeal of the team, the gel to the general public and not only to the fans, grew along with the tournament. One victory followed another, the SEF was suffocatingly full and in the end the team bus was almost carried in the hands of the thousands who wanted to celebrate with the athletes.
In the middle of the era, they turned their searchlights towards Glyfada, where not only the basketball reporters went, but also the heavy artillery of the newspapers. Eleftherotypia sends Giorgos Mavro (with worldwide successes, such as interviews with Ayatollah Khomeini and Leh Walesa) to talk to Panagiotis Fasoula and Argyris Kambouris, who reveals that at the beginning of his career, he worked as a plasterer (because of his height he specialized on the ceilings with the floor brush).
As for Fasoula, he does not hide his surprise, seeing the great journalist at the hotel. The dialogue as captured in the newspaper:
- How from here Mr. Black?
- I would like an interview, Panagiotis...
- Our honor Mr. Mavre, that we even moved political editors...
Advertising and the NBA...
The team players slowly realize their success. From the captain Panagiotis Giannakis, to Panagiotis Karatzas, who was competing in AO Pagratiou of the A2 category, they know that their lives have changed for good. The premium for Eurobasket gives them financial comfort. The basketball that changes, makes them professionals. Nikos Galis, of course, has been around for years. When he was asked at the Fan Character Committee, what is his profession, he answers basketball player and raises the ... eyebrows of the seriously irresponsible.
It's no surprise that Nick doing ball tricks, playing backgammon (his favorite pastime) advertises PURE milk. The company talks together for several months, until they sign and the ad airs in April 1988
However, Fanis Christodoulou, who promotes the Eurobasket 87 snacks, which have been forgotten in the oblivion of time, also advertises. Fanis moves the girls, who line up to get his autograph, but he doesn't know that he has also moved ... the NBA. The Atlanta Hawks, at the end of the summer, send him a signed contract. If he wants, he takes the plane and goes to the USA to play professional basketball, making history.
At first he is excited, he is ready to say yes, but in the end he will answer no. Three decades later, he still has the Hawks contract as a memento. To see it and admit that this refusal to become a "hawk" in Atlanta "is the biggest mistake of his life
In both Galis' and Fanis' ad, the iconic Final Countdown, a single by Europe, which was released a year before and became number 1 in 25 countries, including Great Britain, is heard. Nikos Sismanidis chooses it to accompany the team's entry into the SEF playing field and the song evolves into the anthem of the national team and basketball in general. Even now at major events it is heard, along with Queen's We are the Champions.
A social phenomenon
From the moment Fasoulas embraced Melina Merkouris and the flashes of the photographers flashed, immediately after the second victory over Yugoslavia in the final, the politicians realized that "something is happening" in SEF. The final brought the state and political leadership to Faliro. The government of Andreas Papandreou (he went to the stadium for the first and last time, in his last appearance next to his wife at the time, Margarita), the opposition of Konstantinos Mitsotakis, who had given huge fights for the election of the president of the Republic, Christos Sargetakis .
And while the government, through the mouth of Sifi Valyrakis, who recently passed away, announced a program that it had not ... planned, because it simply did not expect the gold medal, intellectual people, columnists, scientists and others, tried to analyze the social phenomenon which they saw it unfold before them.
The author Menis Koumantareas states in Eleftherotypia that "the people immersed in the impasse of boredom and everyday life, got the opportunity, for the first time through victory, to live a dream that everyone would want for themselves".
In Ethnos tis Kyriaki (21/6/1987) Minos Argyrakis he paints Galis, Giannakis, Fasoulas as little angels and writes about the miracle of the National Team:"Maybe the goal was victory, but the means was the struggle with the giants of European Basketball. For me it was a fortnight of magic. An illusion euphoria and prosperity prevailed in the country. A regime of mental upliftment was imposed, which we did not even see in our sleep. We had three guardian angels, Galis, Giannakis, Fasoula, like Saints above our heads, or rather inside our television! They their partners would solve our little problems every night. Tomorrow, along with the videos, we'll be buying basketball courts for our cottages." The great painter was not far wrong. We didn't buy courts in the country houses, we used a basketball anyway for two, three, four good shots.
Professor Manolis Andronikos , writes a monumental article in the Sunday Vima, entitled "Anaxiforminges Hymns" inspired by the ancient poet Pindar:"We can only say that these children gave us the most incredible gift:the happiness of an entire people, which they "put aside" for a few days "passed the biotic concern" and understood "with all the soul" that it is worth living for the "useless and the useless", for a dream, an idea, in a delirium as charming as listening to a musical symphony, or as if you see a beautiful painting".
The political columnist of "Neon", Angelos Stagos, praises Nikos Galis on one page, concluding with a sentence:"Someone once said in the stadium that Nikos Galis is the most serious Greek. I will not go to that exaggeration, but he certainly belongs to the top five known serious Greeks. And maybe one day the "Gali award" should be established for the successful professionals of various fields. Until then, let him be an example for the "professionals" and agents of all sports - but not only - in Greece".
We did not establish Gali awards. Nick became a song (the golden children of Galis, by Dionysis Savvopoulos) or a verse ("you called again when I was seeing Galis, give me a break" in "Parta Lisa" by Stamatis Kraunakis) and remains, 34 years later, with the his teammates the best memory. The moment that changed Greek sports and a large part of our lives...