By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Former Greek national team and Panathinaikos head coach Kostas Politis passed away at 76 Monday (18/6) morning. He was best known for being the head coach of the Greek national team that won the EuroBasket 1987 in Athens.
Greece had never won any title at a major international tournament prior to 1987. Led by players like Nick Galis, Panagiotis Giannakis, Fanis Christodoulou and Panagiotis Fasoulas and with Politis at the helm, the Greek team beat Yugoslavia (featuring the late Drazen Petrovic, plus players such as Zarko Paspalj and young Toni Kukoc, Vlade Divac and Dino Radja) in the semifinal and then defeated USSR (a team including Sarunas Marciulonis and Valdis Valters, among others) in the title game to win the European title.
Politis also had stints with Panathinaikos and PAOK. With the Greens, he won three Greek League titles (1980-1982) plus the Cup trophies of 1979 and 1982 and also coached the team in its first run to a EuroLeague Final Four, in 1994.