The Patriarch of Basketball – THE NEWS

It is a leading worldwide figure in basketball as he had a career in Italy, and in 1953, an Italian basketball magazine had distinguished him as a member of Europe’s top five, and had participation with the mixed world.

Apart from a great player, he was also a huge coach, a basketball philosopher leaving his own distinctive mark on the beloved (among many he was involved in) of the sport.

He was the man who rebuilt Olympiacos when he took his fortunes in 1967 and the team was already competing for two seasons in the Second National. In his first year on the bench of the team, he again led her to the First National and laid the groundwork for the creation of the large team of the Reds he starred in the coming years. For days, he wore the Olympic jersey, among others, Yatzoglou, Kastrinakis, Diakoulas and Melini and with him on the edge of the bench, in 1976 the Piraeus won the first double of their history, without losing a single game!

« The five in basketball is like the five fingers of a hand. The playmaker and pivot may be the main axes, but all fingers have their value. « 

Reformer

As he says in his autobiography, in the book « Phaedon Matthew 60 Years in Greek Basketball » by Cactus Publications and with the curator of Loukas Papaioannou, at Olympiacos he believes he had done the best job in his coaching career, especially because no one was involved in his team. He offered him 10,000 drachmas a month when the wages were at 2,500-3,000 drachmas, that is, as he was paid to his work as an agronomist at the Agricultural Bank. But he was not as much as the money as the Ataka: « No one will deal with your work and the department except you. No problem will be created by third parties.  »

As it did. The team returned immediately to the First National, initially ending between 4th and 5th place, rising higher up to 2nd place in 1975 losing the championship to a detail with just a point from Panathinaikos after a 63-61 defeat at the Sporting Stadium until one of the 1976s in the 1976 Cup.

It was only for his marriage!

In general, all the players who had passed through his hands remember that he never lost training.

Only once (in his tenure at Olympiacos) after a Sunday match with Pagrati and because he was on Monday, he informed the players that he would be missing on Tuesday because he had a serious job and did training with his assistant, Vangelis. Everyone started looking for which job could have been so serious to lose training.

As he revealed to them, he was missing very simply because that day he was marrying his exquisite heart, his beloved Dimitra!

The undefeated team of its 1975-1976 Olympic season that, under the guidance of Matthew, won the double. Top row, left to right: Matthaiou, Rammos, Kokorogiannis, Kastrinakis, Diakoulas, Yatzoglou. Lower row, left to right: Tsantalis, Barlas, Garonis, Melini, Spanos

Pick and roll and rhubarb

He was one of the first coaches (if not the first) to apply the famous Pick ‘n’ roll just in Papastratio’s training he gave a little Greek character telling his players that they would now play « pick and roll ».

After a home defeat by Olympiacos by AEK, he had gathered his players and said: « Today we were not a basketball team, but a theatrical troupe that even successfully uploaded Luigi Pirandello’s » Tonight Improvisation « with Luigi Pirandello. Didn’t you see what happened? Everyone did his head, we put a skirt, we got the bayonets, we shouted « air » and whoever gets the joy.  »

As a player he was the first European to launch the Hook Shot, which was still called a « ruckspeck ».

Athlete

Born in Thessaloniki on July 12, 1924, Phaedon Matthaiou is considered (and was) perhaps the most complex champion ever to appear in Greece. As he played a leading role in Polo, in the track with the team of Aris Thessaloniki, the stone, the rowing with the Thessaloniki Nautical Club, the table tennis, the tennis, the fencing and of course in basketball.

He took part as an athlete at two Olympics, in 1948 in London as a rower and in 1952 in Helsinki as a player of the National Basketball Team. Which he later led as a coach in 1960 at the Rome Olympics.

Where he was ecstatic watching the US national team, which had Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and Walt Bellamy.

He was a basketball man on Mars, while still playing in Panathinaikos, Panionios, Sporting, Varese and Banelli Pesaro.

He came from a family with sports backgrounds. His father was Manthos Matthaiou, president of Mars, who was killed during the Thessaloniki bombing by Italian planes in 1940. It was he who had secured and took the area for which the Harilaou stadium was built.

The player

He was fighting in the center position. He started from Aris Thessaloniki in 1945 and in 1949 he went to Panathinaikos with whom he won 3 championships of Greece (1950, 1951, 1954). In 1955, after a disagreement with his teammates in Panathinaikos, he left and went to Panionios and then to Sporting, returned to Panionios and later transferred to the Italian Storm Varese where he competed as a player and coach. He finished his career at Mars.

He competed in National Greece in 44 matches and scored a total of 539 points (average 12). He played in the first official race in the history of the National team in a large event in 1949 in Egypt’s Eurobasket, against the Netherlands (46-28) on May 15, 1949 in Cairo. Where he won the bronze medal with the blue whites.

On the benches

As a coach he also made a great career and went through the bench of National Men, National Women, Panionios, Peristeri, PAOK, Olympiacos, Mars (women) and others. He is considered the creator of the ARIS women’s basketball team. Unforgettable is the final Cup in 1984, which remained in history as the « final of the shaved heads » in which he was a PAOK coach.

On the eve of the match he went to see his players to see the « mission to Nicaragua » and told them that in the US the basketball players were cutting very close before a match as a sample of their team. So the same day they did the same as PAOK to make the surprise and take the trophy from Mars (74-70). He had also won three women championships with Mars (1947-49) as a coach.

He was not hesitant to … bite on the pitch when he saw his team and the nickname of « Goros » (from the gorilla), which was attributed to him by Todzos with Katsafados, fits both with the body type and with the wildlife when he was out.

The National Armed Forces was his life work, he was very friends with the great Bobby Nate and has always been ahead of his time.

He took part as an athlete at two Olympics, in 1948 in London as a rower and in 1952 in Helsinki as a player of the National Basketball Team. Which later led as a coach in 1960 at the Rome Olympics

Group and roles

Being a fan of the opera, Matthew used to recite arias and sing, trial in training, during the trips, even before or after matches, to assemble the minds of his players or to entertain the public.

When he was fighting in Varese, the whole city was enjoyed by « La Donna E Mobile » by Rigoletto and « L ‘Aurora in Blanco Vestita ».

« The coach in childhood should be a father. The coach in amateur teams must be a friend. And the coach in professional teams must be satrap ”was one of his excellence. He considered Sergei Belov as the most complete player in Europe while saying many times to his players before a crucial match: « Anyone who has a sprain and does not play in a match is a sister »!

Speaking about the concept of the team he said: « The five in basketball is like the five fingers of a hand. The playmaker and pivot may be the main axes, but all fingers have their value and if you miss one, then you are a bun.  »

While in terms of positions on the pitch: “The tall ones are the flagship in a team and the shorts are destroyers and submarines. When the regional defense does not work well, it leaves the tall exposed and forces them to be charged with a foul. If the flagship is wrecked, then the whole fleet sinks.  »