Memorial day for Panathinaikos: Six years since the day Pavlos Giannakopoulos “left” – The KAE post

This particular day will forever be engraved in the minds of all those who love Panathinaikos, but also of all the friends of Greek sports.

It’s already been six years and yet it seems like it was “yesterday”… You see, it’s impossible to realize that everyone’s favorite, Pavlos Giannakopoulos, left us. “Mr. Paul”, as the simple sports fan called him, our “Mr. Paul”. We will forever feel that he is here, among us, through the memories and moments of joy and glory that seem impossible to list one by one.

The leading factor in the Club’s history began his involvement with basketball in 1987 and was to change the course of the history of the sport in our country, making our Panathinaikos the leading team in Europe. He was the one who brought to Greece world-class athletes that no one could have ever imagined they would have the opportunity to watch up close. He was the one who drastically changed the sporting status of Greece, turning it into the center of basketball on the planet. That is why he was, is and will forever remain the Patriarch of our Panathinaikos!

Pavlos Giannakopoulos was born on August 20, 1929 and passed away on June 10, 2018, exactly 31 years after the day he first became president of the Panathinaikos Athletic Club (10/6/1987) and 47 years after the first official his involvement as an administrative factor of the Association, in 1971. He was the man who, together with his family, changed the history of sports in the country and of course Panathinaikos basketball, as under his leadership the Association conquered the top of Europe six times and made it known the “clover” at the ends of the entire universe (conquest of the Intercontinental Championship of 1996).

With his faithful companion, his wife, Despina, he managed through great difficulties and countless hours of involvement with the Association to see his dream come true. The six European trophies and the countless titles in Greece reduced Panathinaikos to the most successful team of the old continent, with the vision of Pavlos Giannakopoulos and his family taking shape after enormous efforts and sacrifices for the good of the Association. Pavlos Giannakopoulos left behind his son, Dimitris, as a worthy successor and with him at the “helm”, the European trophies of our Panathinaikos became seven in May 2024 in Berlin…

Pavlos Giannakopoulos’ love for Panathinaikos began at an early age, however he officially joined its ranks in 1971. Five years later (1976), he assumed the position of general manager and first vice-president, while during the same year, he was and General Secretary, always helping Panathinaikos selflessly in all sports in every way. 1987 was by all accounts a landmark year for the sport in our country and a source of inspiration for all Greeks, as winning the Eurobasket put the “germ” of the sport into every household. Then, Pavlos Giannakopoulos decided to lead the basketball department of Panathinaikos. Thus, history began to change and from the historical… soils of the Avenue and the “Tafou tou Indus” (on 23/9/2015 it was renamed to closed “Pavlos Giannakopoulos”) led him to the top, developing him over time the time.

From the first day of his employment, he was thinking about how he would manage to create a team that would make the name of the Association known throughout the world, having to compete with great forces of the time and then many other factors, until he reached the top. Pavlos, with stubbornness, persistence, vision, foresight and having as a great weapon his pathological love for the “clover”, would succeed in bringing the biggest names of the sport to Greece. Where to start and where to stop…

Dreams that came true and others that were never fulfilled, such as the transfer of Drazen Petrovic, whom Pavlos brought to Greece, but God had other plans for “Mozart”, in June 1993. World basketball legends came to the country us to wear the shirt of Panathinaikos, with the acquisition of Dominic Wilkins being to date the biggest transfer ever made in Europe. A day when the name “Panathinaikos” caused a global earthquake, while it is typical that more than 12,000 fans of the Club attended Wilkins’ first training session at OAKA. The movement, also, of the legend of the Greek basketball, Nikos Galis, was the first topic in the European sports news in the summer of 1992!

Throughout his career at Panathinaikos, he saw huge names in the sport as well as top Greek athletes sitting on the bench and wearing the team’s shirt, but he never treated Panathinaikos as a business.