In an emotional atmosphere, Giorgos Printezis was honored by KAE Olympiacos, for his 18 years of fruitful tenure in the team. The red and white number 15 jersey was retired on the roof of the Peace and Friendship Stadium alongside that of Vassilis Spanoulis with number 7 and will not be worn by another player in the future.
The costumed Printezis initially sat on the Olympiakos bench. “Today I feel like I’m attending my own funeral,” he joked. The 12,000 sports fans who filled the SEF welcomed him with the slogan “George, psyhara, Olympiakara”.
“Human relations, love and respect count more than titles,” Printezis said from the SEF microphone. “It has been my dream since childhood to wear the Olympiakos jersey. Even after I left, I felt like I belonged here. I was raised next to a very large generation and I was lucky. Thank you for the honor of coming here. Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine such a night. Let it be a trigger and inspiration for every child, so that they never give up and believe in themselves, no matter what work you do. I had and still have people next to me who believe in me and love me and ground me”.
Printezis made a special mention of the late George Dimitropoulos, who was his first manager. “And my second father,” he added, before paying tribute to his forgiven father, Joseph. “With the love I’ve received, I feel like the highest-paid player of all time,” he said, his voice breaking. George’s mother, Chryssa, stood next to him, along with his wife Stella, and his two daughters.
Panagiotis and Giorgos Angelopoulos, Giorgos Bartzokas, Kostas Papanikolaou, Vassilis Spanoulis, Yiannis Sfeiropoulos, Milan Tomits sat in the seats set up on the floor next to the moved Printezis. “Giorgos Printezis means soul, dedication, work and duration”, commented P. Angelopoulos: “Giorgos showed me the way in many things. He has such a big heart, that he needs people close to him to offer”, emphasized K. Papanikolaou. “It was a special match for me on the field, a wink of the eye was enough for us to meet”, added V. Spanoulis. “I wish Duda Ivkovic was with us,” said Printezis himself.
At the celebratory evening entitled “A Moment To Remember”, dozens of former teammates, coaches, partners and friends of Printezis were present: Giannakis, Papaloukas, Zisis, Andits, Shkortsanitis, Pelekanos, Kambouris, Stavropoulos and many others. KAE Panathinaikos was represented by its president, Vassilis Parthenopoulos, while Maccabi’s strong man, Simon Mizrahi, was also present.
The musical background was taken over by the bouzouki soloist Michalis Paouris, who played “Fragosyriani”, as a tribute to the place of origin of Printezis. The brilliant celebration, which took place in unbearable heat, was presented by Pygmalion Dadakaridis, Thanasis Viskadurakis, Dora Pantelis.
Printezis won 2 European titles with Olympiakos crowned with the winning basket in the final against CSKA in 2012 in Istanbul, as well as 4 championships and 3 Greek Cups. He participated in 375 Euroleague games and is the 9th scorer in the history of the competition with 3599 points. In the National team he played 127 times and won a bronze medal at Eurobasket 2009 in Poland.
The evening concludes with the friendly match between Olympiakos and Maccabi. Evan Fournier was ruled out and will not play, as will Walkup, Papanikolaou. “Bring us the European”, was the command of the platform. The injured Williams-Goss, Fall, Evans were also left out of the game, while Sasha Vezenkov returned to the red and was replaced. The Israelis were booed when they were introduced on the dance floor.
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