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Georgios Trontzos

Personal information
Born	(1942-02-16) February 16, 1942 (age 82) Veria, Greece
Nationality	Greek
Listed height	7 ft 1.5 in (2.17 m)
Listed weight	240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
College	Gonzaga (1961–1963)
Playing career	1960–1980
Position	Center
Number	6
Career history
As player:
1960–1961	HAN Thessaloniki
1963–1980	AEK Athens
As coach:
1979–1980	AEK Athens
Career highlights and awards
As a player: 2× FIBA European Selection (1965, 1967) FIBA Cup Winners' Cup champion (1968) 5× Greek League champion (1964–1966, 1968, 1970) No. 6 retired by AEK Athens (2016)
Medals Representing  Greece Men's basketball Mediterranean Games 1971 Turkey Balkan Championship 1963 Greece 1969 Greece 1964 Romania 1966 Bulgaria 1967 Yugoslavia

Georgios Trontzos (alternate spelling: Giorgos) (Greek: Γιώργος Τρόντζος; ) is a retired Greek professional basketball player and basketball coach. At a height of 2.17 m (7'1 1⁄2"), he played at the center position. In honor of his great contributions to the club as a player, his number 6 jersey was retired by AEK Athens.

College career

Trontzos played college basketball in the United States at Gonzaga University, with the Gonzaga Bulldogs. He was the second 7-footer in the school's history after Jean Claude Lefebvre, a 7'3" French native, who arrived at Gonzaga in the fall of 1957.

Club career

Trontzos started playing basketball with HAN Thessaloniki (YMCA). He then moved to the Greek club AEK Athens. With AEK, he won 5 Greek League championships (1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970).

He also helped lead the team to the final four of the FIBA European Champions Cup of the 1965–66 season, which was the first time that the EuroLeague ever used a final four system, thus helping to lead a Greek team to a final four in the EuroLeague for the first time ever. He also helped to lead AEK to the championship of the European-wide 2nd-tier level FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup of the 1967–68 season, which was the first European championship won by any Greek team. He scored 24 points in the tournament's final game.

He also played in the Greek Cup Final with AEK twice, in the years 1976 and 1978. He was a member of the FIBA European Selection team, in the years 1965 and 1967.

National team career

Trontzos was also a member of the senior men's Greek national basketball team. In 136 caps played with Greece's senior men's team, he scored 1,543 points, for an average of 11.3 points per game. He played at the FIBA EuroBasket 1965, the FIBA EuroBasket 1967, the FIBA EuroBasket 1969, and the FIBA EuroBasket 1973. He also played at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments of 1964 and 1968.

He also played at the Mediterranean Games in 1967 and 1971.

Coaching career

Trontzos also coached AEK Athens, which he led to the final of the Greek Cup in 1980.

References

1. Αποσύρεται η φανέλα του Τρόντζου (in Greek).
2. Spokesman.com A tall tale.
3. The ‘Eiffel Rifle,’ Zags’ First 7-Footer Jean Claude Lefebvre Debuted in 1957 to International Fanfare
4. FIBA.com Georgios TRONTZOS (GRE).

External links

• FIBA Profile
• FIBA Europe Profile
• Hellenic Basketball Federation Profile (in Greek)

• 1942 births
• Living people
• AEK B.C. players
• AEK B.C. coaches
• Aigaleo B.C. coaches
• Basketball players with retired numbers
• Centers (basketball)
• Competitors at the 1967 Mediterranean Games
• Competitors at the 1971 Mediterranean Games
• Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball players
• Greek basketball coaches
• Greek men's basketball players
• HANTH B.C. players
• Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Greece
• Mediterranean Games medalists in basketball
• Sportspeople from Veria
• 20th-century Greek sportsmen