\u0391RIS, the team with the yellow jersey and the God of war on the chest. ARIS, the group that brought the modern basketball in Greece and riveted all Greek fans in front of their TV screens. ARIS, the \u201cEmperor\u201d of Greek basketball and the best Greek team of the 20th century in all sports, as voted. Always destined to star, ARIS began to conquer titles just a few years after the founding of the basketball section. The 21 titles (10 Greek Championships, 8 Greek Cups and three European trophies) prove in the most eloquent way the greatness of the \u201cYellows\u201d, while the two stars above the emblem of the club brings awe. Several of the personalities in Greek basketball wore ARIS\u2019 jersey Great athletes such as Nick Galis, Panagiotis Giannakis, Phaedon Matheou, Harris Papageorgiou, and great coaches like Giannis Ioannidis and Anestis Petalidis, helped the sports history of our country to be written, while making proud not only ARIS\u2019 fans, but all Greeks. In this section are presented \u00a0some of the greatest moments of the glorious club of Thessaloniki.\u00a0
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\n1922: THE \u00abBIRTH\u00bb OF ARIS BASKETBALL
\nEight years after the foundation of A.C. Aris Thessaloniki, the basketball team of the club is \u00abb\u03bfrn\u00bb. From the first moment it showed the quality of a champion, winning five consecutive titles in the newly established League of Thessaloniki, between 1925 and 1930. Basketball was still new in Greece, first time brought by YMCA in 1919. The teams shared an open stadium and first official competitions were held in November 1925, establishing Championship of Thessaloniki. ARIS triumphed with five wins in as many matches against the YMCA, Hercules, \u00a0AEK, \u00a0V.A.O. and Jewish Akoach. The same scenery was repeated the following year, since the \u201cYellows\u201d defended the title by winning all their opponents (14-12 PAOK, Iraklis 15-4, 20-14 the YMCA and 20-8 AEK), but also in the following periods: ARIS was the absolute master in basketball in Thessaloniki and was conquering titles without defeat, even reaching some unrealistically scores. On February 9, 1930, while reaching his fifth consecutive title, thrashed Heracles with 93-7, while a month later (March 12, 1930) triumphed against PAOK with 51-12.
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\n1930: THE FIRST GREEK CHAMPIONSHIP
\nIn the period 1927-1928, begun the National Championship, among the top clubs of Thessaloniki, Athens and Piraeus, which had resulted to the spread of the reputation of ARIS. In the very first participation in the competition, ARIS finished in third place, to become champion of Greece for the first time on April 23 1930, by winning in the final , 32-22, YMCA, which hosted the event. Previously, the \u201cYellows\u201d had successively won the Near East 43-23 and Panionios 64-27. Players of that team, which was playing without a coach, were Achileous, Danelian, Dimoudis, Zografou, Iasonidis, Karatzas, Benlian and Papafotiou, while the president was Giannis Angelou.
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\n1955: THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
\nThe history of ARIS in the postwar period was linked inextricably with the name of Phaidon Matheou, who was the creator of the male and female basketball section of the club. Thanks to his contribution, the club managed to draw twice in the top of the Championship of Thessaloniki with YMCA, but was defeated both times in the game for the emergence of a champion. Since the early 50s, ARIS acquired his own outdoor stadium at Vasilissis Olgas Street, where was the base the Club of ARIS until the period 1959-1960. Within the same decade came the first international successes for the \u201cyellows\u201d, who in 1955 were invited to the international tournament of Viareggio, in Italy. There, they reached the final, losing to Red Star Belgrade 48-46 and Phaedon Mattheou became the top scorer with 129 points in 4 matches. Three years later, in 1958, the \u201cYellows\u201d participated again in a tournament in Italy, Messina (6-8 August) and in Palermo (10-12 August), returning with four cups in their luggage. That same year, in fact, they defeated in Thessaloniki and Yugoslavia champion Beogkrantski with 61-57. The cycle of international triumphs of that team closed at 1959 in Liege, Belgium, where they won the title in another international tournament, by beating in the final Antwerp with a score of 61-45. The \u201cYellows\u201d participated for the first time in an official European competition the period 1966 -1967, when ARIS competed in the Cup Winners Cup as Greece\u2019s second runner, but were excluded by the Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv. Since that season, ARIS acquired new headquarters in \u201cAlexander Sports Melathron of Thessaloniki\u201d, where they are located until now.
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\n1979: CHAMPIONS AGAIN \u2013 THE ESTABLISHMENT
\n49 years had passed since the first Championship in 1930. Since 1964 the First National Division is established and is dominated by Athen\u2019s teams, but in 1978- 1979 season, the time has come to break the status quo. While Giannis Ioannidis is making his debut on benches and Haris Papageorgiou is \u201cbombing\u201d the rival baskets, ARIS lure his opponents and with the stunning result of 24 wins \u2013 2 losses (lost only to Panathinaikos and Sporting in Athens) returns to the top. The \u201cYellows\u201d achieved outstanding victories over Olympiakos (Piraeus, the game was stopped in the 31\u2019 because Reds\u2019 fans\u2019 caused agitation with the score 54-58 in favor of ARIS, while in Alexandrio prevailed 85-82, the game which essentially decided the title), over AEK (82-83 and 91-89 in Athens, Thessaloniki), over PAOK (82-103 and 91-90 in overtime), over Hercules (66-68 and 91-84) and against Panathinaikos in Alexandrio (63-62). The team roster consisted of Alexandris (captain), Papageorgiou (top scorer of the championship with an avarage of 38 points), Cholopoulos, Skondras, Paramanidis, Ananiadis, Vamvakoudis, Kalantidis, Spartalis Nastos, Spiliotis, Voreadis, Stylianou and Degermentzis. coached by Giannis Ioannidis and the president was Apostolos Georgiadis.
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\n1979: NICK GALIS, The \u201cgod\u201d came from New Jersey
\nThe conquest of Greece Championship 1979 was the catalyst for the creation of the \u201cEmpire\u201d that swept everything in the 80s. A few months later, arrives in Thessaloniki a 23 year old Greek \u2013 American, child of migrants from Rhodes, who had emerged as the third scorer in college NCAA championship. His name? Nick Galis \u2026 Despite the pressures of the Athens\u2019 teams, Galis signs in champion ARIS and October 31, 1979 \u00a0he watches the victory of his new team over the great Maccabi Tel Aviv 104-103 in overtime. On December 2, 1979, the greatest player of all time, makes his d\u00e9but in the Greek stadiums in the victorious game against Hercules (79-78), where Nick Galis scored 30 points, although having great stress.
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\n1983: THE GOLDEN ERA BEGINS
\nWith Giannis Ioannidis back on the bench and Galis becoming permanent first scorer of the Championship, ARIS won the title in 1982-1983 season. He stayed undefeated at Alexandrio while achieving great victories over Olympiakos (109-88), \u00a0AEK (91-73), Panathinaikos (72-70 in front of 7,000 fans, in a crucial game) and PAOK (77-69 in the stadium of Larissa due to punishment ) On April 23, 1983, the return to the top becomes a reality. The roster of ARIS at that time consisted of: Paramanidis (captain), Galis (top scorer in the league), Georgiadis Doxakis, Karageorgis, Papageorgiou, Romanides Skondras Stamatis, Stylianou Toukmenidis, Tsachtanis, Tsitakis, Filipou and Christofakis, with coach Giannis Ioannidis and president Vangelis Melissaratos. The following year, ARIS is again impressive and finishes the Greek championship with 24 wins and only 2 defeats, tying in first place with Panathinaikos. However, in the historic barrage of Corfu is beaten by the \u201cGreens\u201d with 80-76, while also gets defeated at the Greek Cup final, by PAOK (74-70). During the same season, however, the \u201cyellows\u201d won in the \u201cYad Eliaou\u201d Maccabi Tel Aviv 75-76, a victory which was a huge success, but not illusory, since in Thessaloniki the team lost 62-68
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\n1985: THE FIRST \u201cDOUBLE\u201d
\nIn the summer of 1984, ARIS acquires from Ionikos Nikea the second player \u2013 legend of Greek basketball, Panagiotis Giannakis, for 40 million drachmas. The team wins the first \u201cdouble\u201d in its history. In the Championship, the \u201cYellows\u201d ended the season with 25 victories \u2013 1 defeat, losing only to Panionios (84-82, second overtime). Something similar happens in the Greek Cup, where ARIS crashes every opponent. So, on May 9, 1985 won in the Peace and Friendship Stadium the first Cup, and the first \u201cdouble\u201d in its history, by beating Panathinaikos 86-70 in a magical evening by Giannakis (8\/12 three-pointers, 37 points) and by Galis (33), who together achieved the same number of points that all the opposing team had score. At the same time, this becomes the starting point for major European paths of the club, since the \u201cyellows\u201d exclude in the Korac Cup teams with European tradition, such as the Yugoslav Zadar, the French Le Mans and the Italian Livorno. However, on the eve of the semifinal with the great Italian Tsaokrem Varese, Nick Galis broke his hand and was forced to watch from the bench the first game. Despite his absence, ARIS prevails with 80-77 in front of 6,500 fans, with a three pointer by Yiannakis at the end of time, but succumbs in rematch with 95-71.
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\n1988: THE FIRST Final Four
\nARIS has now become the absolute dominant in Greece, winning successive Championships, Cups and his ambitions are no longer limited within the borders. With the addition of Lefteris Subotic from the period 1986-1987, the \u201cYellows\u201d require subsequent European champion, Italian Tracer Milan, the heaviest defeat in its history with 98-67 and show their potential, even if at the second game the Italians outweigh the handicap of 31 points and qualify (83-49). The following year, 1987-88, ARIS is ready to claim the European title. With two pretty tough victories over the Swiss Pigi, is qualifying to the group with the eight best teams in the Champions Cup and shows that fears no rival: triumphs over Barcelona in \u201cPalau Blaugrana\u201d, 88-89 after a stunning appearance of Galis (45 points) and \u00a0key three-pointers by Yiannakis and Subotic in the last minute, forcing the holder of the title, Tracer Milan, to bow in Alexandrio with score 120-95 (50 points scored Galis and 37 Subotic with 7 three-pointers) also wins the finalists of last year Maccabi Tel Aviv 93-77 and Partizan Belgrade 96-85 in the game that marked the qualifying to the Final Four in Ghent. ARIS, for the sake of which Alexandrio is full 4 and 5 hours before the begging of each game and monopolizes the interest of whole Greece every Thursday, travels in Belgium with a large number of fans with big dreams. But in the semifinal of \u201cFlanders Expo\u201d loses to Tracer of Bob Makadu with 87-82, after a dramatic game. Two days later, in the small final against Partizan Belgrade, ARIS loses also (105-93). The passion of the team\u2019s fans, however, even forced the commissar of the NBA, David Stern, to express his admiration.
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\n1989: THE SECOND Final Four \u2013 MUNICH
\nThe permanent Champion of Greece, even more thirsty for European recognition after the adventure of Gent, started once more as one of the favorites to reach the Final Four in Munich. Having only one home defeat in the Champions Cup group from Maccabi Tel Aviv, but two wins against CSKA Moscow and Dutch Den Helder, the \u201cYellows\u201d have ensured their presence in the final phase winning the Jugoplastica Split 96-85. In the semifinal of Munich, having the support of more than 6,000 fans, the team of Gannis Ioannidis made a great performance against Maccabi Tel Aviv and until 28\u2019 was controlling the game, 68-60. However, a conflict at that point of the race disorientated players of ARIS and Israelis took advantage of the situation to make the come back and get the win by 99-86. In the small final, the \u201cYellows\u201d thrashed Barcelona 88-71, showing that they deserved something better.
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\n1990: THE THIRD Final Four \u2013 ZARAGOZA
\nIn 1989-1990 season, after a spectacular run in the first round of Champions Cup, which was marked by the great away victory over European Champions Jugoplastica Split (85-89),ARIS makes history, becoming the first team to ensure for the third consecutive year its presence to the Final Four. The defeat from the Jugkoplastica in Alexandrio, in the final game of the group, brought the \u201cYellows\u201d face to face in the semifinal against Barcelona, \u200b\u200bwhich emerged as the undisputed favorite, given that the final phase was taking place in Zaragoza, Spain. Despite the good start and the unique support 2,500 fans, ARIS was unable to resist the Catalans and lost 104-83, while at the small final that followed was defeated by the French Limoges with \u00a0103-91, finishing fourth.
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\n1993: AT THE TOP OF EUROPE
\nThe dawn of the new decade marked the fall of the \u201cempire\u201d of ARIS, after seven straight championships (1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991), and also six Greek Cups (1985, 1987, 1988, 1989 , 1990, 1992). Indeed, the 1991-1992 season was very difficult because there were administrative turmoil (three different presidents), coaching changes (four different to the \u201cwheel\u201d with Ioannidis having already left), gaming problems (abstentions of players, due to financial problems) .The only joyful moment was winning the Greek Cup, beating in the final AEK with 74-62. But that game was proved to be the last of Nick Galis with the yellow jersey after 13 years of unfailing presence, which was full of group and individual discriminations. However, the first season without the gifted scorer, was to be followed by the coveted European title. Starring Roy Tarpley, the best foreign player who had played until that time in Greece, the \u201cYellows\u201d made it to the Winners Cup having 9 victories \u2013 1 defeat and sealed the ticket to the final by winning twice Zaragoza (84 -86 Spain, 82-66 in Thessaloniki). The appointment with history was given on March 16, 1993 in Turin, against Turkish Efes Pilsen. With more than 5,000 fans on their side, Svi Surf\u2019s players prevailed in a tough fight, characterized by the lowest score ever in a European Cup final (50-48). The trophy raised in glorification Giannakis, who had as his supporters Tarpley, Anderson, Gasparis, Misounov, Ioannou, Angelidis Vourtzoumis, Moraitis and Paralikas.
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\n1997: THE GREAT STRUCTURE OF PROUSA
\nFour years later the time had come for the winning of another European Cup. This time was the Korac Cup. The arrival of great foreign players like Jose Ortiz, Charles Shackleford and of course \u201ccrazy Italian\u201d Mario Boni, combined with the Greek internationals Liadelis, Angelidis, Sioutis, significantly strengthened ARIS and his team demonstrated its quality in Europe. The \u201cyellows\u201d successively ruled out Besiktas (Turkey 64-65, 77-64 in a dramatic rematch), Beompanka (82-68 in Thessaloniki, 70-61 in Yugoslavia), Peristeri (75-65 in Thessaloniki, 71- 64 the rematch, with the injured Shackleford giving a shocking performance) to reach the semifinals. They faced the Italian Benetton Treviso, who in the previous phase had ruled out PAOK. In the first game, in Thessaloniki, the \u201cYellows\u201d won with the fragile 77-73, but at the rematch they survived and managed to lead the game to overtime. In extra time, Boni took action and the final 87-86 gave the formal qualification in team of Subotic, making Greeks go crazy. The opponent in double final of Korac Cup, was the Turkish Tofas Bursa, which made the big surprise in the first final, by winning in Thessaloniki 66-77. Nothing, however, has finished yet. In the rematch of Bursa, ARIS \u00abtransformed\u00bb and having a stunning second-half, outweighs the difference, reaching 70-88 triumphant, despite the hostile atmosphere. Angelidis Liadelis, Sioutis, Boni Ortiz, Shackleford, Stavrakopoulos, Nachar, Floros and Cholopoulos, as of course the coach Lefteris Subotic, pass in the history of the club, raising the Greek flag inside Turkey.
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\n2003: THE SECOND STAR IN JERSEY
\nIn 1998 ARIS won the Greek Cup by beating AEK of Giannis Ioannidis 71-68 in the final, in front of his fans, but the change of the millennium accompanied by swelling of the financial and administrative problems. Signs of recovery, however, began to emerge during the 2002-03 season, when the \u201cYellows\u201d manage to win the 20th title in the history of the club. To accomplish this, they had two chances. The first was given to ARIS with the qualification of the Final Four of the Greek Cup, but the final against Panathinaikos did not have the desired outcome. Instead, the outcome was different to the Final Four of the FIBA \u200b\u200bChampions Cup, in Alexandrio. In front of top personalities of world basketball (Vassilacopoulos, Martsoulionis) and living legends as Galis, Giannakis Ioannidis Petalidis, Papageorgiou, the Vangelis Alexandris\u2019 \u00abYellows\u00bb prevailed 84-83 on the Polish Prokom Trefl in a shocking final, thanks to an offensive rebound and field goal of Miro Raicevic 4 \u201d before the end of the game. Captain Giannis Lappas, the star of the team, Willie Solomon, and Stack, Likcholitof, Gkagkaloudis, Nikolaidis, Grgat, Angelov, Kakaroudis lifted the trophy, which added the second star on the jersey of the team.
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\n2003: TURNING THE PAGE WITH \u201cGENESIS\u201d
\nAt the end of that season, ARIS entered a new path with the founding of \u201cGENESIS\u201d. A group of prominent ARIS\u2019 fans took the initiative to take in their own hands the future of the team, which was now free of debts and the mistakes of the past, with the ambition to lead ARIS to the top again. The season 2003-04 ARIS won it\u2019s 21st trophy. After an eventful final, that was interrupted for two hours due to incidents and was completed after emptying the gym, ARIS won Olympiakos 73-70, at \u201cChalkiopouleio Stadium\u201d at Lamia and added his 8th Greek Cup at his collection.
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\n2006: BACK TO EUROLEAGUE
\nThe next step was the return of the team to the top club competition in Europe. The \u00abticket\u00bb for the participation in Euroleague became reality at the season 2005-06. With Andrea Mazzon at the technical leadership, the \u201cyellows\u201d tried to secure the ticket to the Euroleague initially through the ULEB Cup, having reached the final of Charleroi, Belgium, but defeated by Dinamo Moscow 73 -60. The big goal, however, was accomplished through the Greek Championship. In the series of small finals against Maroussi, ARIS was the one who prevailed with 3-2 victories, winning the last game in a closed St. Thomas Stadium, with score 59-63. The return to the \u201csalons\u201d, in the season 2006-07, after an absence of 14 whole years, combined with very good performances until the \u201cTop 16\u2033 of the competition. In Greece, with 21 wins and 5 losses in regular season , the \u201cyellows\u201d recorded their best year since 1991 by finishing in 2nd place. In the semifinals, however, they were unable to exploit the home advantage against Olympiakos, from which they lost in the fifth and last game, 75-83. ARIS won the privileged third place, after 5 games against Panionios, but the team of Andrea Mazzon won easily the last of them (73-60) and renewed the participation at the Euroleague. In season 2007-08, with Gordon Herbert at the bench, ARIS reached once again until the \u201cTop 16\u2033 of the Euroleague. In Greece, the ending of the season 2007-08 was bad, after the team was eliminated by Maroussi in the first round of the playoffs. In the season 2008-09, ARIS finished in the 3rd place of the regular season of the Greek championship but lost the privileged 3rd place in the small finals of the playoffs against Maroussi. In the fifth game, in Alexandrio, the team of Andrea Mazzon was defeated, 72-76. However, due to the strong brand name of ARIS and to the extraordinary support of it\u2019 s fans, Euroleague invited the club in the preliminary phase of the competition, through Wild Card. Despite reinforcement with players the like Nikos Hatzivrettas, Dimos Dikoudis and Michalis Kakiouzis, ARIS failed to secure a place in the groups of the competition, since he was eliminated by Maroussi in the first round of the preliminary phase. In the following years, from the team\u2019 s bench will pass coaches such as Fotis Katsikaris, David Blatt, Sharon Drucker, Lefteris Subotic and Vangelis Alexandris. The season 2009-2010, ARIS- coached by David Blat- was excluded from the Euroleague from Maroussi but reached and \u201cTop 8\u2033 in Eurocup, and lost the qualification to the semifinals to Valencia. In the second match held in Thessaloniki on March 24, 2010, the Spanish team won 64-71. In the years that followed (2010-12), ARIS played again in the Eurocup, and reached the Top 16 of the tournament.\u00a0
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\n2012-2015: THE CHANGE, THE PROBLEMS AND THE NEW ERA OF LASKARIS
\nAt administrative level, ARIS changed page after 13 years of presidency of John Damianides. The latter leaves the club and the team gets a Court appointed Administration, with Eleftherios Arvanitis as the President, with Theodore Kouroglou as Vice President and Christos Galileas, Lari Petromelidis and Theodore Emmanouilidis as members. The year 2012-2013 will be very difficult for the team that dominated for many years in the Greek and European basketball and wrote with “golden” letters its history, as the economic problems are many amid European and global economic crisis. Indeed, it is only the second year-after 2001 when ARIS will be absent from Europe, after 33 years. The 2011-12 season, was the beggining of a three-year period marked by severe economic problems and moderate performances in Greece championship. Aris took the 7th place out of 13 teams and competed at the EuroCup, where they qualified to the phase of ’16’ and then disqualified with one win in six matches. The following year, the financial liabilities led to the ban on transfers of foreign players, forcing the group to fight with Greek athletes only, except from the Jeremy Hunt, who last season had played in K.A.O. Drama and Bosnian Muhammad Pasalits. Aris took the sixth place in the championship, losing in the last match to qualify to the Final-Four, from Panionios. In 2013-14, ARIS continued to struggle with expatriates athletes, and took seventh place, losing in the playoffs to Olympiakos. The only glimpse of that year was the cup, in which they beat away PAOK 63-71 in the quarterfinals and Panionios at home by 88-79 in the semifinals, to finally lose in the final at Heraklion from Panathinaikos with 90- 53, despite the fact that in the first half the score was 40-40. In the 2014-15 season, the coach Dimitris Priftis created a homogenous group, based around Alexander Vezenkof, who emerged top scorer and second rebounder of the championship. Aris took fourth place in the regular season, remaining there after the confrontations of the playoffs against AEK, Olympiakos and PAOK. The course of this gave him the opportunity to return to European competitions, participating in the 2015-16 Eurocup. Shortly before the end of the season, it became known that the businessman Nikos Laskaris bought the team, keeping at the helm of the club Lefteris Arvanitis.
\nARIS is one of the most historic clubs in Greece and has rightly been described as the “Emperor” of Greek basketball. ARIS, however, apart from that, is always there for the society with longstanding charitable work. Through Charity Idols, ARIS decided to support the SOS Children’s Village in Plagiari<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"