The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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78 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY TIM PEELER T he 1985-86 NC State basketball season featured the greatest one-and-done in- ternational player in NC State basketball history: Panagiotis Fasoulas. Arriving practically unannounced from Thessaloniki, Greece, "Pano" was a 7-foot center with a gloriously floppy mop of shoulder-length hair. He had a bright smile he flashed whenever someone asked a question he didn't understand, which hap- pened quite frequently when his Greek background met with southern sports- writers, one who was actually nicknamed "Country." He could block shots by the dozens. He had a decent baby hook shot. He never passed, at least not to someone who made a shot. He went the entirety of his only sea- son at NC State without an assist. Had he been available to play in the NCAA Tournament, head coach Jim Val- vano may have won his second national championship. This past December, Pano's daughter Mariella Fasoula, a junior center for the Vanderbilt women's basketball team, re- turned to the place of her father's great- est college basketball glory to face Wes Moore's Wolfpack women at Reynolds. "My dad loved NC State, and he loved his coach," Fasoula said before the game, in which she scored 12 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and was credited with no assists. "He talked about it all the time when I was growing up." Fasoula — whose name is sans "S" because the Greek language uses differ- ent feminine and masculine surnames — vaguely remembers seeing her dad play during his successful European profes- sional career. He retired when she was just 3, so her recollection of the superstar known as "The Spider" for his spindly legs and arms are opaque at best. There was something electric about the big Greek center whom Valvano found one day in the shadow of the Acropolis, when the coach took his 1983-84 team on a pre- season tour of Greece. Fasoulas played two games against the Pack, one for his club team and one for the Greek National Team. The 7-0, 225-pound center with the size 17 shoes played well against Charles Shackleford, Chris Wash- burn and the rest of the Wolfpack lineup in those two games. So well, in fact, that Valvano said, "If you are ever in the States and are looking for a place to play, I'll have a spot for you." Fasoulas had played the 1980-81 season at Hellenic College — where else would a native of Greece go to play basketball? — a junior college seminary in Brookline, Mass., leading them to an undefeated season. And then he left, dissatisfied with the level of competition. Four years later, he spent a two-week vacation with some old friends in Boston. He called Valvano up and said, "I'm here." Unfortunately, the coach had 15 schol- arship players, and the spot he promised Fasoulas was not available. Suddenly, in September, junior forward Russell Pierre announced he was leaving NC State for Virginia Tech, and Pano's path to NC State was cleared. He enrolled in school and began practicing with his former foes a few weeks later. For whatever reason, Fasoulas became a big fan favorite. He was a big, gregarious man of intrigue. Students came to games wearing frizzy Pano wigs. He played the entire season with his name misspelled on the back of his jersey as "Fascoulas." (When someone pointed it out to Valvano, he said, "Hell, he'll never see it.") A wily Technician sports editor and an editor for The Wolfpacker noticed that through more than a dozen games, Pano had not recorded a single official assist. The student paper began publishing the weekly "Pano Watch," tallying up his op- portunities. He never did get one in his 29 games with the Wolfpack. Fasoulas never started a single game, coming off the bench as a substitute for Shackleford and Washburn. The last time was in the regular-season finale at No. 14 Oklahoma, when students and fans taunted him mercilessly before the game ever started, causing him to go after an entire student section. He was held back by his teammates and an arena security guard. Then, in the postseason, the Spider dis- appeared, lost in a web of confusion. He didn't play in the Wolfpack's 64-62 loss to Virginia in the first round of the ACC Tournament. He was not dressed out for NCAA Tournament wins against Iowa and Arkansas-Little Rock. When asked, Val- vano said Fasoulas had a back injury. As it turns out, though, Fasoulas was being held out of postseason games be- cause NC State athletics director Willis Casey was worried that the big Greek cen- ■ PACK PAST Panagiotis Fasoulas Is Still NC State Basketball's Best International One-And-Done Fasoulas backed up big men Chris Washburn and Charles Shackleford during the 1985-86 campaign, and averaged 3.4 rebounds and 2.3 points in 29 regular-season games. He also led the team in blocked shots, averaging 1.9 a game despite only playing 11.0 minutes per contest. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS "My dad loved NC State, and he loved his coach. He talked about it all the time when I was growing up." ■ Pano's daughter Mariella Fasoula