FILE PHOTO
Chris Tsiotos (far right) was honored by Winthrop High when the school named its basketball court after him.
By HAROLD RIVERA
WINTHROP — Chris Tsiotos embodied the values within Viking pride in his days as a standout basketball player and student at Winthrop High School.
Thursday night, Tsiotos was honored for his commitment to Viking pride when the basketball court at Winthrop High was named “Chris Tsiotos Court” in his honor.
A number of speakers took to the podium at Thursday’s ceremony to offer their congratulations to Tsiotos, who went onto play college basketball at Suffolk University and then later at the professional level in Greece. The speakers also shared some of their fondest memories with Tsiotos, both on and off the court.
Among those who spoke were Winthrop Public Schools superintendent John Macero, Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Robert DeLeo, longtime Winthrop sports announcer Jim Lederman, current boys basketball coach David Sacco and former Suffolk men’s basketball coach and athletic director James Nelson.
In speaking to those in attendance DeLeo noted that although Tsiotos was an outstanding basketball player, his commitment to the Winthrop community has never gone unnoticed.
“This is one guy that truly never forgot his roots,” DeLeo said. “To this day he’s still involved in this community. If you’re ever looking for someone to make this a better place to live, that’s Chris Tsiotos.”
Tsiotos’ older brother, Nick, also spoke. Nick Tsiotos starred alongside his brother to form a strong tandem at Winthrop, and then rejoined him at Suffolk after a season at Salem State.
“We’re very honored that the Winthrop School Committee voted unanimously to give this honor to my brother, Chris,” Nick Tsiotos said. “I think we’re just a reflection to the community. We have a great debt of gratitude to our teachers, our principal and our coaches.”
After concluding his speech Nick gave the floor to his younger brother, who acknowledged that he couldn’t have accomplished his handful of feats without the teammates that aided him along the way. Many of his Viking teammates were in attendance.
“There was no ‘I’ in team with my teammates,” Tsiotos said. “These guys are still my friends today and many of them are here tonight.”
In his three seasons with the Vikings varsity basketball team, 1971-1973, Tsiotos scored 1,003 points. He’s one of 11 Winthrop 1,000-point scorers.
“I’m lucky to be associated with such great people,” Tsiotos said. “I’m humbled by this honor and I wish future generations of Vikings great success on this court.”