Gus Ganakas


Augustus George "Gus" Ganakas was an American sports broadcaster and Michigan State Spartans men's basketball coach. He was the head coach there from 1969 to 1976.

Early life

Ganakas was born on July 3, 1926 in Mount Morris, New York to Greek immigrant parents, Edward and Eugenia, who owned the "Chocolate Shop" on Main Street. He and his siblings, Helen, Jim, Mike, and Katherine work tirelessly to help their parents. It was here that Gus learned the values of hard work, commitment to family, humility, selflessness, and respect for others. His father died when he was ten years old. Gus continued to help support and care for his mother by working in the Chocolate Shop. Gus graduated from Mount Morris High School in 1944, where his love of academics and sports provided him opportunities to develop his coaching skills. He excelled in soccer, basketball and baseball.
He attended Michigan State University from 1946 to 1950 after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Career

Gus taught and coached basketball at East Lansing High School, where he won the 1958 State of Michigan High School Championship, posting an undefeated season. In 1964 he became the Coordinator of the Ralph Young Fund, MSU's athletic fund-raising organization. A passion for sports led him back to the world of basketball when Coach John Benington hired him as his MSU assistant basketball coach in 1966. Three years later, with the sudden death of Coach Benington, Gus became the head basketball coach for the Spartans, from 1969 to 1976, compiling an 89–84 record. He was dismissed as head coach due to a lack of success with player recruiting on March 16, 1976. Also he trained in Uruguay.
As of the 2015-16 season, Ganakas had spent 31 years as a radio analyst on the Spartan Sports Network. He was an active member of the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association. From 1976 to 1998, he served as assistant athletics director and from 1998 to 2000, Ganakas served as a special assistant to head coach Tom Izzo, directing the activities surrounding Michigan State basketball's centennial in 1998–99.
In 2002, Ganakas became the sixth recipient of the Men's Basketball Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Personal life and death

Ganakas was married to his wife Ruth who died in 2014.
Ganakas resided in the Lansing area. He died on January 11, 2019.

Head coaching record

College