Dr. Nikos Michalis Spanakos

Olympian | Businessman​

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Personal History

Dr. Nikos graduated from P.S. 102 in 1952 and from Fort Hamilton High School in 1956. He went on to Albertson College of Idaho on a boxing scholarship and graduated in 1960. In 1960 he became a member of the 1960 Olympic Boxing team in Rome, Italy. His team and roommate was Mohammed Ali. Later on, he earned his doctorate in Business Administration at Heed University. From 1952-1964, Nikos, a featherweight, 126 pounds, won over 200 fights with 30 boxing titles from the AA, Military, NCAA, PAL and the Parks Department as well as seven Golden Gloves titles.

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He is a world traveling journalist and has visited over 179 countries. He is the founder of the American Hellenic Educators Association (AHEA). He also was awarded a fellowship from the London Royal Geographic Society and was President of the Metropolitan Olympians, a tri-state group of Olympic athletes.

 

Nikos dedicates this award to his heroic Greek immigrant parents who came as children at the turn of the twentieth century to this country to escape poverty. His parents like most immigrants, worked long and hard hours in their Red Hook restaurant at 584 Court Street so that their seven sons could graduate school and attend college. His mother was selected as the 1962 New York State Mother of the Year and runner-up to the 1962 National Mother of the Year. She was honored at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel by Governor Nelson Rockefeller and United States Senator Kenneth Keating. In 1964, she was selected as the Greek American Mother of the Year and officially led the Greek Independence Day Parade down Fifth Avenue. She was an inspiration to all who knew and loved her. Nikos' parents were always his heroes.

 

His favorite Fort Hamilton High School teachers were Ms. Simon and Dr. Michael Sachey. Nikos retired in 1991 as an academe at the State University of New York renowned Brooklyn Opportunity School. He still leads a Spartan life in Brooklyn Heights with vigorous daily exercise and a healthy diet. As Plato preached "a sound mind in a sound body", Fort Hamilton High School's Physical and Health Department promoted Plato's ethos as well. Family, education and sports are always important to Nikos