3/28/2013

George Lamprinakos dies

An obit in the Post-Gazette:

Age 87, of Mount Lebanon on Saturday morning, March 23, 2013. Beloved husband for 56 years of his recently departed wife, Beatrice (Kokinakis) Lamprinakos; devoted father of John G. Lamprinakos (Sharon) of West Chester, PA, RoseAnn (Keith) Orr of Greensburg, PA, and Christine Liotta of Franklin, PA; loving grandfather of Kelly (Matthew) McCambridge, Alex, Lainey, Cassie, Sara, Kathleen, Matt, Nick, Adrienne, Dana and Dan; brother of Nicholas L. and the late John L. Lamprinakos. 

During World War II, George served as a Sergeant in the Army Air Corps stationed in the Philippines. When he returned to the States, George attended and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh. Mr. Lamprinakos was a teacher at the Mount Lebanon High School for 38 years and established their wrestling program in 1956. Mt. Lebanon wrestlers provided some of his proudest memories, winning 22 Sectional and seven WPIAL team titles along with 33 WPIAL and 13 PIAA State individual championships under his direction. His coaching record consisted of 332 wins, 129 losses and six ties. Many of the athletes he coached later competed at the collegiate level and beyond, including Kurt Angle, who earned NCAA and World Championships along with Olympic Gold. 

Coach Lamprinakos was honored as the Western Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Coach of the Year. In addition, he was recognized by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame with the prestigious Lifetime Service to Wrestling Award.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

A sad day for wrestling, at least for those of us who had the pleasure of watching wrestling in the 60s, 70s and 80s. I started watching it when my dad took me to CM matches in the early 60s. George L. put out many great teams over the years. He was in stark contrast to Ernie Closser, the Waynesburg coach back in the day. Ernie would contort in his chair as though he were wrestling each match himself. George, on the other hand, was always seated in his chair showing little emotion win or lose. BUT, both got results. Pooch, George and Ernie bring back many great wrestling memories. I will never forget any of those men.

Friday, March 29, 2013 3:57:00 PM  

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