For Monmouth University's George Papas, family belief & hoop dreams powering storybook rise

There are days when Stefanos Papathanasiou rises early at his Jersey City home to watch coverage of his son, Tommy Papas, playing pro basketball for a team based on the idyllic Greek Island of Mykonos.

Other days end with him drving to West Long Branch to see his other son, George, an all-league performer for Monmouth University who recently scored his 1,000th point.

It’s the ultimate hoop dream playing out in real time for a father who had his own basketball journey.

“It’s been a blessing. An amazing ride. Just thankful for the opportunity the boys have,” he said.

Except none of it seemed particularly likely five years ago, when George Papas was a freshman walk-on at Monmouth dealing with injuries and illness, and Tommy Papas was playing his only season of college basketball as a senior walk-on at William & Mary.

Now, there’s a chance their unorthodox paths in the sport will cross somewhere overseas in the coming years.

“My dream is to see them play together for one year in Europe,” Papathanasiou said. “They have such chemistry. They play tremendously well together.”

Autism Movement Project: Top NJ athletes giving back locally

That's a little of the back story and vision for the future, although the immediate focus is on the latest chapter of George Papas' storybook rise, which Monmouth fans hope leads to the Hawks returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 16 years.

'I couldn’t be more thankful'

Basketball is sacred in Jersey City and Stefanos Papathanasiou, now 54, grew up across the street from P.S. 11, the Martin Luther King Jr. School.

“We balled all day and all night and that was where it all started,” he said. “Jersey City is a big basketball town. Hudson Catholic was four blocks away, coach (Bob) Hurley and St, Anthony was down the street downtown. Dickinson was 10 blocks away. I was supposed to go to St. Anthony.”

Except his family moved to Denville, where the basketball landscape was completely different.

Still, he eventually made his way overseas for a stint playing professionally in Greece for Olympiakos and committed to giving his sons the best opportunity to succeed in the sport he loved.

So he formed his own travel team and coached them on the AAU circuit, with George, 2½ years younger than Tommy, competing against older players. Growing up in Plainfield, they went on to play at Union Catholic.

“The term obsession has a negative connotation, and a lot of relationships with sports obsessed parents and their kids gets toxic,” Tommy Papas said. “But my father wants success for George and I so badly, and the reason it works is George and I want it just as badly as he does.”

Added George Papas: “He just put basketball in our lives as soon as we were born, and I couldn’t be more thankful.”

Since his father was born in Greece, Tommy Papas was able to re-patriate and now has dual citizenship, which makes playing basketball in Greece easier. George Papas is expected to have similar opportunities in Greece, and throughout Europe.

Unwavering belief

On this point Tommy Papas is adamant: He does not watch game replays. Which means that when Monmouth has a 7 p.m. tipoff in New Jersey, he’s viewing it live at 2 a.m. on his computer.

What else he’s certain of is that without the unwavering support of their parents, including their mother, Alexis, none of this would be possible.

“There was a point in time where my father was the only one who believed George Papas was a Division I basketball player,” Tommy Papas said. “He was the only person on earth who believed that, and without that intense belief, without intense love and passion for the game and George’s success, George wouldn’t be where he is today.”

It all came together during the 2020-21 season, when George Papas hit nine three-pointers in the opener en route to earning second team All-MAAC honors.

“(Monmouth coach King Rice) came up to me before the MAAC Tournament in Atlantic City and said, ‘You always knew. You told me and now I know,’ “ Papathanasiou said. “It takes a while even for a coach sometimes. But he believes in him, and they can take it to another level when they know the coach believes in them.”

Entering the final weeks of the regular season, Papas, a Preseason All-MAAC first-teamer, is third in the league in scoring at 15.4 points-per-game and has hit the most three-pointers, while his defense has been a revelation.

“Every kid in New Jersey should think ‘I have a chance,’ because this kid wanted something him and his family dreamed about for a long time,” Rice said. “He did great in high school, nobody gave him a chance. So then he pays his own way and goes to prep school (Gould Academy in Maine) and does great in one of the best prep school leagues and nobody really gives him a chance, and then we get together.

“He’s an incredible kid and shooter, and now he’s put 1,000 points on the board.”

Unfinished business

If you’re looking for a reason to believe something special might be possible for Monmouth this season, you need only look at the events of Nov. 15, 2019 and the viral moment most of the country associates with George Papas.

With No. 5 Kansas running out the clock in the final seconds of a blowout win, Papas snuck behind the unwitting Jayhawks’ guard, stole the ball and race downcourt for a dunk.

“The dunk he had at Kansas, George is that kid,” Papas’ father said. “He is not leaving the court until he wins. He will play you all night until he gets that W. He is very competitive and that is what I saw it in him from a young age.”

Now Papas is looking to cement his legacy at the Jersey Shore over the next month.

“I’ve always been an underdog, and I still have that underdog mentality and that comes from my family,” Papas said. “And Monmouth is like family to me, and we’ve got unfinished business.”

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth NJ basketball: Behind George Papas's storybook rise