"I fearned English in the streets Papagianis said. "We lived in a section of St Louis called Dogtown It was an ethnic neighborhood, and it was fantasty for sports. The main thing we did in Dogtown was play soccer in the day and hang around the drugstore at night At the guys come by you whistle at the girls and if you can't get a chase going you walk down to the pool hall and play a dime a ball You learn your skills to else you lose a lot of money
In many ways Papagianis's superlative athletic ability has given him the self assurance, confidence and cockiness which are his trademarks on and off the soccer field These are attributes which had he not been a successful athlete, he might not have developed. He has used those skills opportunistically, and his renowned pool ability is a case in point
One of the few, if not the only, people to bring to Harvard his own personal $125 pool eye. Papa has put his hustling to good use. "I had saved up about $140 from gambling to fly home for vacations, and I was down in the Mather pool room shooting for fun and practice when a big dude came in and said. 'I'm looking for Papa John.
"Well, I was shooting one handed one spotting him six balls in eight balls, and I found myself down about 125 bucks and I had $15 left. I decided to play my last $15, and a few of my friends were watching me and they were all kinds scared, and this big guy had about seven of his friends there and I thought I was going to get pounded But I came back and best him out of $175 and cleaned him out.'"
When Papagianis is not hustling for pool cards or women, he plays right wing for the unbeaten, nationally ranked Crimson booters Although he expected to do well this year the holds the Ivy season scoring record of 16 points with two games to play the team's performance surprised him
I played with what I thought was one of the best teams in the country last year and I thought nothing could be the same the guys can't he the same that something beautiful can't be repeated I came off the year very sad For the first few games this season I was going back to the past But I've hall a change of heart because the team has improved tremendously.
Papagianis has improved as well He is a complete player now and he enjoys hustling back on defense setting up scoring opportunities for his teammates. "I'd be more satisfied if we beat Brown and the New York champion than I would be if I broke 20 he said.
A pro soccer career" If they give me a good deal I might play for a couple of sears otherwise I'm going back to Greece for a while and play there," he said But whether he plays or not. Chris Papagianis's individual style, flair, and calm self assurance have already made him a unique Harvard personality.