European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 17, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Not exactly perfect weather far an outdoor basketball but rain Doest slow greek by Jim Colonna staff writer neither nor sleet nor dark of night can Slop Rich Webb and Pat Wilson from making their appointed there not they coach a greek division z basketball and in basketball is basically an outdoor even in the cold and and at on with the warm Mediterranean climate during the outdoor basketball is but in it might As Well be Windy and sanding on us sidelines the chairs were Loo Wel to tit on he two americans coaching an All greek basketball team Walt we heir slip and to lid on the rain soaked Concrete we Are getting used to it said the 27yearold but it was really strange at if the weather is too they cancel the 1 really didst think wed play this but the season is played in i to halves with about a three month break in Winter because of poor this is the last game of the half w i guess they really want to get it but inc two air Force cos assigned to Iraklion air station arc enjoying this new world of playing basketball with raindrops falling on their Heads and overcoats re placing sports who had played or the Iraklion base team but finished second in the Mediterranean sports conference last said he was contacted by Philip Security Squadron Early this fall after ergot Llis learn officials called the base seeking coaches for heir Iraklion based the Ergo telus which is named for the founder of the sports had done very Well in the third Divi Sion last year and had just been moved to the second Divi Wilson said so t guess they wanted an american coach and called the i was asked to help coach the Leam with Moe who had coached our base but Moe was so Rich said hed coach with we Dolfl get any Webb but our expenses Are taken cart of when we Wilson said the greek sports federation coven travel ing expenses for the players and one they pay for any Motel expenses and meals and Ergo Tellis wanted two coaches and they pick up the expenses for our other from and a 25yearold got their Ergo Tellis Leamen tired in the Iraklion air station intramural league As Well As the 12team greek division 2 we Are trying to get the players on our team to slow Down some and not be so physical you play More an american Brand of Webb but sometimes Sis photos by Gus Schuettler its hard to get them to ease there Are some rough games on the team has had Little Success in base play and Virtu ally no Success in the greek or Gotelli ended the first Ludl of the season with a 011 the team just int quite ready Lor dial a Zvulon Wilson Bui we have had some very close said Nick a Leam we Tost iwo games in overtime and most of the losses have been by Only a few it takes Lime to build a winning this is our first year in this we didst expect to win but we Are doing Good i Hope Pat and Rich will be Back next if they Are i think we will try to gel two More coaches from the the two sergeants travel All Over Greece with the there Are Only two teams in the division on Crete the remainder Are on Mainland with seven teams in asked Why Ergo Tellis sought out american coaches a Kodogiannis said basketball is an american sport americans play the Best basketball in the world and we wanted the u the stars and stripes air Force cos Pat Rich Webb Wilson said that against the Iraklion base Ergo Tellis has lost both games by six Ive seen improvement in the they listen we Are Lucky because about six of the players speak pretty Good we always in practice they and learn but when they get on the court Ina game its hard to slow them Down to run patterns and they like to run and shoot All the they tend to go Back to their old the players Range in age from 17 to most of our players Are pretty Webb but they Are in excellent they can outrun most of our compete if we can just slow them Down i the real is watching an outdoor night basketball in the rain no in Good weather there ii a Guy who writes the scores on a but in us rain there Noth As the players ran up and Down the Slippery Concrete Webb and Wilson yelled at their charges constant take it dont gel every so often they yelled out one of the few greek words they know for Stow pass or set we had problems at first adjusting to a different style of basketball and playing under International but we Wilson communication was probably the biggest problem we had Al not with the players As much As with other teams and game in Hill causes problems sometimes because we Arent always sure of whats going ii really keeps us on our Webb you have to be on lop of things the whole game or you end up not knowing whats going weve had games when the score we thought we had was far different from the score i he officials when there n no its Hart to this is a Good Wilson said to be 1 think one of the problems they have is other teams see they have an american coach and get even More fired they want to show they can beat an american coached after this is supposed to be our sport ii makes in a Little Lougher on our