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The children of Panagis Coutalianos

Kostas Michos
July 14, 2023
10:25 am

Their sports career after their father’s retirement.

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”

In this chapter, the publications that follow refer to the children of Panagis Coutalianos. As far as we are able to know, Panagis had many children. Around 1872 he married in Argentina a girl originally from Genoa, Italy. His wife’s name was Palmyra. With her he had five sons and one daughter. Unfortunately, until now we have not been able to ascertain the name of his daughter. On the other hand the names of his sons are as follows : a) George b) Ellin or Hellen (means Greek) c) Francisco d) Antonio and c) John. John who was the youngest son, died at a very young age. He was still a minor when his father was imprisoned in Rhodes. The family could not bear the hardships and the little boy died of hunger and disease somewhere in Pireaus. His other four sons managed to survive and even become highly skilled athletes. In fact, all four seems to have made careers in America as wrestlers.

July 5, 1907. Two of Coutaliano’s children (George and Hellin) are in Chicago performing sports. The proceeds of the shows are offered to support the Greek navy.

January 4, 1908. It was preceded by a performance in San Louis, the proceeds of which were offered to strengthen the Greek navy.

February 13, 1908. The two brothers George and Hellin in the photo. The article advertises their athletic action.

October 13, 1908. (News from Puerto Millitar, Argentina where the three brothers George, Hellin and Francisco (sons of the Iron Man, as Panagis Coutalianos is called by the English press), arrived in Argentina to give all four seem performance.. The Greek community of Bahia Blancas awarded the three wrestlers by offering them each a gold medal.

January 6, 1910. In Newport, Ohio, George Coutalianos faced the American wrestler (of Slavic origin) Zak Tivac. During the match George suffered a broken rib and Tivac won the match.

March 9, 1929. The following article comments humorously on the presence of one of Coutaliano’s sons -probably Hellin- in a random event.

Poster advertising a performance by the Greek athlete Ellin Coutalianos (son of Panagis) in Athens. The program states that weight lifting exercises will be performed, while short comedies will be shown during the breaks.

October 8, 1919. We are in the year 1919. Some posters stuck on the walls of Athens announcing the appearances of Hellin Coulalianos, who has returned from the USA where he was, back to Athens. It is commented that the athlete was invited to a meal. Among the distinguished guests, there were also some famous writers and poets of Greece. Despite the festive atmosphere, Hellin looked sad. He had been annoyed that the King of Greece had not rewarded his father while he was alive. The great spiritual men (Among them the satirical poet G. Souris and the writers Anninos, Mitsakis and Vellianitis) who heard him telling them his complaint agreed with him and bowed their heads in shame.

The above sketches depict the persons mentioned in the article. These witty people met with the Ellin Coutalianos. The cartoonist is the blogger himself.

The initial of name “A” refers to one of the sons of Coutalianos, the one who was called Antonio. Unfortunately, we cannot be sure.

In the following article, some scenes from the life of the Greeks in Nashua , USA are described. At some point there is a talk of the sons of Coutalianos, George and Hellin. The article was written in 1956, but it describes events that happened in 1913. The narrator- a Greek Orthodox priest called C. Harmandas-mentions that in that year (1913) George was 30 years old and Hellin was 28. If we consider this information to be reliable, then we can conclude that George was born in 1883 and Hellin in 1885.