The broad Hellenic community in Australia and the Macedonian Hellenic community in particularly mourn the passing aways of Pantelis Tsaklis, a passionate patriot and Macedonian Hellene, an innocent victim of the Civil War in Greece, who sought refuge as an infant in the Greek Orphanages in Florina and Thessaloniki. He was a successful businessman, a caring husband and father, a committed volunteer to Australia’s competitive sports, a hard-working leader of the historic Alexander the Great Soccer Club, the famous Heidelberg United, the source of inspiration for talented and charismatic soccer players who had enriched for years the Australian National Soccer Team.
Pantelis Tsaklis, who was born in Papagiannis, Florina (13 August 1947) was only eight when he was placed as an orphan in the Oikotrofeion of Florina. His father, also, Pantelis Tsaklis, was killed in the Greek Civil War six weeks prior to his birth. He was protected as an infant by his mother Pandora, who was from the village Armenohori, Florina as well as his paternal grandparents, Stavros and Eleni and his maternal ones Nicholas and Evdokia Tsitsoudis. Pantelis, who had followed Jack Dardalis’ path in the orphanages of Florina and Thessaloniki, arrived as an immigrant to Australia (24 March 1964) aboard the Patris liner. Before reaching his 20th birthday he met and married Maria Pateras, a young lady from Proti, Florina and together they raised three children, Vasiliki, Stavros and Linda. A well-trained carpenter and cabinet maker who graduated from Aristotelis, he narrated certain aspects of his life more than 55 years later:
“…Like Zissis Dardalis I was an orphan; I was also part of the Aristotelis’ music band; every Friday we used to play music in various places and institutions of various suburbs and even different cities assisting community organizations in their fund-raising efforts. I remember that one afternoon we were playing music outside the Agioi Pantes Church in Menemeni, a western suburb of Thessaloniki assisting the parish administrators in collecting funds for their temple and iconography. I used to play flute. I still have one in my home. A semi-old man approached me, when, after playing rhythm, I took the tin box around for the listeners to contribute. “My boy!” the old man told me looking straight into the eyes “I only have five drachmae as I am an invalid; however, since it is for the orphans take it, you deserve it” he said and placed the coin into the tin. How can I forget this comment; I carry it all those years every time that I see a destitute; I try to discover this person into my own psyche; I am sure that Jack is doing the same…We all have this high sense of giving and the sense of being part of the striving members of the community…
In September 1959, the authorities transferred me from the Oikotrofeion of Florina to Aristotelis Orphanage in Thessaloniki to learn a trade and make a living. I attended the department of carpentry, a course for three years. Our practical classes lasted from 8.00 to 2.00 and after the lunch we used to have our theory classes in mathematics, drafting and other courses from 3.00 to 7.00.
Our teachers used to lecture in the morning at Eucleidis Technical College, and they were coming to Aristotelis during the late afternoon and the evening. In the new institution the boarders had the opportunity to learn a trade, to cultivate special skills in a trade; you have to be obedient, studious and law abiding. They were taking good care of us; we had one costume every year, at least one pair of shoes; we had had the same treatment at the Oikotrofeion in Florina; we used to have our own number imprinted on the cloths. My number was 31 in Florina. The ladies that were working there were extremely compassionate and caring; we had our lady in the washing rooms, responsible to wash our clothes. Kyra Kitsa Amoiridis and Eugenia Patoulidis, two Pontian refugees were working there; both knew my mother; one was from Tripotamos and the other one from Armenohori. We had a lovely and extremely patient lady, Kyra-Marika; she was responsible for our cloths; always eager to sew and stitch our trousers and shirts, our socks and t-shirts; we also used to have our own nurse, her name was Angela and we were receiving regular visits by the local doctor, his name was kyrios-Loukas; when I first met him he had with him my father’s cousin who was assisting him as a nurse….
I believe that Greece’s initiative to establish many orphanages and shelters for the destitute children was of great benefit for its civil society. I grew up there for nine years; it was this experience that opened my eyes into the world. If we had not attended those institution and schools of training we would have remained almost illiterate, without proper trade training, without the important skills that I had accumulated from them. The diploma that I got from Aristotelis had been the most important qualification that I managed to attain; it was this diploma that opened for me the doors in Australia and became the springboard of my business success in Australia. As I had arrived at the age of 17, I wanted to attend a technical school here to improve my qualifications. However, when I submitted my diploma, it was fully accepted in parity by the local education and government authorities; and initially I was employed in a factory in Preston, the Tommy Carpentry, receiving nine pounds; when I brought to my employer a letter that the government authorities issued following the assessment of my diploma, my wage increased to 23 pounds. You see initially they employed me as a non-qualified labourer and not as a fully qualified carpenter and furniture making. I stayed in Preston for the first 12 months and only then in 1968 I commenced my own business undertaking certain contracts. I entered a partnership with the late Nikos Tissaris, an honest chap from Florina and we undertook together the carpentry work in building construction sites.
I also know many other graduates from Aristotelis who became very successful businessmen and industrialists utilizing the qualifications, the knowledge and the training that they obtained as boarders. Christos Donnas and Zissis Dardalis are only two of them. One day I visited the construction site of a cluster of houses that I was building, and I met there the electrician who was setting the electrical systems. He was Christos Donnas. Since then, I assigned him with a large number of projects. Our training at Aristotelis was real gold for all of us.
Peter Tsaklis’ interview with A. M. Tamis, 10 August 2011 and 7 September 2012, AIMS Archives
Pantelis Tsaklis was instrumental in the development of the building industry in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. He erected numerous houses, clusters of townhouses, commercial buildings and factories. His involvement in the communal life was equally important. In 1978 he joined one of the most historic sporting football clubs in Australia, the “Megas Alexandros” (Heidelberg Alexander the Great Soccer Club). He served initially in the Jim Mangopoulos administration where he undertook the leadership of the club until 1995. Pantelis’ momentous contribution to the sporting life of the Greeks and especially his immense input into the welfare of Alexandros could be evaluated as instrumental for the club’s infrastructure. During his period of service, the Club produced some of the most famous soccer players in Australia; five of its players were almost constantly in the Australian national squad. The performance of the team was never Pantelis’ high or exclusive priority; his focus had always been the club’s infrastructure; Megas Alexandros in the 1980s was a great soccer team, highly praised and honoured on the pitch with championships and trophies. However, the club and its home ground, the famous Olympic Village lacked basic infrastructure; there were no terraces, no covered stands for the spectators, no clubrooms and no seats; there were no floodlights for night games and no boxes for the officials and the members of the media. The support that the club received from the local government authority, the City of Heidelberg that owned the ground, was limited. The municipal authorities charged rental fees and for any work needed on the grounds the club had to carry the burden. Pantelis concentrated his efforts in this area; he managed to attract major sponsors and benefactors, appealing to the broader community and recruiting distinguished Hellenes in the service of the club; he widened the basis of the membership; naturally there was a pool of collaborators and associates; this was a collective effort; however, the effort needed the persistence, skill and endurance of this leader.
In 1982, Pantelis Tsaklis, a director on the Jim Mangopoulos committee, was appointed the builder to construct the proposed grandstand for 4,000 people. The facility which cost the club $150,000 was ready to be used by 1985. In 1987, Tsaklis, who had been elected president of Alexandros, built the small stand on the west side of the field, together with a VIP room and facilities for the media and television, thus increasing the club’s fixed assets and consolidating its position as a leading sporting club in Australia’s soccer history. Tsaklis also injected considerable sums of money into the club by means of advertising sponsorship and donations. Making the club rather than the team his priority, he signed important sponsors, including the mainstream steel corporation of K.H. Strammit, the Ready-Mix Concrete Company, Boral Bricks and the City of Heidelberg who provided Alexandros with a loan of $200,000, and with many services and free goods, bluestones and equipment. After 1986, the club encountered financial difficulties and struggled to make ends meet. It was twice relegated (1987 and 1989) but managed to be promoted the next year back into the National Soccer League, mainly because of the enormous support that it continued to enjoy among the Macedonian Hellenes.
In the 1990s Alexandros continued to play a prominent role in Australian soccer, operating with a yearly budget in excess of $600,000. In 1995, the final year of Peter Tsaklis’ presidency, the Australian Soccer Federation changed its constitution and eliminated three historic clubs, including Megas Alexandros from competition in the A League. Tsaklis’ innovative skills again prevailed; this time he secured the agreement of the mighty Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) to take Alexandros as a partner organization into the A Soccer League and to apply together for a position in the supreme league. The negotiations turned out to be successful. On the 9th of March 1996, Soccer Australia chairperson David Hill shocked the nation’s sporting world when he announced that Collingwood Warriors Heidelberg were to contest the 1996-97 Ericsson Cup. This marriage between an Australian Rules football club (Collingwood) and a former national league soccer club (Heidelberg Warriors–Μέγας Αλέξανδρος) was an unthinkable proposition until then. However, it was due to the persistence of Heidelberg Warriors’ former President, Peter Tsaklis, a keen Collingwood supporter and sponsor, who initiated discussions and convinced the leadership of Collingwood.
We bid farewell to Pantelis Tsaklis with feelings of pain and recognition for his enormous contribution to sports, volunteerism, charity and Hellenism. As a child born during the Civil War, he felt absolute gratitude for Greece, which took care of them, educated them and gave them the art skills that led him to success. Few people may know that when in 1991, I invited him to actively help St. John’s College and offer its valuable services, we met with the then Director of the College, the late Archimandrite Ierotheos Kourtessis, and he accepted our request to cement the entire school yard in Preston. And one weekend, Pantelis and his team of labourers brought the tanks and machinery there and more than ten volunteers in one weekend, at their own expense, poured thousands of tons of cement so that the then 1000 students could play safely and cleanly. Pantelis never forgot his orphanage. We shall not forget his legacy.
