League was renamed after Lou Athanas in its fourth season

In the fall of 1973 a small group of men gathered in a "closet" of a room at Pleasant Street Elementary School to plot the formation of what was to become the city's Lou Athanas Youth Basketball League. The program eventually grew to the point where more than 400 boys and girls were learning the game from volunteer coaches each winter.

"Lou was the catalyst from the start. . .he planted the seed," remembered Niel Young yesterday. "He was president of the league, or whatever he called himself, for the first three years."

Young himself was on the league's Board of Directors for 19 years and served as president for the last nine. He recalls Bernie Cashin, Jack Wilkins, Don Doherty, Red Scharland and Mike Emond also being heavily involved in building the program during the early years.

Young cannot recall exactly who came up with the idea of renaming the league in honor of its "George Washington", but he does remember the motivation behind the suggestion. After getting the league off to a solid start, Athanas was ready to turn the management over to others but, Young said, they in turn were plotting ways to keep him involved. "We wanted to know he would jump right back in if we were ever in trouble. .. and he was always there for us, Youth said.

For the first three years the organization had been known as the Junior-Pro league and was affiliated with a national organization of the same name.

Athanas cast a giant shadow in local circles. He served as clerk of the Laconia District Court for more than 20 years and Young remembers him also working at times as the School District's truant officer, a probation officer and for the Belknap County Sheriff's Department.

An outstanding athlete himself, Athanas officiated baseball, basketball and football games at the college, high school and recreational level for 50 years. He was also a founding father of Laconia's Pop Warner youth football program.

Young remembered that when Athanas was a student-athlete at what was then Lowell (Mass.) Tech, he led the nation in scoring one basketball season.

Athanas died at the age of 83 in 1997.