Varsity boys’ basketball assistant coach Constantine “Gus” Anifantis passed away in June at age 62. Beloved by players and known as “Coach G,” Anifantis worked with the Tigers basketball program for eight years.
Players and coaches remembered Coach G’s wisdom and selflessness on and off the court.
“Coach G was a great guy,” JR head coach David “Tee” Johnson said. “He put in countless hours of work to help the program. He would give anyone the shirt off his back. He was a selfless guy that made sure he did what he needed to do to make kids successful.”
“I always joked and told him he was my lucky charm–the guy I’m going to have around because he was good luck for us,” Johnson added. “He was a great person. Great people are hard to find.”
Coach G passed doing what he loved: playing basketball. He suffered a tragic accident on the court during a pickup game at a local gym. Anifantis is survived by his wife, Eva, and two daughters, Gabriella and Kassiani, who graduated from Jackson-Reed in 2019 and 2023, respectively.
Anifantis’s family, the JR basketball program, and the athletic department have created a scholarship in his honor. The Constantine “Gus” Anifantis Memorial Scholarship Fund will recognize a graduating senior basketball player each year who embodies Anifantis’s spirit of teamwork and dedication to the game.
Anifantis was born in Patras, Greece, and grew up in Toronto, Canada, and then Memphis, Tenn. He graduated from Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) with a degree in computer engineering in 1984.
The varsity basketball team plans to honor Anifantis during their season home opener on December 4 against the St. Albans School.
Coach G played a year of professional basketball in Greece, and worked in the computer industry in San Francisco. In the 1990s, he settled in DC, and played basketball continuously in Greek and recreational leagues.
Anifantis joined the JR coaching staff as a volunteer when his older daughter, Gabriella, entered the school. He was a fixture on the bench during games and at practices, and he organized early-morning workouts, where he strengthened relationships and built connections with players.
“It was a no-brainer for us to have him as a pillar of our program,” Johnson said.
Anifantis loved being around basketball and investing his time in the sport. He continually put the athletes first.
“I was super lucky,” senior guard Jack Corrigan-Conaty said. “As a freshman not knowing anyone, I asked my JV coach if there was a way to workout in the mornings. [Coach G] let me and my teammate work out every morning. He was encouraging and always made himself available. He didn’t care that I was this random skinny freshman.”
Over time, the pair’s relationship grew closer. “We spent a lot of mornings together in the gym. He was always telling me a crazy throwback story of his basketball prime, and all the things he used to be able to do,” Corrigan-Conaty said.
“He’d jump rope and warm up while I shot. We’d always have a random deep conversation. He was a super genuine and caring person,” he added. “When we weren’t working out, he’d pull me to the side during practice, give me feedback, and tell me things he noticed. He really got my confidence up.”
Senior forward JJ Massaquoi said he bonded with Anifantis, whether their conversations were about basketball or just life.
“He was always pushing us as players, but most of all as men,” Massaquoi said. “He just had a different viewpoint of the game and he was always teaching. He helped me get shots up after practices or had me come in and work out with one of his guys, trying to help improve my flaws.”
Anifantis’ selflessness extended to the coaches he worked alongside. Johnson said that some of his most cherished memories of Anifantis came from when he joined the players in pickup games.
“Regardless of who was in the gym, he would play pickup with us and he would be out there competing,” Johnson said. “He was one of the oldest guys in the gym, but you could never tell. He looked just as young as anyone else. You could tell how competitive he was and how much he loved being around the sport.“
Anifantis took pride in showing up and making his presence impactful for the student-athletes.
“He would drive kids home, get dinner for kids, he would quietly do things,” his wife, Eva, said. “If they needed to talk about something, whether that was life, he was quiet about that. He didn’t really talk about it at home, because he wanted to respect the privacy of the kids.”
That was Anifantis, an authentic, humble and genuine person.
“As a husband and as a father, he was kind. He was caring,” Eva Anifantis said. “He had these things called the three H’s”—health, happiness, and home.
Health: “Eating well, moving your body was important. It wasn’t just playing basketball, it was weight training,” she said. “It was the balance between health, nutrition, and movement. He always wanted to share with players.”
Happiness: Anifantis believed you had to find balance in life. Work hard, play hard, find the things that make you happy. Work, family, travel, and basketball were things that kept him grounded, Eva Anifantis said.
Home: “His home was his sanctuary,” she said. “Bringing people into his home was just a really intimate and special experience.”
With two graduates and Anifantis’ long chapter of coaching at JR, the school is dear to the Anifantis family. For them, the Tiger family extends beyond words. “When he took this job on, he was really committed and he loved it and we loved the smile that it put on his face,” Eva said.
Anifantis’s legacy and influence are engraved in the JR basketball program. In early December, the team plans to honor that impact.
“He wouldn’t want the attention,” Eva Anifantis said about the team’s plans to recognize Coach G. “But it’s incredibly moving and quite the honor. We really appreciate it. A lot of people are going to show up and be there.”
“It feels amazing to know he had an incredible impact on these young lives, and people appreciated what he was doing.”
