Cal Water Polo: Nikolaos Papanikolaou Wins Second Straight Cutino Award

The high-scoring center recognizes the contributions of his father during his acceptance speech.

Stavros Papanikolaou was 6,772 miles away, at home in Athens, Greece, but Cal water polo star Nikolaos Papanikolaou made sure his Dad felt his appreciation.

Nikolaos was at the Olympic Club in San Francisco on Saturday to accept the Peter J. Cutino Award, given to the nation’s top collegiate water polo player. The award is named for the late, legendary Cal coach, who won eight NCAA titles.

Papanikolaou has helped Cal win the past two titles and on Saturday night inevitably captured his second straight Cutino Award.

Nikolaos Papanikolaou / Twitter

During his acceptance speech, Papanikolaou dedicated his award to his father.

“When I was nine years old, my dad came up to me and said, 'I think I found a sport more suitable for you,’ “ Papanikolaou said, according to CalBears.com. "I had never heard of water polo before, but I went for it.

“For the next eight years, he would drive me and my brother to practice every day, spend four or five hours waiting for us to finish and drive us back home. I'm so grateful and I love and appreciate him because there is a zero percent chance I'd be playing water polo, let alone be here with you today if it wasn't for him.”

They say timing is everything, it was perfect for Papanikolaou in this instance. He told the audience that Saturday was his father’s birthday.

"I never know what to get him," Papanikolaou said before hoisting his trophy in a salute. "So, happy birthday, dad.”

Papanikolaou, honored earlier this week in the No. 71 position in The Cal 100 countdown, became the first Cal player to win the Cutino Award twice, and he will be the frontrunner to make it three in a row next season. The Bears return with their roster almost completely intact after going 23-2 last fall.

Papa was the driving force on the 2022 team, scoring a team-best 62 goals with a conference-leading 80 exclusions drawn. .He scored seven goals in the Bears’ 13-12 come-from-behind win over USC in the national championship match.

Cal’s previous Cutino winners were John Mann (2006), Ivan Rackov (2010) and Luca Cupido (2017).

The other two finalists this year were Pacific's Reuel D'Souza and USC's Jake Ehrhardt.

Cover photo of Nikolaos Papanikolaou by Catharyn Hayne, KLC fotos

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo