Kids & Family

Dormont Family Remembers KO Grad, Fallen Police Officer

Gus Spanos used to hang out at the Dormont Police station so often as a teenager, his parents worried he might be in the way. But even then, George and Fifi Spanos said, Gus knew he wanted to be a police officer.

“Gus was a great officer. A perfect police officer,” George Spanos said. “He had the ability, if you came in a room, in three minutes he was your best friend. He was one of those guys. He was a tough kid, too, but he was a softy.”

April marked the 20th anniversary of his death. Gus, a police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was shot during a routine traffic stop on April 22, 1993 at 3 a.m. He died shortly after his parents arrived at the hospital to see him.

“Unbelievable,” his mother said. “That’s all I can say.”

The Spanos’s still live in the Dormont home where they raised Gus and his younger brother, Lou. In May, they attended the Tulsa Police Officers’ Memorial Service, where Gus and other fallen police officers were honored.

Gus Spanos would have been 45 on May 26.

Some days are more difficult than others, his parents said, but everywhere in the home, there are signs that the couple is moving forward in a positive way, and that has been their goal for 20 years.

“Gus was charismatic, gregarious. People flocked around him. He was a leader,” George Spanos said. “We were down at a memorial service and a guard, 6’4 or 6’5, came up to me and said he was in class with Gus at the academy. He said, ‘We followed him.’”

That’s the way it always was with Gus, his father said.

Gus graduated from Keystone Oaks in 1986, and Lou in 1989. Both played football for Keystone Oaks, and both went on to play for the University of Tulsa on full scholarships.

Their Dormont house was a home base for Gus and his friends, many of whom still keep in touch with the Spanos family.

Gus attended the police academy in Tulsa after college, and then became a police officer there. He married his girlfriend, Christie, when he was 22, and they built a house in Tulsa.

The couple planned to visit Dormont in July that year, and George and Fifi were making preparations to host a “Christmas in July” party when the call came that Gus had been shot.

The funeral was held at Oral Roberts University stadium, and a memorial service was held at the Greek church in Mt. Lebanon when they returned.

The recent memorial in Tulsa was beautiful, his mother said, but also difficult.  

“Don’t ever imagine this,” Fifi said. “They say as time goes on you’ll feel better, but that’s not true. What happens is that you find strength to go on if you choose to, but there’s a whole new pain that you’ll never see your child again, until you go to heaven, if that’s possible.”

Fifi and George chose to move forward. Gus stays in their minds every day, but so does Lou, their three grandchildren, and Christie, who has since remarried but stayed close with the Spanos family.

Lou, who was a defensive assistant for the Pittsburgh Steelers, is now the defensive coordinator at UCLA. Although they live on the West Coast, his children call their grandparents daily and email often.

Fifi said her hope is that people remember her son as she does—the jokester with the serious side, who loved his friends and family.

“We just remember him, and love him, and go forward. You go forward in your life, and we have in a positive way,” Fifi said. “If we’d gone the other way, the shooter would have taken more people with him.”


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