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From father to son, a legacy

Aleck Alissandratos got the cross in 1977. Now, his oldest son makes his first dive.

By ELENA LESLEY, Times Staff Writer
Published January 6, 2008

Diving for the cross during Epiphany for the first time will be Andrew Alissandratos, 16, whose dad, Aleck Alissandratos, retrieved the cross in 1977.
	[Jim Damaske | Times]

TARPON SPRINGS -- For all of their young lives, Aleck Alissandratos' sons have been training for Epiphany.

On family boat trips, they'd ask their dad to throw objects in the water -- a shoe, a stick -- so they could practice retrieving them. The three haven't missed watching an Epiphany dive since they were born.

"They've lived it," said Alissandratos, who snagged the cross in 1977 and has coordinated the young men who dive into Spring Bayou for the sacred object for more than two decades. "They've attended every meeting, set up boats."

And this year, the first will finally get to dive.

"I've always wanted to catch it," said Andrew, 16, the eldest of Alissandratos' three sons and a member of the swim team at Tarpon Springs High School. "I love watching the divers all jump in at once."

While Alissandratos said he was careful not to show favoritism, he admitted some "added jitters" this year since Andrew is diving. It's been a lifelong dream for his sons to receive the special blessing bestowed on their father three decades ago.

"It's the ultimate achievement for a young man," Alissandratos said. "You've reached the lifelong goal of an 18-year-old."

Alissandratos can recall in great detail the drizzly day when he retrieved the cross. It was the last year he would be eligible to dive - participants must be between 16 and 18 - and his parents insisted he stay at boarding school in Jacksonville to study for exams.

Without his parents knowing, Alissandratos booked a plane ticket and showed up in Tarpon Springs at 5 a.m. on Epiphany. At that point, they couldn't really protest.

Most of the boys on Alissandratos' boat were bigger than he was, and the 18-year-old didn't think he stood a chance. But he stayed focused.

"I kept my eyes on the bishop's hand," he said. "When he let go, I dove."

None of the other boys took off as fast, and after three swift strokes, "I looked up and could see the ring of water," he said.

Alissandratos plunged into the center and grabbed the blue and white ribbons tied to the cross. Then he shot straight up, arm extended, cross in hand.

"Everything was white," he said of the foam churned by "150 flailing arms and 150 flailing legs."

At first, he was disoriented. But when he heard his last name announced, he knew definitively that he'd caught the cross. The mass of boys began pushing him toward the steps, where his mom was waiting and crying.

"She got my trophy," he said. So if one of Alissandratos' sons catches the cross, "I'll get theirs," he added with a smile.

As a way to give back to the community, Alissandratos began coordinating the divers in the early 1980s. After about six years, he asked his friend Michael Kouskoutis, who dove the same year Alissandratos retrieved the cross, to help him.

The two have instituted a number of changes, including requiring divers to take a one-time course on the history and significance of Epiphany.

"People were just diving for the cross," he said. Many didn't understand the ceremony was meant to commemorate Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River.

But he called this year's group of 60 divers "a good, reverent bunch of kids."

Of course, only one can get the cross. And while Alissandratos would love for that lucky diver to be his son, he said he'll be proud whatever the outcome.

"Catching the cross is an added blessing," he said, "but being part of the group is honor enough."

Elena Lesley can be reached at elesley@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4167.

[Last modified January 5, 2008, 21:39:50]