EMMANOUEL (MANOLI) SAVVENAS

Emmanouel (Manoli) Savvenas passed away in his home the evening of Dec. 31, 2022 in Springfield.
Savvenas was born to Paraskevas Savvenas and Konstantina Kyriakouli Savvena on May 17, 1941 on the island of Rhodes, Greece, joining his siblings Giorgos, Phillipi, Panagioti, Maria, Athena, and after his birth Tsambika.
Savvenas was born in the village of Agios Isidoros, moving with his family to the Old Town as a child, sprightly running through his surroundings, jumping out of school windows and generally indulging in mischief despite the poverty of an occupied island of WWII. When he left primary school, he apprenticed with a goldsmith and learned a trade in the field of jewelry beginning at age 11.
With wanderlust, he ventured from Greece to Australia where he resumed boxing and picked up wrestling. He traveled to the United States in 1967 adamant to become a professional wrestler. While it didn’t happen right away, he began his wrestling career in Mexico. He entered the Tennessee territory shortly after, under the name of Mike Pappas, known to his fans as “The Flying Greek” for his trailblazing aerial moves. He was on the first Madison Square Garden ticket of over $100,000 in sales, the second to enter the ring but you’d never know it based on the cheers of the crowd. He was a wrestling champion.
He met his wife, Valerie, in Kentucky. They married in August 1973, and lived in Australia, Canada, Fiji, and other beautiful locales for his wrestling career before settling in Missouri, for its slow pace of life. He retired from wrestling in 1978 in Kansas City, and moved with the family to Springfield, opening a wholesale jewelry business which evolved into a storefront of his namesake.
Manoli and Valerie had three children, Paraskevas, Maria and Konstantinos. Manoli has a daughter, Constandina, and Konstantina that passed shortly after birth, before he met Valerie.
Manoli and Valerie were part of a group of founders of an Orthodox church in the Ozarks, St. Thomas in Springfield.
Savvenas will be missed by his wife, Valerie, children Constandina, Paraskevas (Amy), Maria (Michael), Konstantinos, six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren, sisters Athena and Tsambika, along with many nieces, nephews, family and friends.
Mike Pappas will be missed by legions of fans who remember his signature moves and by fans that only knew him by his legacy.
A documentary about Mike Pappas, The Flying Greek, will soon be available online and on DVD.
He lied in state from 7 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023, until 10 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, at Theotokos Unexpected Joy Orthodox Church, Ash Grove. Funeral services began at 10 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, at the church, with burial following at Holy Resurrection Cemetery, Ash Grove. 
Arrangements under the direction of Wilson-Griffin Funeral Home, Ash Grove.