DETROIT – Greek-American sports reporter Angelique Chengelis was featured in The Detroit News which is highlighting its reporters during the coronavirus pandemic.
The University of Michigan football beat writer told The Detroit News, “I am the youngest of four. The ‘mistake.’ My sister is 14 years older, and I have two brothers, 11 and seven years older. I always wanted to hang out with my brothers. One time they were shooting their BB guns at a pyramid of empty cans in the backyard. They told me I could help by standing behind and holding the cans in place. Stupid, gullible me. I did finally realize they were shooting at me. I was tormented on a regular basis, things like telling me ex-lax were chocolates, tossing me up and down in a blanket they held from both sides then dropping me, dangling me over the staircase and pretending they were going to drop me, telling me not to tell Mom when they ‘accidentally’ threw a football at me and I got a black eye. But I knew it was with love; they were building character. They did, however, make sure I could throw a football, so there’s that.”
Of her Greek heritage, Chengelis told The Detroit News, “I am of Greek descent and proud of it. Both sets of grandparents were from Greece and came to the U.S. in the early 20th century and settled in Ohio, Zanesville and Dayton. I understand the language and can speak it to an extent, but I get very shy when it comes to carrying on a conversation. Opa!”