OLD HYDE PARK - When George Spirtos first came to America, he spoke no English. But sports helped him fit in.Through his long career as a teacher and coach at high schools in eastern Hillsborough County, he passed on to young people the value of hard work and competition in athletics."He was a mentor to a lot of kids who went on to become professional athletes and coaches,'' said his son, Jack Spirtos. "He was a great role model, and he believed in discipline and personal responsibility.''But Mr. Spirtos, who died April 1 at age 77, believed even more strongly in family. In fact, in the 1950s he passed up an offer for a career in the NFL to move to Tampa with his wife and kids so he could care for his own father."Grandpa never learned to drive, so my dad was his wheelman," Jack Spirtos said. "It was more important for him to be with his father than to play football.''Mr. Spirtos was born in Kalymnos, Greece, but came to the United States when he was 6 years old. His father had come a few years earlier and owned a small store in North Carolina. Once he was established, the rest of the family left Greece and joined him.It wasn't easy for a Greek kid to make friends with the neighbors and schoolmates in the American South in the 1930s, but Mr. Spirtos soon distinguished himself as an athlete."A Greek kid who didn't speak English in North Carolina in those days - he must have seemed like a very strange foreigner,'' his son said. "But he was an athlete, and athletics helped him mesh.''He was a star athlete in high school and college. He was named a Small College All-American when he was a center on the Atlantic Christian College football team. Legendary pro football coach George Halas offered Mr. Spirtos a contract to play for the Chicago Bears.But Mr. Spirtos thought it was more important to stay with his family, which by that time included not just his parents and siblings but his wife, Niki - to whom he had an arranged and long and happy marriage - and a son and a daughter.When his father moved to Florida for health reasons in the mid 1950s, Mr. Spirtos and his family came with him and settled into a home in Hyde Park, where he lived for about 40 years.Mr. Spirtos had been a teacher in North Carolina, and continued his education career once he came to this area. From the 1950s into the mid 1990s, he taught and coached at schools in eastern Hillsborough County."He started at Turkey Creek High School,'' his son said. "When that became a middle school, he went to Plant City High School.''Besides teaching several subjects, Mr. Spirtos was the head basketball coach at Turkey Creek and an assistant coach at Plant City.In the mid 1990s, Mr. Spirtos' wife died, and he moved to Tampa Shores. About the same time, he retired from full-time teaching.But being idle didn't suit him, and he loved being around kids. So soon after he retired, he signed on as a substitute teacher. For the last decade of his life, he stayed very busy as a highly demanded sub at Hillsborough, Plant, Jefferson and Leto high schools.He gave it up only about a month ago, when he started to feel tired. That's when doctors discovered advanced cancer. They told him he had a year or two to live, but with every examination they shortened their estimate. He died peacefully in his sleep on April 1."He was a great man, a great American. He was the American Dream," his son said. "What more can I say?''Mr. Spirtos is survived by his son Jack, his daughter Mary, his brother Mike and his sister Cally Pantages.