Nicholas K. Geranios was born in Athens, Greece, and raised in Great Falls, Mont. After working as a sports writer for newspapers in Wyoming and North Dakota, he joined the AP in 1982 in Helena, Mont., and subsequently covered a mix of news and sports in Chicago; Springfield, Ill.;  Yakima, Wash.;  Sacramento; and, since 1995, in Spokane, Wash. Geranios has covered the rise and continued success of Gonzaga basketball and the college career of quarterback Ryan Leaf at Washington State. As a sports writer in Chicago, he covered the 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears, the 1984 division-winning Chicago Cubs and the later stages of the career of his sports idol, pitcher Tom Seaver.