Konstantinos Despotopoulos receives his doctorate from the University of Athens

The intellectual Konstantinos Despotopoulos was also a volleyball player. He fought at the Greek-Italian War of 1940 as the beginning of the war found him serving his military duty in Syros. During the German occupation, he wrote for the press of the Resistance. He assumed the presidency of the Greek-Soviet Association and became involved in the struggle for the annexation of the Dodecanese, resulting in his dismissal from the university and his exile. He was exiled to Makronisos, where he refused to sign the denouncement declaration, stating: "It is my duty to guard the honor of Greek philosophy."