Rolling Thunder Productions founder/owner Chris Pangalos has always had a love of music and entertaining and since childhood has been involved in numerous theatrical plays and musicals. His passions have also always included sports, in particular soccer, which he’s played since age 7. Chris was a four-letter varsity athlete in high school starring in soccer, wrestling, lacrosse, track & field, boxing and karate.

Click here to watch the only surviving video footage of seventeen year old Lakeland High School Senior wrestler Chris Pangalos utterly destroying his opponent in the 128 lbs. weight class by a superior (technical fall) decision score of 17-1 (5 team points). This was Lakeland’s closest team match of the season edging perennial New York powerhouse Ossining High School 29-26 in Lakeland’s first ever undefeated 1980-81 wrestling season. Both coaches agreed that Pangalos was impressive in this upset match of the day. Lakeland coach Frank Vitolo (NY Section I Coach of the Year) had special praise for Pangalos stating, “He seems to have a way of winning key matches.”

He was a valuable grappler on his school’s only undefeated wrestling team as well as a member of the record setting 440 relay on the track & field team and an explosive midfielder on the lacrosse field, but his true love was soccer. As his high school soccer team’s all-time scoring leader he holds every record there including most goals and assists in both a season as well as a career. He was a three time All-Division, All-Conference, All-League player, two time All-County winner, first team All-New York State and in his senior year as team Captain, he was one of only 33 soccer players in the entire United States selected to the NSCAA All-America Soccer Team. Chris was the team’s and the league’s Most Valuable Player; he played in the Empire State Games and won the prestigious Con Edison Westchester Scholastic Athlete of the Week Award. After being highly recruited by every major college & university in the nation, Chris went on to attend New England soccer powerhouse Keene State College in Keene, NH on a scholarship. An aggressive, fast and highly skilled four-year starter, Chris played a significant role in numerous Keene State victories during his time there.

In his freshman year Keene State won the New England Championship and at the National College Soccer Tournament that year advanced to the Final Four eventually placing third in the Nation. Chris led the team in scoring during his junior year as Keene State finished the season ranked ninth in the Country. A hard working and durable team Captain during his senior year Chris completed his career at Keene State playing more games than anyone else during his four years there. After graduation, Chris went on to play a few seasons of semi-professional soccer with leagues based in New England and New York and even returned to his hometown to coach a local high school varsity team there. Chris has been inducted in both the Lakeland High School and twice in the Keene State College Athletic Halls of Fame as a member of two teams, the 1981 Soccer Team and the 1983 Soccer Team. It was during his years in college that Chris began his DJ career. In addition to DJ'ing at his fraternity house and various other parties around campus, Chris’ outgoing personality made him an obvious choice to become the Public Address announcer at home sporting events and he turned athletic contests into fun and exciting social outings. Chris actually worked with school administrators and developed his love of entertaining and informing people into an individualized major entitled Public Relations/Communications, which is still currently available for students. Chris continued sharpening his DJ skills even more when he returned back home spinning in New York City and what had initially started as a fun hobby quickly turned into a highly successful business venture as demand for his services grew. When Chris moved to Charlotte, NC his high-energy, classy, exciting and interactive style took the area by storm

and he quickly became the most requested DJ around. Many of his trend-setting ideas are still in use today by local DJ’s who learned from him over the years. In addition to the numerous awards Chris has won in both the sporting as well as the business world the accomplishment he is most proud of is his service to the Nation as a United States Marine. Traveling the world, helping defend American interests abroad, Chris performs his patriotic mission and is officially recognized on multiple occasions for professional achievement in the superior performance of his duties. He was involved in the 1996 amphibious landing conducted by the US Marines in South Korea when North Korean commandos infiltrated there in an attempt to sabotage, disrupt vital communications and collect intelligence. The commandos were all either killed or captured. Chris also played an important role in the 1998 defense of the US Embassy in Tirana, Albania against a known terrorist threat (including Osama bin Laden), civil unrest, riots and local crime. Neither the American Embassy nor any of its employees were ever harmed. According to the wording from one of his various award citations, “Sergeant Pangalos’ distinctive accomplishments, unrelenting perseverance and steadfast devotion to duty reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States

Marine Corps.” Achieving the hard earned rank of Sergeant in the toughest Infantry in the world, Chris successfully accomplished his mission and was Honorably Discharged as the Machine Gun Section Leader of the Battalion’s Helicopter Assault Company as well as a Close Combat Instructor (hand-to-hand/knife/bayonet fighting) for his company. After the successful completion of his four year tour of duty Sgt. Pangalos was Honorably Discharged and returned back to the Charlotte area.
Chris picked up right where he left off with Rolling Thunder, having people dancing and partying to his fun music throughout the Carolinas once more.
Within a year of his return stateside, Chris was hired by Merck & Co., Inc., one of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies as a Senior Drug Representative. He would continue DJing while spending the next 18 years in the pharmaceutical industry servicing health care professionals throughout the Carolinas promoting over a dozen different pharmaceutical products of varying doses & formulations in over 10 different disease states. Chris would go on to have a stellar corporate career winning numerous awards for leadership, sales, business acumen, customer service, product launch excellence, account management and many others. After surviving years of worldwide layoffs that plagued the pharmaceutical industry Chris was finally caught up in the biggest round of job cuts that eliminated 60% of the sales force. Now in his late 50’s and at a crossroad in life Chris once again decided to answer the call to protect and serve. He enrolled in BLET (Basic Law Enforcement Training) to become a Law Enforcement Officer. As the oldest recruit in the class he served as the Class Chaplain offering daily prayers and words of encouragement to all whenever needed and gave a beautiful closing prayer at graduation. His first job after graduation was as a Transit Police Officer with CATS (Charlotte Area Transit System) in Uptown Charlotte. Chris next attended the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Academy where he was once again the oldest recruit and was selected by his fellow classmates as the Platoon Leader. After graduation he began his duties as a Deputy Sheriff. Chris has experience working on Road Patrols doing traffic stops, executing warrants, serving civil and criminal papers and all other responsibilities of a sworn Law Enforcement Officer protecting and serving the Charlotte community. He also worked in Arrest Processing at the jail taking custody of incoming arrestees, searching, fingerprinting, photographing and clothing them, getting them medically evaluated/treated and fed before transporting them to their jail cells. Chris has also been assigned to the Mecklenburg County courthouse providing security and bailiff duties. In his spare time Chris enjoys cruising around on his custom painted Harley Davidson Heritage Softail Classic motorcycle and going to various bike rallies around the country including Myrtle Beach, SC, Laconia, NH, Sturgis, SD and

Rolling Thunder’s “Ride to the Wall” every Memorial Day in Washington DC to name a few. An avid history buff, Chris also runs The Warriors of Greece (www.TheWarriorsofGreece.com). It’s an award winning Living History Group comprised of Ancient Greek re-enactors clad in full Spartan attire complete with red cloaks and tunics, authentic bronze armor and helmets, real iron weapons, shields and more.  They travel around the country doing demonstrations, giving lectures, participating in parades, festivals, school presentations, television and movie promotions, publicity photos and many other public appearances.  The Warriors of Greece friends and associates have been seen on the History Channel, The Military Channel, Spike TV, the BBC, and the Discovery Channel.