Spiros Arion was born Spyridon Manousakis in September 1940 in the Egyptian capital, Cairo to Greek parents, Stavros and Konstantina. He spent his early childhood in Egypt but when Spiros became a teenager, he and his family migrated to Athens, Greece. It was in the Greek capital that young Spiros learnt and excelled in the Greco-Roman form of wrestling, Naturally charismatic and physically powerful, he trained to become an early grappler and made an early mark on European mats, often billed as the "son" of his mentor, the veteran Greek wrestler Andreas Lambrakis.