Collection inventory

Special Collections home page

Syracuse University Men's Basketball Collection

An inventory of the collection at the Syracuse University Archives


Finding aid created by: Anna Smallwood
Date: 2016

Historical Note

Photograph of 1903-1904 Basketball Team

The Syracuse men's basketball team has a long history that started in 1900 with its first official basketball team. The team has made more than forty appearances in the NCAA Tournament, reaching the Final Four multiple times and capturing the championship in 2003. The team has had many notable players over the years including Wilmeth Sidat-Singh, Billy Gabor, Jim Brown, and Ernie Davis.

The team's first league included Cornell, Colgate, Union and Hamilton. The team did not have an official coach until athletic director John A.R. Scott came on board in the 1903-1904 season; Edmund Dollard, who played for Syracuse just a few years prior, became the first full-time coach in the 1911-1912 season. Although the first few years were rocky, by the 1913-1914 season, Syracuse was undefeated.

In 1917 the Syracuse team ranked 3rd in the country. In 1924, Dollard retired as coach and Lewis Andreas filled the position. On January 12, 1947, Archbold Gymnasium, the team's home court, was destroyed in a fire. Consequently, the team played games at the Jefferson Street Armory, Onondaga County War Memorial, and the State Fair Coliseum, while practicing in local gyms. In the fall of 1948, Archbold Gym reopened, but home games were still played in other locations due to the limited seating capacity.

Two years later, Marc Guley took over as head coach, and in 1952 the Orangemen returned to having their home games at Archbold Gymnasium when the addition was finished. Under Guley's coaching, the team made it to its first NCAA tournament bid during the 1956-1957 season. In 1962, Manley Field House opened and became the new home to the Orangemen, and Fred Lewis assumed the position of head coach. Six years later, Roy Danforth joined Syracuse University as head coach. Additionally, the following year, Jim Boeheim, who had played for Syracuse himself, started his career in coaching as a graduate assistant coach and was quickly made assistant coach. By 1975, the Orangemen had worked to make it to the Final Four for the first time in Syracuse University's history.

Photograph of Coach Jim Boeheim

In 1976, Boeheim became head coach. He hired Rick Pitino as his assistant and by 1980, the Orangemen played their first Big East regular season game. In the fall of that year, the men's basketball team moved into the Carrier Dome, playing and winning their first game against Columbia. In 1981, the Orangemen won the Big East Tournament that was held at Syracuse University, and six years later, the team was the NCAA National Tournament runner up. In 2003, the Orangemen made it to the Final Four and won the NCAA National Championship. More recently, the men's basketball team has gone on to compete in the Final Four in 2013 and in 2016.

Over the years, the Syracuse men's basketball team has had a number of well-known players. Earlier players like Lewis Castle '14 and Joe Schwarzer '18 won All-American titles by the Helms Foundation. Later players included Wilmeth Sidat-Singh in 1938, who is considered to be the first African American basketball player for the Orangemen, and Billy Gabor in the 1940s, who, having scored a total 1344 points, became the first in Syracuse University's history to reach 1000. Other players include football stars Jim Brown '57 and Ernie Davis '62. In the 1965-1966 year, senior Dave Bing held a record of an average of 28.4 points per game. In 1989-90, fans got to see Billy Owens and Derrick Coleman play. At the end of Coleman's time at Syracuse, he had scored a record 2143 points and held this title for almost 20 years when Lawrence Moten '95 set a new record at 2334 points. Syracuse player John Wallace helped lead the team to NCAA Tournament runner-up in 1996. Gerry McNamara joined the team in 2002 and his senior game in 2006 resulted in a packed stadium inside the Carrier Dome. Carmelo Anthony, who was drafted to the NBA after playing at Syracuse University for only one season, was on the winning 2003 Championship team with McNamara.

Scope and Content Note

The Syracuse University Men's Basketball Collection includes materials relating to the team, coaches and games. This collection is divided into eight series.

The Basketball exhibitions series contains photographs, notes, copies of clippings and photographs, exhibition labels and other material relating to the basketball exhibitions displayed in the Ernie Davis Room in the Carrier Dome.

The Games and tournaments series includes materials such as tickets, schedules, media guides and other ephemera related to the games and tournaments of the Syracuse University's men's basketball team. Programs for games are in a separate series due to the large extent of material.

The History series comprises books relating to the history of the Syracuse men's basketball team, including the team's beginnings, famous games, championships and various players and coaches.

The majority of the Programs span from 1977 until 1994 and are predominately from home games.

The Rankings and statistics series contains publications that relate to the team's overall national ranking as well as other statistics.

The Special events series contains archival material related to dinners and other celebratory events concerning the team.

The Teams and players series includes material such as team photographs, player information, and commemorative season plaques.

The Yearbooks are compiled toward the end of a season and cover information on the players, their scores and results as well as the team's ranking for that year. They also include a full schedule of the games played from that year.

Box 1 of this collection is missing as of August 2019.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

Please note that part of the collection is housed off-site, and advance notice is required to allow time to have the materials brought to the Reading Room on campus.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from the Syracuse University Archives and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

Photographs relating to the team, its players and coaches can be found in the Photograph Collection. Also in the Archives is the 2003 Men's Basketball NCAA Championship Collection.

Selected Search Terms

Names

Boeheim, Jim.
Syracuse University -- History.
Syracuse University.

Subjects

Basketball -- New York (State) -- Syracuse.
Basketball players.
Basketball teams.
Basketball.
Basketball coaches.
Higher education.

Types of Material

Commemorative plaques.
Programs (documents)
School yearbooks.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Syracuse University Men's Basketball Collection,
University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Much of the material from this collection has been collected by the Archives over the years. Additionally, some materials have come from the Greenberg House and various undocumented sources.

Processing Information

Materials are fully processed and were placed in archival folders and boxes.

Arrangement

Materials are arranged in chronological or alphabetical order by series.

Table of Contents

Basketball exhibitions

Games and tournaments

History

Programs

Rankings and statistics

Special Events

Teams and Players

Yearbooks

Inventory