Spring Break
The Daily OrangeFormer NBA hall of famer scores as local landlord
By Emily Laurence
Posted: 3/5/06, 11:25 PM EST Section: Pulp
"They are always going to be a top team," Schayes said. "They get great players and have great fans,"
However, Schayes said he is not enamored of the zone defenses.
"I don't think that's good basketball," Schayes said.
If anyone knows good basketball, it's Dolph Schayes.
"He's a true superstar," said Earl Lloyd, the first black man to play in the NBA and former teammate of Schayes. "The only problem I've had with Dolph is that Dolph was so good, when you were on the court with him, you had to guard against becoming a spectator because you were almost tempted to just stand there and watch him play."
Schayes was luring people to watch him play from a young age. He initially started playing when he was growing up in the Bronx in New York City, where he lived with his family in a small one-bedroom apartment. Schayes would play three-on-three basketball with his friends on a half court. After a game was finished, the winner would stay on the court and challenge a new team. Even when Schayes' team lost, the new team asked him to play with them. Schayes was also the captain of his high school basketball team his junior and senior year.
By skipping kindergarten and completing seventh and eighth grade in one year, Schayes started playing for New York University when he was 16. That same year, 1946, he found himself playing against Notre Dame in Madison Square Garden.
"It was very exciting, because Madison Square Garden was the Mecca of basketball all over the world, and every game was sold out," Schayes said. "It was just as the war was ending, so there was a lot of euphoria and excitement."
Schayes said being a Jewish basketball player during World War II was not a big deal because many of the players on the NYU team were also Jewish, just like half the city was at the time.
"As I was growing up in the Bronx, I thought the whole world was Jewish," Schayes said.
There were two professional leagues at the time, the National Basketball Association and National Basketball League. Graduating at the age of 20, Schayes was drafted by the New York Knickerbockers of the NBA and the Syracuse Nationals, which started as an NBL team. Schayes decided to play for the Syracuse Nats, because they offered him more money. Schayes said he only expected to play for a year or two because he didn't think professional basketball would last.
However, Schayes said he is not enamored of the zone defenses.
"I don't think that's good basketball," Schayes said.
If anyone knows good basketball, it's Dolph Schayes.
"He's a true superstar," said Earl Lloyd, the first black man to play in the NBA and former teammate of Schayes. "The only problem I've had with Dolph is that Dolph was so good, when you were on the court with him, you had to guard against becoming a spectator because you were almost tempted to just stand there and watch him play."
Schayes was luring people to watch him play from a young age. He initially started playing when he was growing up in the Bronx in New York City, where he lived with his family in a small one-bedroom apartment. Schayes would play three-on-three basketball with his friends on a half court. After a game was finished, the winner would stay on the court and challenge a new team. Even when Schayes' team lost, the new team asked him to play with them. Schayes was also the captain of his high school basketball team his junior and senior year.
By skipping kindergarten and completing seventh and eighth grade in one year, Schayes started playing for New York University when he was 16. That same year, 1946, he found himself playing against Notre Dame in Madison Square Garden.
"It was very exciting, because Madison Square Garden was the Mecca of basketball all over the world, and every game was sold out," Schayes said. "It was just as the war was ending, so there was a lot of euphoria and excitement."
Schayes said being a Jewish basketball player during World War II was not a big deal because many of the players on the NYU team were also Jewish, just like half the city was at the time.
"As I was growing up in the Bronx, I thought the whole world was Jewish," Schayes said.
There were two professional leagues at the time, the National Basketball Association and National Basketball League. Graduating at the age of 20, Schayes was drafted by the New York Knickerbockers of the NBA and the Syracuse Nationals, which started as an NBL team. Schayes decided to play for the Syracuse Nats, because they offered him more money. Schayes said he only expected to play for a year or two because he didn't think professional basketball would last.
