Adolph Schayes

Adolph Schayes was born on May 19^th, 1928, in the University Heights section of the Bronx. As a native of NYC, one of his dreams came true at the ripe age of 16, he was on the floor with New York University against Notre Damein a sellout at Madison Square Garden. Upon his graduation he went on to play for the Syracuse Nationals, where he became a star and the only leading scorer the Nationals ever had. He was the top scorer for 13 of the club’s 17 years of existence. Schayes retired with 19,249 career points, having played in what was then an NBA-record 1,059 games. Schayes was a 12-time all-star, and he made the All-NBA First Team six times and the All-NBA Second Team six times, in 1972, he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and in 1996 he was named to the NBA 50^th Anniversary All-Time Team. Schayes was especially known for his deadly, high-arching, outside set-shot. It arched so high that his teammates came to call it the “Sputnik”. His love for basketball took him from player to coach, where he guided the Philadelphia 76ers to a55-25 record and was named NBA Coach of the Year. Most recently, he was selected to the NBA 75^th Anniversary Team and named Schayes as the61^st greatest player in NBA history.

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