Where Are We From/Fan History.

Bump...any other stories out there?

Admins, can we sticky this thread? This topic is the common bond that we all share, and it would be awesome to have new folks add to this conversation as they join our board.

Many thanks!

NYOrangeNBlue said:

Admins, can we sticky this thread? This topic is the common bond that we all share, and it would be awesome to have new folks add to this conversation as they join our board.

Many thanks!

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Perhaps certain threads can be stored in a special archive of some sort.

townie fan, first SU game at the Dome was Pearl's shot to beat G'town on the night of my 8th birthday in 1985. I have a younger brother who graduated as a "stumpy" in 2003.

Born in '69 in the CUSE area, graduate of ESM. I grew up following Syracuse from the time of their Final Four run in '75. As a young fan, I didn't really follow every facet of the team & game until the early 80's with Marty Headd & Roosevelt Bouie. My favorite game that really got me excited about the program was Pearl's shot against Ewing's Georgetown in the Dome with about 8 seconds on the clock. Then G'town throws the ball away... What an exciting win, & the beginning of the greatness that was to be.

I also remember when we got smoked by Louisville at Freedom Hall. We were down a ton of points in that game right from the start, but clawed back to a respectable deficit. Then, the next year we crushed them in the Dome on Valentines Day, & it is remembered as the Valentines day Massacre.

I am sure everyone who was alive then remembers the loss to David Robinson's Navy in the '86 NCAA Tourney, which turned out to be Pearl's last hurrah at the CUSE. It was ironic, we had beaten them earlier in the season also in the Dome during the Carrier Classic. I remember when Pearl announced he was leaving early for the pros. Sitting at my grandmother's kitchen table, I told her & my aunt that Syracuse was now finished as a great program. Little did I know, we were just getting STARTED !!! I am so glad I was completely wrong about my dark prophecy !!!

I expected Syracuse to win at least 1 title from '87 to '91, because they had so much talent. they would routinely beat the best programs in America at that time, until Tourney time, where they would promptly lay eggs against lower seeds. The reason why I am not so disappointed about losing in the elite 8, if you get there enough times, you have a much better chance of winning it all. What might have been if we somehow overcame Rhode Island & Richmond, not to mention Navy. I think this has been our greatest downfall, not making it past the Sweet 16 often enough. In some years, like 2009, you can't expect much more when you are playing teams that were clearly better, & had a superstar on their roster that would not be denied.

To make a long story short, my only wish for Syracuse going forward, is to push past the Sweet 16 for at least 5 consecutive years, & we will see another championship or 2 in that time.

it's doable...

mantonio said:

Born in '69 in the CUSE area, graduate of ESM. I grew up following Syracuse from the time of their Final Four run in '75. As a young fan, I didn't really follow every facet of the team & game until the early 80's with Marty Headd & Roosevelt Bouie. My favorite game that really got me excited about the program was Pearl's shot against Ewing's Georgetown in the Dome with about 8 seconds on the clock. Then G'town throws the ball away... What an exciting win, & the beginning of the greatness that was to be.

I also remember when we got smoked by Louisville at Freedom Hall. We were down a ton of points in that game right from the start, but clawed back to a respectable deficit. Then, the next year we crushed them in the Dome on Valentines Day, & it is remembered as the Valentines day Massacre.

I am sure everyone who was alive then remembers the loss to David Robinson's Navy in the '86 NCAA Tourney, which turned out to be Pearl's last hurrah at the CUSE. It was ironic, we had beaten them earlier in the season also in the Dome during the Carrier Classic. I remember when Pearl announced he was leaving early for the pros. Sitting at my grandmother's kitchen table, I told her & my aunt that Syracuse was now finished as a great program. Little did I know, we were just getting STARTED !!! I am so glad I was completely wrong about my dark prophecy !!!

I expected Syracuse to win at least 1 title from '87 to '91, because they had so much talent. they would routinely beat the best programs in America at that time, until Tourney time, where they would promptly lay eggs against lower seeds. The reason why I am not so disappointed about losing in the elite 8, if you get there enough times, you have a much better chance of winning it all. What might have been if we somehow overcame Rhode Island & Richmond, not to mention Navy. I think this has been our greatest downfall, not making it past the Sweet 16 often enough. In some years, like 2009, you can't expect much more when you are playing teams that were clearly better, & had a superstar on their roster that would not be denied.

To make a long story short, my only wish for Syracuse going forward, is to push past the Sweet 16 for at least 5 consecutive years, & we will see another championship or 2 in that time.

it's doable...

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If we'd made our foul shots in '87, you'd have gotten your wish. We should have two championships right now, not one. And I think the feeling would be very different. I think that for most of us, the ball has rolled almost down the hill since 2003. The feeling then was that we werew the winningest program not to have won a championships and now we are the winningest to have just one. 2010 and 2012 were golden opportunities but we lost our center each year and came up short. Would we have won a title with AO and Fab? I don't know but I would like to have found out. We are certainly due for another.

SWC75 said:

If we'd made our foul shots in '87, you'd have gotten your wish. We should have two championships right now, not one. And I think the feeling would be very different. I think that for most of us, the ball has rolled almost down the hill since 2003. The feeling then was that we werew the winningest program not to have won a championships and now we are the winningest to have just one. 2010 and 2012 were golden opportunities but we lost our center each year and came up short. Would we have won a title with AO and Fab? I don't knwo but I would like to have found out. We are certainly due for another.

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nice post SWC.

Born in Camillus, 1980. In trying to recall my earliest memories for this post I've realized how much longer the losses stay with me than the wins. Kinda like poker hands. I remember listening to losses in the dome to Nova and Providence on the radio and being very upset - "how the heck do we lose to these teams"? Vague memory of the Rhode Island & Minnesota debacles. I'll never forget the name Lynch from Minnesota. No idea if he killed us or not but the announcers seemed to say his name a lot, so that's what I remember. And the OT losses to Umass/Missouri/Arkansas happened at pretty much the worst possible age where in your early teens you take the game way too seriously (as opposed to now, ha). The BET loss to Providence when 2 guys went up for a loose ball and we got whistled for the foul also infuriated me.

Fortunately I was not even 7 for '87 so I didn't watch it. Just asked Dad if we won the next morning. From what I gathered from him before the game we didn't have much of a chance to win anyway so I just shrugged and went off the school. Dad never was the most optimistic fan, ha. Anyone know how much of an underdog we were in that game?

Earliest good tv memory I think was the John Thompson technical aka Billy Owens FT game.

Sophmore yr of high school was the first year I started going out on Friday nights. I had made plans one Friday night in March of '96 but decided to stay home and watch the Georgia game. Boy was that a good decision. As I said in the 'Orange Glory' thread it was a special game to me not because they ultimately played in the final game, but because it just seemed like the kind of game we never ever won. At least not in the tournament.

Went to college in Rochester when my fandom tailed off for a bit. Maybe it was because it wasn't a big college hoops environment or maybe I just never thought the '99-02 teams were really any good but the Michigan St loss wasn't as crushing to me as others. I just never felt like we could win that game. :noidea:

Moved to Philly in the middle of the '03 season. Drove up the NJ turnpike to Rutgers for my first "road game" where their fans chanted 'overrated' as they banked in a 3 to win. I guess the joke was on them. When Kentucky & Arizona both lost in the tournament I thought for the first time in a long time that we could actually win the damn hardware. As the Bills are the only other team I really love, the night of the Kansas game was my first and last taste of championship. Can't believe that was 9 yrs ago.

I’m a long time lurker that used post a couple times a year on the old forum and can even remember the old AOL, Prodigy and CompUserve forums. Ill be 44 in May and was born at St Joe’s in 1968.

My fandome goes back to JB’s first year where I remember all of those ECAC tournaments before the Big East. So I’ve been bleeding orange since I was about 7 or 8. We moved to Michigan because of my Dad’s job from 80-82 and we only got to see 1 live game on TV while there. It was the Purdue game (See the Orange Glory DVD for the younger crew). I remember my Dad saying how big a win that was for the program. We did get to watch the NIT Semi’s and Finals during that time but we didn’t have cable and we had to do the old antenna with tin foil trick. It was blurry as heck but we could make out the players. Also remember getting the Iowa game while in Michigan on the radio and being crushed when we lost (Late Technical on younger JB if I remember correctly).

Moved to the Rochester area for my High School years. It was during this time frame when Santifer and then Pearl became my all-time favorite players. Left for the Army right out of HS in the summer of 1986. My first duty assignment was in Germany where I was able to get 3 or 4 games on Armed Forces radio each year. Some chick I was dating thought that I was crazy for leaving the bar at Midnight sometimes to listen to some “stupid basketball game just because they play a stupid team named Georgetown”.

I ended up doing 20 years in the Army. Kids came, raised, moved out (and moved back in) but the constant in my life was SU Hoops. I used to carry an old 7” B/W TV when I was out in the field. I saw the Arkansas game (crushed) and the Georgia game (pure elation) on that TV while in the middle of nowhere.
I was fortunate enough to spend my last 5 years in the Army here (3 years in Liverpool training Reservists and National Guardsman and the last 2 at Ft Drum) , so I have been local since Nov. 2000 (this is when my kids love for SU really took off). I retired at the ripe old age of 38 from the Army in 2006 and we have decided to make Liverpool our home.

This past weekend I was blessed to be in Boston for the regional’s. It was the first time I have ever seen SU in a NCAA tournament in person. With work, wife’s work, kids, etc, we were never able to pull it off. My Aunt and Uncle own a condo on the West End that they never use so they offered it to us for the weekend. A 2 minute walk to the Garden was great.

On a side note, that girl I was dating who thought I was crazy to listen to games on the radio while in Germany was sitting next to me on Saturday night as the final horn went off. As we watched “our boys” leave the court for the last time as a team I looked over and saw tears coming from her eyes. She has been my bride for 24 years now and loves the Cuse as much as I do. I knew I married her for a reason.

I'm 35, moved to Camillus in kindergarten, and got sucked into SU hoops in fifth grade during the 1987 tourney run. I'd only been a fan for a couple weeks that March, but I was singularly devastated by the loss. I somehow remember SU being up 52-44 midway through the second half (that could be totally inaccurate, but it's what I recall) and thinking the game was over. That taught my 10-year-old self never to assume anything. Coincidentally, the assistant coach for Bob Knight was the ex-hoops coach at the high school my dad had gone to in southeast Illinois, and as a result I was all but certain my dad was secretly rooting for IU, but he wouldn't admit it. "Too bad," was all he would say when it was over. "Too bad."

I went to college out of state and always loved coming back at Christmas break and going to an SU game, even if it was usually a last-game-before-conference-play cupcake-type game. I think distance made the heart grow fonder, as my fandom sure grew during those years. In 1998, on spring break, the female friends I was with were rather annoyed that I was glued to my Walkman (remember those??) for several days listening to NCAA games.

By 2003 I lived up by D.C. and watched the last four games of the tourney with some board folks at Park Bench Pub. On the night of the title game -- happiest day of my life till my wedding -- I'd set up the VCR back at my apartment to tape the game. I lived with two women at the time, one nice, one bitchy. The bitchy one tried to turn off the VCR's timer so she could watch "Boston Public." The nice roommate, a Spartans fan, warned her that it wasn't a good idea to do that. Lol. Good call.

themole said:

By 2003 I lived up by D.C. and watched the last four games of the tourney with some board folks at Park Bench Pub. On the night of the title game -- happiest day of my life till my wedding -- I'd set up the VCR back at my apartment to tape the game. I lived with two women at the time, one nice, one bitchy. The bitchy one tried to turn off the VCR's timer so she could watch "Boston Public." The nice roommate, a Spartans fan, warned her that it wasn't a good idea to do that. Lol. Good call.

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That's an awesome story!

"I think distance made the heart grow fonder, as my fandom sure grew during those years."

Good line - that's definitely been true of me since I left town. I try to get to a game when I come home around the holidays even though I rarely went to the dome growing up. I just love representing with a shirt or hat or whatever. Usually when I'm visiting home I'll forget where I am and give a "yah Cuse" when I see someone with gear on and they look at me like I'm an idiot, haha.

BuffOrange said:

"I think distance made the heart grow fonder, as my fandom sure grew during those years."

Good line - that's definitely been true of me since I left town. I try to get to a game when I come home around the holidays even though I rarely went to the dome growing up. I just love representing with a shirt or hat or whatever. Usually when I'm visiting home I'll forget where I am and give a "yah Cuse" when I see someone with gear on and they look at me like I'm an idiot, haha.

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Oddly we only went to a game once a year or so, whenever my grandpa was in town. Not sure why, were tickets cheap then comparitively? One game was a milestone win, though, Boeheim's 350th maybe? Not sure. They gave out posters with his caricature on it and that of a bunch of others. This was probably 1990-ish.

themole said:

By 2003 I lived up by D.C. and watched the last four games of the tourney with some board folks at Park Bench Pub.

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Hey, I was at the Park Bench Pub for the Auburn game too.

TinyManInside said:

Hey, I was at the Park Bench Pub for the Auburn game too.

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And I think you started calling someone about FF tickets with 1 minute left in the OU game and dccuse told you the game wasn't over just yet. lol

themole said:

I'm 35, moved to Camillus in kindergarten, and got sucked into SU hoops in fifth grade during the 1987 tourney run. I'd only been a fan for a couple weeks that March, but I was singularly devastated by the loss. I somehow remember SU being up 52-44 midway through the second half (that could be totally inaccurate, but it's what I recall) and thinking the game was over. That taught my 10-year-old self never to assume anything. Coincidentally, the assistant coach for Bob Knight was the ex-hoops coach at the high school my dad had gone to in southeast Illinois, and as a result I was all but certain my dad was secretly rooting for IU, but he wouldn't admit it. "Too bad," was all he would say when it was over. "Too bad."

I went to college out of state and always loved coming back at Christmas break and going to an SU game, even if it was usually a last-game-before-conference-play cupcake-type game. I think distance made the heart grow fonder, as my fandom sure grew during those years. In 1998, on spring break, the female friends I was with were rather annoyed that I was glued to my Walkman (remember those??) for several days listening to NCAA games.

By 2003 I lived up by D.C. and watched the last four games of the tourney with some board folks at Park Bench Pub. On the night of the title game -- happiest day of my life till my wedding -- I'd set up the VCR back at my apartment to tape the game. I lived with two women at the time, one nice, one bitchy. The bitchy one tried to turn off the VCR's timer so she could watch "Boston Public." The nice roommate, a Spartans fan, warned her that it wasn't a good idea to do that. Lol. Good call.

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Did you go to West Genny?

Born 77 lived in Camillus

First SU memory was flea flicker play against Penn St on first play of the game.

Went to elementry school with a kid who's mom worked at manley in the ticket office and they would take us to the basketball games on a school night which was always fun. A lot of time we would go throw a football on the turf and not really watch the game as much. I remember getting Michael Owens autograph at a basketball game. They had great seats too on the metal bleachers.

In high school I became more of a fan. The Richmond loss and running UK in the dome.

I went to OCC and had some friends that played lax for Cuse. I used to go up there a lot to get the college experience. They lived at skytop and Lazar Sims lived only a couple doors down. It just so happened that was in 95-96 when they went on the run to the final. Watched most of the tourny games at skytop and watched final game in the dome on a big screen. Was on Marshall St right after the loss it was packed. I used to work at a tee shirt shop on Marshall St at the time as well. Met a few SU player there. Met Harrison, Art Monk, talked with Roland Williams (very nice guy), and saw DC (he had an entourage).
I had season tickets for one year for football and it was McNabb's senior year. 1st game that year was brutal against UT with that phantom pass interference and Jamal Lewis busting that run down sideline. VT game was game was great last play of the game TD to I believe Williams.

Live in NC all my family still live in Syracuse. My mothers husband has has season tickets for a long time and used to own a car dealership that loaned cars to coaches. They have season tickets to FB and BB so when I visit for holidays we always get to go. My wife has no connection to SU except me and has slowly become a fan (wasn't much of a sports fan) but called my crying after the OSU loss. There are a bunch of Cuse fans here in Charlotte that have moved from upstate.

SUfanNC said:

Did you go to West Genny?

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Yup, class of 94

First post… I have been a lurker for several years now. First off I want to thank all of the posters here who contribute to this board and make it such a great source of information. I always look forward to posts from orangeeyes, bees, jake, swc, cto and many others. I’m sure there are other non-posters out there who also appreciate the great deal of enjoyment and insight that these posters (as well as many others I neglected to mention) provide.

I’m 25 now and have been a Syracuse fan my whole life. My dad was always a big fan and as a result I became a big fan. I remember watching all the games on TV, and crying after losses to Missouri and Arkansas in the NCAA tournament.

When I was around 7-8 my dad took me to my first game at the Dome. It featured John Wallace taking on Notre Dame. I remember standing and clapping for what seemed like an eternity at the time as we couldn’t make a shot and fell behind early. I don’t remember all of the details, but I remember this being a really thrilling game. Syracuse came back to win a close one at the end. I had been watching games since I was 5 or 6 but this really got me hooked. Ever since this year (1995 or 1996) I have gone to at least one game a year, despite moving away from Western NY.

Here are a few of my favorite Syracuse memories over the years…

1. The sweet sixteen game against Georgia. We had friends visiting our family from out of state that day, one of whom was a Georgia grad. He was a huge fan of the Bulldogs, and watched the game with me and my dad in the basement. We had a great time, and he was a really good sport at the end. That whole run was magical to me as a kid, and I still remember a lot of games from that year.

2. Getting (almost) courtside seats to the Georgetown game in 2000. My dad’s friend was able to hook us up. This is the closest I have ever been to a game (we usually sit in the upper reaches of the Dome). I really liked the team that year, and it is always fun to beat the Hoyas.

3. 2003 title game (everyone has this as a special memory). I am usually a lot more animated during games than my dad is… I usually talk to myself or the TV, yell, fume, etc… but after Warrick missed the 2 foul shots that could have sealed it, both my dad and I were on the ground yelling. I am a Christian, but I usually don’t pray about Syracuse basketball too often, this game was the exception. As Kansas came down we were on our knees praying that we could hold on. After we finally won and Warrick made the block I didn’t get to sleep until 5 am because I was so excited… all in all my favorite memory.

4. I went away to a smaller college in PA… I wanted to go to Syracuse but I also wanted to pursue my own athletic career and going to a smaller college gave me a better chance to do this. Needless to say I have remained a huge Syracuse athletics fan (especially basketball, but also football and all other sports). Myself and a fraternity brother (also a big Syracuse fan) sat down one night in 2009 to watch a big east tournament game against UConn (6OT game)… little did we know what we were in for. We kept our whole fraternity up with how loud we were and all 15/20 of us stayed up to watch this thrilling game… some got annoyed with us but it was worth it.

5. Going to my first Big East tournament with my dad in 2010. Sadly AO got hurt, but this is an experience we will always have together. Glad we did this before the ACC move.

6. My wife and I had our first child on 3-7 this year. In the recovery room at McGee Women’s hospital in Pittsburgh (on 3-8), my son, my dad, and me watched our first Syracuse game together while my wife was asleep recovering (this was the BET game against UConn this year).

7. Since I live in Western PA now it is harder to get to games but I always make a few. I was able to go to the game at Consol against K State in the NCAA’s. Before the game we took a “three generations of Syracuse fans” picture with my dad, myself, and my week-and-a-half old son wearing our orange gear. My wife is also converting and really like certain players such as Wesley Johnson and MCW.

Recently rejoined board after long absence. Inspired by this thread. My Dad taught at SU and moved to Utica College in the late 50's when it started. I was a freshman at SU in 1961 and got hooked on Dave Bing and company (including JB) in 1962 and thereafter, leading the team back to respectability and a bright future. Remember many raucus times in Manley Field House stomping to cheer the team, etc. Learned to hate G/Town, especially when John Thompson announced that Manley was officially closed.
Of many, many favorite games, one of the best at the Dome was when G/town's Thompson got tossed, waved his towel at the crowd, Billy Owens made two free throws with almost no time left and SU won in overtime. One of the loudest SU crowds ever. FWIW this happened to be the honeymoon location for my wife and I.

NYOrangeNBlue said:

Slow day at the office...so I thought I'd throw this out here.

Where are we all from/what's our SU fan story?

For me, although I remember watching Orangemen teams with Preston Shumpert, Jason Hart and Etan Thomas back as a teenager living in NJ in the late 90's on ESPN, my fandom didn't really start until I took a trip to SU during the 2003 NCAA tournament run to see where I was going to be going to school that next fall. It was a cold and rainy day that Friday (I'm sure many of the students were in Albany watching the sweet 16), but once I saw the Orange spirit throughout that NCAA run, I was hooked.

I was unlucky enough to arrive on the hill one year after the NC Season in 03', but lucky enough to witness a TON of terrific Orange ball while I was there. Was a student season ticket holder for four years of undergrad, plus two more of graduate school right afterwards. Don't think I missed a home basketball game from 03-04' to 08-09'.

Many memorable moments. The Terrence Roberts three to beat Rutgers in 06' (and the fur coat he wore afterwards), Warrick throwing it down over everyone, winning back to back BE Tourney titles in 05' and 06', Gerry's last game, Multiple court stormings: (Senior Night in 07' against GT, GT again in 08'.) Flynn in 09'...the list goes on and on.

Favorite SU player has to be Hakim Warrick, dude was absurdly quick and had the longest arms ever. He had springs in his shoes.

Now that I've graduated and am still local, working in the upstate NY region, I've still been able to make it up to a bunch of games. Was at the GT game in 2010 when we blew them out of the building, and made it to about 4-5 games last year.

Nothing like gameday at the Dome during conference season, or the excitement of being an SU student during March Madness. Nothing like it.

I've forged some great friendships with SU fans due to our shared passion for hoops (Mason's architect younger brother happens to be a close friend) and I look forward to the next 50 years of my SU fandom.

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Favorite Player - Mark Wadach (Best Orange rebounder inch for inch I ever saw) with Greg Kohls, Jimmy Lee, Dennis DuVal, Pearl Washington and Carmello Anthony close seconds.

Favorite Transfer Player - Fred Saunders, with Billy Drew a close second.

Favorite Center - Bill Smith with Roosevelt Bouie a close second.

Best Regular Season Moment - Beating St. Johns in major upset at home in 1972 in front of record Manley crowd - major step forward for program, with 1976 win at Louisville - another major step forward - and Pearl half-court game winning shot close seconds.

Best Moment - New Orleans - Warrick blocks shot.

First game - SU v. Rutgers in 1970 - a triple OT win in Manley.

What I Miss - The original Manley Zoo - the most intimidating fan section in the history of college sports and the warm-up opening of Shaft, It's Alright, Who's That Lady, What You See is What You Get (Bring it back!!!)

Player I Wish Could Get Another Shot - Billy Edelin - Great PG - Could have been one of the great ones.

OrangeTim said:

Recently rejoined board after long absence. Inspired by this thread. My Dad taught at SU and moved to Utica College in the late 50's when it started. I was a freshman at SU in 1961 and got hooked on Dave Bing and company (including JB) in 1962 and thereafter, leading the team back to respectability and a bright future. Remember many raucus times in Manley Field House stomping to cheer the team, etc. Learned to hate G/Town, especially when John Thompson announced that Manley was officially closed.
Of many, many favorite games, one of the best at the Dome was when G/town's Thompson got tossed, waved his towel at the crowd, Billy Owens made two free throws with almost no time left and SU won in overtime. One of the loudest SU crowds ever. FWIW this happened to be the honeymoon location for my wife and I.

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So great to see you again. Many of us have been asking about you, and have been worried about you. Welcome back!

OrangeTim said:

Recently rejoined board after long absence. Inspired by this thread. My Dad taught at SU and moved to Utica College in the late 50's when it started. I was a freshman at SU in 1961 and got hooked on Dave Bing and company (including JB) in 1962 and thereafter, leading the team back to respectability and a bright future. Remember many raucus times in Manley Field House stomping to cheer the team, etc. Learned to hate G/Town, especially when John Thompson announced that Manley was officially closed.
Of many, many favorite games, one of the best at the Dome was when G/town's Thompson got tossed, waved his towel at the crowd, Billy Owens made two free throws with almost no time left and SU won in overtime. One of the loudest SU crowds ever. FWIW this happened to be the honeymoon location for my wife and I.

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I still have the Syracuse Otto Lockers from McDonalds you sent me like 10 years ago. Welcome Back!!!

runningorange said:

First post… I have been a lurker for several years now. First off I want to thank all of the posters here who contribute to this board and make it such a great source of information. I always look forward to posts from orangeeyes, bees, jake, swc, cto and many others. I’m sure there are other non-posters out there who also appreciate the great deal of enjoyment and insight that these posters (as well as many others I neglected to mention) provide.

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Welcome. That might be one of the best 1st posts ever. Don't be a stranger.