Grund­man presents read­ers with a por­trait, the first of its kind, of Dolph Schayes – the star of the Syra­cuse Nation­als bas­ket­ball team dur­ing the 1950s and ​‘60s. Schayes may not have one of the most rec­og­niz­able names in bas­ket­ball his­to­ry, but his accom­plish­ments are stag­ger­ing – he was named one of the fifty great­est play­ers of all time by the NBA and he held six NBA records (includ­ing one for career scor­ing) at his retire­ment. The text fol­lows Schayes from his ear­ly days as the child of Jew­ish Roman­ian immi­grants, through his illus­tri­ous bas­ket­ball career, first at New York Uni­ver­si­ty (dur­ing New York’s ​“gold­en age of bas­ket­ball”) then as part of the Syra­cuse Nation­als. In writ­ing about Schayes’ career, Grund­man also reflects on many of the rev­o­lu­tion­ary changes that were hap­pen­ing in the pro­fes­sion­al bas­ket­ball world at the same time; changes that affect­ed not only Schayes and his con­tem­po­raries, but also the entire essence of the sport.

Read Dolph Grund­man’s Post for the Vis­it­ing Scribe

Dis­cov­er­ing Dolph Schayes