Posted on 12/10/2015 1:18:55 PM PST by EveningStar
Dolph Schayes, who polished his game on the Bronx playgrounds, played 15 seasons as a professional and was once voted one of the 50 best players to play in the National Basketball Association, died on Thursday in Syracuse. He was 87.
His son Danny Schayes, who played 18 seasons in the N.B.A. as a 6-foot-11 center, said the cause was cancer.
At 6 feet 8 inches and 220 pounds, Schayes played the position now known as power forward, becoming a stalwart for the Syracuse Nationals from 1949 to 1963 after earning all-American status at New York University. When the Nationals became the Philadelphia 76ers in 1963-64, he was the player-coach.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
But did they make it any easier for his mom to say "my son Adolph"?
I am old enough to remember him playing. In those years I listened to Chick Hearn with the Lakers.
One of the supposedly non-existent great Jewish sports heroes.
Me too. :)
A good time to recall the NBA accomplishments of Pete Maravich.
Man...I miss Pistol, Dolphy and Mikan. Those guys created the NBA through the 50’s and 60’s
Dang! I forgot Cousy!
Another seminal player of that era.
Pistol Pete played in the ‘70s.
I remember him averaging double digits with his main shooting arm in a cast
Still was a building block of the modern NBA...
Quite a few early NBA stars were Jewish.
I didn't know Pistol Pete plated pro ball before he went to college. /s He was at LSU 66-70. He didn't play with the Hawks until 1970. So you are a decade or two off.
RIP.
Loved him! Modeled my game after him. Many didn’t know that even at 6 8 he could not jump high enough to dunk but won rebounding crown year after year. He had a geometry machine in his head. Rodman watched hour after hour of him to become the great rebounder he was. RIP DOLPH YOU WERE GREST TO WATCH!
I'm pretty sure Schayes could have easily dunked a basketball. He was 6'8 and one of the best rebounders in the game. I actually saw Schayes play on tv in the early sixties and lately watched him on YouTube clips.
There is one prolonged clip of Schayes showing his highlights. On a number of clips his hands are clearly at rim level. If you're 6'8 and can get off the floor a little bit, you can dunk. Schayes wasn't a great leaper, but he did have a decent vertical from the clips. That means that unless he exceptionally short arms (and he probably had average-sized arms), he probably could have easily dunked if he wanted to.
The myth about fifties players not being able to dunk is bs. In fact, the myth was propagated by some players from that era like George Yardley who was one of the few fifties players who frequently dunked. Yardley claimed George Mikan couldn't dunk a basketball.
If you check the videos on YouTube there's one of Mikan casually strolling up to the basket and jamming it. He was 6'10 and could get off his feet. Mikan could probably have dunked from a standing jump without too much difficulty.
It's just that few players from that era thought about dunking. But I would bet at least half or more of the players from the fifties could dunk.
But did they make it any easier for his mom to say "my son Adolph"?
Yes, I think you may be alluding to the fact that Schayes was Jewish - the best Jewish basketball player in the history of the game! (And there were plenty of outstanding Jewish basketball players in the old days.)
Of course, he was born before Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, so don't blame his mother for the name "Adolph."
Not exactly. Most power forwards pretty much play near the basket on offense. Schayes was one of the last great masters of the distant two-handed set shot. He would have been even more valuable today with the three point shot in effect.
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