Dolph Schayes, a DeWitt Clinton High School alum who became one of the NBA’s greatest players, died of cancer in Syracuse, New York, on Dec. 10. He was 87.

Adolph Schayes was born in the University Heights section of the Bronx on May 19, 1928, to Carl and Tina Schayes, Romanian Jewish immigrants who lived at 183rd Street and Davidson Avenue near Jerome Avenue. Schayes had grown to a height of 6’5” by the time he was 11, and eventually topped out at 6’8.”

Schayes was a natural for the game of basketball, playing at Creston Junior High School 79, and then honing his

game further at DeWitt Clinton H.S. on Mosholu Parkway. He later played for New York University, leading the team to the NCAA Final Four tournament as a 16-year-old freshman center.

Schayes was immediately snapped up in a 1948 bidding war, as there were two professional basketball leagues at the time. The New York Knicks drafted him as fourth pick, offering what was at the time their league’s cap of $5,000.  The Syracuse Nationals offered Schayes the cap in their league–$7,500, and he accepted.  The two leagues would merge shortly thereafter to form the NBA.

Schayes played his entire 16-season career, 1949 to 1964, for Syracuse, leading them to the championship in 1955. He led the team in scoring for 12 straight seasons, retiring as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 19,249 points.  He also played in more games than any other player—1,059. Perhaps Schayes’ most amazing achievement was playing 706 straight games without missing a single one, from 1952 to 1961.

His trademark feature as a player was a high arcing shot his teammates called “Sputnik.”  Schayes was also widely known for his dangerous ability to shoot accurately, both left- and right-handed, a skill he developed while playing almost an entire season with his right arm in a cast. After retiring as a player, Schayes coached the Philadelphia 76ers and their legendary star, Wilt Chamberlain, from 1963 to 1966.

Schayes received all of the greatest honors bestowed in the basketball world.  He was Rookie of the Year in 1949, played in the first NBA All-Star game in 1951, and would repeat the ritual 12 more times.  He was named NBA Coach of the Year in 1966.  He was voted “one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history” when the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1997, and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Schayes returned to the Bronx on May 16 for the Bronx Ball, the penultimate soiree to Bronx Week, a celebratory event celebrating the positive aspects of the Bronx. The next day he was inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame by Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. That same day, Schayes headed up the Grand Concourse to ride in the Bronx Day Parade along Mosholu Parkway.  It would be his last trip up the Concourse and the Parkway, the route ending just blocks from DeWitt Clinton, where his basketball career began.

After the Bronx Day Parade, Schayes paused briefly to speak to a few local reporters–remaining elegant, dignified and courteous, despite his weekend consumed with non-stop activities.

After retiring from coaching, Schayes became a real estate developer in Syracuse.  He was an active member of his local synagogue, Temple Concord, and was buried in the temple’s plot in Woodlawn Cemetery, Syracuse.  He is survived by his wife, Naomi, son Danny (who also played 18 seasons for the NBA), daughters Carrie Goettsch and Debra Ferri, and nine grandchildren.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.