April 3

## 1920

**Syracuse Herald**- All-Syracuse Faced By Strong Club Tonight

Local Quintet To Play Ortner’s Collegians On Armory Court

The All-Syracuse basketball team will meet a strong foe on the Armory
court tonight when it lines up against Howard Ortner’s collegian quintet.
Ortner has a strong team, among his players being Dewey Sullivan of Jack
Nolls’s Beechnut team, a player who was formerly a varsity man at Cornell.
Sullivan will pair with Lester Brown as guards with Gallagher jumping center,
Ortner and Eckley in the forward positions. All-Syracuse will line up for the
game with Dexter and Rafter as forwards, Tormey at center, Casey and Crisp guards.

**Syracuse Journal**- Collegians To Tackle Local Quint Tonight

Howard Ortner, coach of the Cornell basketball squad, will lead his
aggregation of all-college basketeers against the All-Syracuse combination at
the State Armory tonight. And a fast game is expected. Ortner is to play one of
the forward positions and Eckley, one of Ithaca’s best known basketball
players, will appear at the other forward position for the invaders. Gallagher,
ranked as a high class pivot, will play center while Leslie Brown and Sullivan
will hold down the guards berths. The All-Syracuse team is somewhat crippled as
a result of the strenuous contest with Ogdensburg at Watertown on Thursday
night. Rafter suffered an injury to his knee in a collision with an Ogdensburg
player and the other players are bruised as a result of playing on a small
court. Danny Martin will not take part in tonight’s game. Dexter and Rafter
will play the forward positions. Casey and Crisp will occupy the guard stations
and Captain Tormey will appear at center.

## 1947

**Syracuse Herald Journal**- Nationals Start Journey To Chicago

Members of the Syracuse Nationals basketball team began a centralized movement towards Chicago today, where they will meet the Dow Chemical five in the first round of the annual professional tourney which opens Saturday night. John Chaney, Steve Sharkey, George Nelmark and Bob Nugent, along with co-owners Dan Biasone and George Mingin, leave Syracuse this afternoon, with a stopover scheduled at tonight in Rochester, where they will witness the opening clash of the Rochester-Chicago Gear final playoff series. They will continue from Rochester tonight so as to arrive in Chicago tomorrow. Jerry Rizzo, playing coach, left New York this morning, while Jack Dugger will join him in Cleveland on the westward trip. Mike Novak and Kenny Exel are already in the Midwest and will meet their mates Friday afternoon in the Morrison Hotel prior to a Friday night drill at the Chicago Arena. John Gee did not make the trip. National League club owners will hold a meeting in the Windy City Sunday in an effort to iron out some of the difficulties which have been encountered during the season. One of the new rules sure to be considered is the penalty to be imposed upon a player who strikes an official of the game. Most club leaders are of the opinion that a stiffer penalty than the one now exercised should be imposed/ it is possible that a draft of college players and franchise commitments may be discussed at the gathering, but Syracuse club officials believe that franchise talks will be postponed until the summer gathering. The Mohawk team of the New York State League will appear in the Chicago tourney the same night that Syracuse plays, with Mohawk facing the Oshkosh All-Stars. Several Syracuse players are on the Mohawk roster.

## 1955

**Syracuse Herald American**- Nats Set Back Ft. Wayne, 87-84

Clubs Vie Tonight In West; Syracusans Hold 2 To 0 Advantage

The Syracuse Nationals appeared a team of destiny today following a hectic second straight win over the Fort Wayne Zollners by 87-84, at the War Memorial yesterday. Red Rocha’s dramatic one-handed shot from 30 feet out with 10 seconds to play maintained the jinx over the Zollners. As the Syracusans head for Indianapolis and tonight’s third fray, the certainly realize it is going to be no pushover to eliminate the battling Pistons. Earlier belief they might win in four straight has been shredded by the fighting spirit of the Fort Wayne club, which refused to surrender easily. Johnny Kerr and Dolph Schayes earned a share of the spotlight in the victory, the 20th in a row over Fort Wayne. Schayes led all scorers with 24 points and he sank nine of them in the first three minutes of the final period after the Cervi-men had fallen behind, 65-63. Kerr injected early life into the Syracusans with 10 first period points after his club had dropped behind by a 7-1 margin. Three times Fort Wayne appeared to be an easy mark but each time Charley Eckman’s group battled back to scare the wits out of the Syracusans. In the final period the Nats started off two points behind but with Schayes’ hot hand moved in front, 76-69. Tired Dolph, who had silenced Fort Wayne bench jockeys with his sudden outburst, then asked for relief and the Zollners started back uphill. They closed at 78-75 but dropped back again to 82-75. Frankie Brian then started to fast break the Syracusans and, with 1:01 to play, the Pistons trailed only 85-82. Brian broke loose on a fast layup to bring it to 85-84 with 34 seconds remaining. Syracuse used its full 24 seconds and the buzzer sounded as Rocha’s long one-hander was in the air. The ball hit the backboard and bounced back through the netting, and it mattered little that Bob Houbregs failed to hit on his last simple layup try, for the contest ended at that point. Although the Zollners strategically used an extra tall man throughout, Syracuse had a wide 63-48 rebounding edge, and except for a pitiful shooting demonstration in the third period might have waltzed home easily. From the field Syracuse outscored Fort Wayne, 33-31, and gained a terrific break in the free throw ratings as Fort Wayne missed 17 of 39 tries. The Nats connected on 21 of 30. Yesterday’s turnout of 5,845 spectators brought the total playoff attendance in Syracuse to 27,997 and the figure should cut heavily into any regular season deficit. Two rhubarbs developed during the fray. Dick Rosenthal drew the ire of the assemblage when he attempted a flying tackle of Earl Lloyd after arguing a minute earlier with Paul Seymour. Syracuse was deprived of a basket by the game’s third official, Mendy Rudolph, and timer Billy Hassett. They ruled that time had expired on the 24-second clock before a basket by King went through the hoop. At the time the Nats were leading, 82-77, and referee Sid Borgia had called the hoop good. There was a general argument which ended abruptly as Hassett insisted the shot was late. Piston Coach Charley Eckman, a bit disheartened, announced: “We lost two unlucky ones, maybe it will be our day in Indianapolis. The worm will turn.” Syracuse mentor Al Cervi said Rocha’s shot was a “great shot, that’s all.” The slender red-head was different. He said, “chalk that one up to luck.” Fort Wayne, surprised by starting Don Meineke in place of George Yardley, and the move appeared successful as he took off speeding on a fast break to gain momentum and the Zollners moved in front 7-1. But Kerr found his warm hand and the Nats caught up at 9-all, tied it again at 11-11, and then in front to lead 20-13 at the quarter. Then the Zollners bounced back to come within 25-22 when Seymour found the rim and tallied nine points on four buckets, as his club took a 39-32 advantage which stretched to 49-38 at halftime. Syracuse also scored the first points of the second half but Fort Wayne ran off 11 in a row and finally went ahead, 59-58, with 3½ minutes left in the third quarter. Rocha put Syracuse in the van with a hook but Yardley and Brian baskets gave the Zollners the lead which lasted until Schayes brilliant final period burst. Yardley wound up as top man for Fort Wayne with 21 while Brian, who played only 27 minutes, had 20 hitting nine of 14 field goal attempts. Kerr successfully bottled up Larry Foust, limiting him to two field goals. In addition to Schayes the Nats placed three other men in double figures. Kerr had 17, Seymour had 15 and Rocha 11. Maurice Podoloff, loop president, is arranging the annual league draft meeting for Syracuse April 11 and 12. He said only one member of the board of governors has not been contacted but that all others are agreeable to the date and site. The governors also will act on applications for franchises from Indianapolis, Baltimore and Washington. Podoloff indicated he believed the loop would have the same eight teams next season. Schedule difficulties are also to be ironed out at the session with probable arrangements for a later start and shorter schedule. Many are in favor of reducing the slate to 60 tests instead of 72. Fred Zollner, Fort Wayne owner, witnessed the fray after a 1,700-mile plane trip. He silenced rumors Fort Wayne might drop from the loop by saying, “We’ll be around for another 10 years.” Zollner said he had three disappointments this year: First, losing the home building for the playoffs; second, losing money at the gate, and third, dropping two games here. While admitting the club lost money again this season, he said losses were smaller than at any other time. Next year he believes the Zollners may do more traveling a la Harlem Globe Trotter style. Cervi stated the Nats’ pre-game pep talk saying: “This is the big one, men. We’ve got to have this one.” Red Rocha replied: “This makes the seventy-eighth big one in a row. When do we get a little one?” Fort Wayne flew back to Indianapolis in Zollner’s private plane immediately after the game. The Nats headed west by train with a traveling party of 22.

SYRACUSE: Schayes (7-10-24), Rocha (4-311), Tucker (1-0-2), Lloyd (1-2-4), Kerr (8-1-17), Seymour (6-3-15), King (4-1-9), Farley (1-1-3), Kenville (0-0-0), Osterkorn (1-0-2) TOTALS (33-21-87). FORT WAYNE: Hutchins (6-2-14), Meineke (1-5-7), Yardley (7-7-21), Zaslofsky (3-2-8), Foust (2-0-4), Rosenthal (1-0-2), Houbregs (1-1-3), Phillip (1-3-5), Brian (9-2-20), Walther (0-0-0) TOTALS (31-22-84).

Score at halftime- Syracuse 49, Fort Wayne 38.