March 24

## 1920

**Syracuse Herald**- Rochester To Meet Crispites

Strong Central Team Plays All-Syracuse At Armory Tonight

The All-Syracuse basketball teams appears due for another real battle
tonight when the Centrals of Rochester come to Syracuse for a game at the
Armory. The Central team, led by Johnny Murphy of Oswego, has met and defeated
most of the strong teams of the western section of the state and is claiming
the state championship. It gave All-Syracuse a fine lacing a week ago in
Rochester. Cohen of the Rochester team slipped eight baskets into the net
during the game with All-Syracuse in Rochester at the expense of one [[Wilbur
Crisp]]. Crisp, while a demon in getting points from the foul line, has been weak
on defensive play for the last few weeks and will not be allowed to play Cohen
tonight, the lineup of the team being shifted so that Danny Martin will be the strong Rochester point getter. Martin is a dependable defensive man and Cohen will do well if he gets better than an even break with Martin. If Martin would break
himself of the habit of shooting from the center of the court he would rank as
one of the best men on the All-Syracuse team.

## 1947

**Syracuse Herald Journal**- Nationals Entertain Royals Tonight

Rochester Needs To Win To Advance; Syracusans Fight Elimination

Fighting with their backs against the wall, the Syracuse Nats face the Rochester Royals at 9 o’clock tonight in the fourth game of the best three-in-five National League playoff series on the W. Jefferson St. Armory court. Trailing two games to one in the playoff rivalry, playing coach Jerry Rizzo and his Nat teammates return to their home court hoping to duplicate last Wednesday’s conquest of the Royals. Defeat of the Nats means elimination. If the Royals, Saturday night victors in the third game at Rochester, succeed in making it two-in-a-row tonight, the Syracusans’ league play comes to an end, and it will be the final battle here, although Rizzo and company will compete in the world’s pro tournament at Chicago, starting April 5. In the event the Nats turn back the Royals again tonight to tie the series at two games each, the fifth and deciding contest will be played tomorrow night in Rochester. Tonight’s game has been a sellout for several days, and another capacity crowd of 3,200 will be on hand to watch the Nats’ bid to get back in the series against the schedule champion Royals. Syracuse hopes hinge largely on big Mike Novak, giant center, who has been a large factor on attack for the Nats in the three games already played, in which he gathered a total of 52 points. Rizzo, John Chaney,George Nelmark and Steve Sharkey are expected to be Novak’s fellow players in the starting lineup. Rochester likely will rely on Dolly King again at center, with Bob Davies, Red Holzman, Al Cervi and Fuzzy Levane the other starters. Syracuse will play its first game in the Chicago tournament at 10 p.m. Central Standard Time, April 5 against Midland, Mich. Dows.

From Skidding The Sports Field by Lawrence Skiddy

Nationals Have Backs To Wall

Those Rochester Royals and the Syracuse Nationals meet again tonight at the Armory in what may be the last professional basketball game of the season in Syracuse. The hall will be packed to capacity. Down in the score right now, two games to one, the Nats, to continue play, must win here tonight and then take the fifth and deciding game of the National League’s first Eastern Division playoffs. If the Nats win both these games they’ll meet Fort Wayne next in a two-in-three series. The winner will meet the Western champion. The Nats have made a goof fight of their series with Rochester and they aren’t beaten yet. They may rally and win. With no intent to toss horseradish into anybody’s ice cream, and criticizing no one in particular, the writer will always think the Nats would have won the postseason with Rochester in three straight games if Benny Borgmann had been on hand to direct the club. There’s have been no mistake like that of Saturday, trying to get 40 minutes of play out of each of five starters, if Boss Ben had been there. Some sports enthusiasts always make inquiries as to how cash is divided in playoff series and the like. Players worked for salaries. The Rochester club kept receipts of the first game, Syracuse the receipts of the second game. After that receipts were divided 50-50 between the two clubs. Rochester can handle about 1,000 more spectators than Syracuse. Its price scale is slightly higher. As a result, Syracuse gets slightly the better of the split on game receipts after the first two.

## 1950

**Binghamton Press**- Syracuse, Knicks To Clash

The Syracuse Nationals occupied a berth alongside the New York Knickerbockers today in the finals of the Eastern Division playoffs in the National Basketball Association. Syracuse eliminated the Philadelphia Warriors from the title chase by dumping the Warriors, 59-53, in the second game of their best-of-three series last night at Philadelphia. The Knicks, who eliminated Washington Wednesday night, meet the Nationals in the opener of their best-of-three series at Syracuse on Sunday. The Nationals trailed Philadelphia for three quarters of the game, but finally caught up early in the fourth period. With Dolph Schayes, who tallied 16 points, leading the way, Syracuse put on the pressure in the late minutes to win going away. Meanwhile, a stalemate existed in the Western Division playoffs. Indianapolis and Sheboygan were tied at one game each, and so were Anderson and Tri-Cities. Sheboygan surprised Indianapolis, 95-85, last night, while Tri-Cities nipped Anderson, 76-75, on a converted free throw by Jack Nichols in the last three seconds. In the Central Division, Fort Wayne ripped Rochester, 90-84, in their opening semi-final series.

Gabor 'Most Popular' To Syracuse Fans

Savage May Turn Pro

The Syracuse Nats opened their barrelful of "Most Popular Player" ballots the night before last and it came as no great surprise to any Coliseum-frequenter with ears when Binghamton's Billy Gabor copped the cash award. For the Bullet it was a great honor. It meant beating Dolph Schayes who won the award last year and who came through with a much better season this winter. And it meant beating Al (The Digger) Cervi, without doubt the most popular coach with home town fans in the NBA. Despite a broken jaw, and heavy colds that sidelined him near the end of the season, Gabor finished second to 6-7 Schayes in scoring with an 11-plus average. And he keeps enlarging the Syracuse following he has had since his college frosh days in 1942. That Cervi is counting on him heavily in the playoffs is evident in the boss-man's recent statement in the Syracuse Herald-Journal: "If Billy can regain his midseason form he could prove the sensation of the playoffs. He assures me he is ready to go at full steam. I most certainly hope so." Gabor may no longer be Binghamton's only NBA representative next year. The St. Louis Bombers general manager attended the NIT and said that Bob Savage, one of Gabor's fellow Central alums, would definitely be one of the club's draft choices. Savage, whose play was unjustly dimmed by most writers in favor of Jack Kiley and Easy Ed Miller, is an engineering student at Syracuse, however, and is talking the possibility of grabbing a play-while-you-work job with the Phillips 66 Oilers, the best-known AAU team in the nation.

## 1953

**Lockport Union Sun Journal**- Biasone To Sell Syracuse Nationals

Syracuse—The directors of the Syracuse Nationals say they will try to buy out the holdings of Daniel Biasone, club president in order to keep the National Basketball Association team in Syracuse. Biasone, who owns 76 percent of the stock, has indicated a desire to sell the Nats, and has announced receipt of an offer of $150,000 from Ike Duffey, Anderson, Ind., meat packer, who would move the club to Chicago. The board of directors voted last night to try to raise $152,000 to buy Biasone's interest in the club and its affiliate, Syracuse Nationals Shows, Inc. Biasone said he would respect the board's wishes. The directors appointed a five-man committee to sound out Syracusans who might be interested in purchasing all or part of Biasone's stock. Several of the 22 directors said they would buy additional shares. The board held Duffey's offer open, and advised Biasone to accept it if local capital could not be obtained.

## 1955

**Syracuse Herald Journal**- Nats 1 Up, Bid For Commanding Lead

Celts Again Take Court At Memorial; Action Moves To Boston Saturday

The opportunity to assume a 2-0 lead in the best three-in-five series for the Eastern Division playoff championship faces the Syracuse Nationals as they entertain the Boston Celtics at the Memorial again tonight. Another turnout of 6,000 or more spectators is anticipated. All 1,800 of the $2.50 seats have been sold, but Nats officials asset lower priced tickets are still available. There is a trend of optimism in ranks of Syracuse players and rooters following the Nats 110-100 opening game triumph. However, the fact remains that this still might be the final pro game of the season here. If Boston should square the series tonight, action shifts to Beantown for the next two engagements Saturday and Sunday. Three successive wins for the Celts would eliminate the local five. A win for Syracuse would assure more action here, either a fifth game against Boston or a minimum of two tests with the winner of the Fort Wayne-Minneapolis series. Syracuse appeared to reach its expected heights in the second half of the initial game after a sloppy first half in which open men were neglected, and foul shooting was a sorry sight to witness. Both clubs practiced yesterday, although the Celts drilled without their coach, Red Auerbach. He was in New York scouting the college all-stars who drilled for Saturday’s game in Madison Square Garden. Syracuse mentor, Al Cervi, will attend the Saturday collegiate fray. Before departing, Auerbach hinted he would concentrate on stopping George King. During the regular season Bob Cousy had been assigned to guard King and Bill Sharman was pitted against Paul Seymour. Assignments were switched Tuesday, but the move backfired when King hit on a series of set shots.