Editor’s picks: The top sports stories of 2022
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In 2022, Syracuse Athletics saw its first national title win since 2015 when the men’s soccer team defeated Indiana in the College Cup. The year also featured the last meeting between Hall of Fame coaches Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski.
The past 12 months also saw the retirement of two more female players’ jerseys, multiple SU program coaching debuts and the death of former Syracuse football coach Greg Robinson.
The Daily Orange’s Sports section selected ten noteworthy reads from 2022. Here are our picks:
Courtesy of Jamie Boeheim
How Jamie Boeheim fell out of love with playing basketball
Before the first practice of her sophomore year, Jamie Boeheim — the daughter of SU head coach Jim Boeheim and sister of former SU players Buddy and Jimmy Boeheim — realized she no longer had the same love for basketball.
She’d always played basketball, winning three state championships at Jamesville-DeWitt High School before playing at the University of Rochester (Division III). The game had become affiliated with excessive pressure, anxiety and stress — it wasn’t giving her the same joy it once did. Those closest to Jamie said the decision to move on from a lifelong passion to prioritize her own happiness speaks to her strength as a person.
And now, over a few years later, Jamie said she doesn’t regret the decision at all.
“Just because I’m a Boeheim doesn’t mean I have to love basketball.”
Photo Illustration by Meghan Hendricks | Photo Editor; photos courtesy of SU Athletics
‘SYRACUSE NEVER CAME’: Inside the Orange’s recruiting missteps in New Jersey
Located in an area that lacks significant homegrown, ACC-level talent, the Orange have long been forced to expand their recruiting efforts regionally.
Head coach Dino Babers has pointed to New Jersey as “one of the top recruiting areas” for SU, but Syracuse’s recent classes reveal a national approach to recruiting and a lack of clear success in New Jersey and other nearby states.
Babers said in December 2021 that recruiting from New York and New Jersey were important to him, but multiple prominent coaches in New Jersey said they have never met him.
“We want the best players that we can get from as many close states as we can, preferably New York and New Jersey, states that are close and bordering us,” Babers said on Dec. 15, 2021.
Meghan Hendricks | Photo Editor
Syracuse wins 1st College Cup in program history, defeats Indiana 7-6 in PKs
CARY, N.C. — On Dec. 12, Syracuse men’s soccer won its first-ever national championship, defeating Indiana 7-6 in penalty kicks in Cary, North Carolina.
SU avenged its shortcoming of the 2015 College Cup squad, which fell in the semifinals to Clemson.
Behind goals from Nathan Opoku and Curt Calov, the Orange held a 2-1 lead for 46 minutes until Indiana’s Herbert Endeley leveled the score in the 80th minute. Both teams would remain scoreless for the remainder of regulation and the 20 minutes of overtime, setting up penalty kicks.
Despite each missing their second penalty kick, both teams were perfect entering the eighth round, where SU goalkeeper Russell Shealy saved Maouloune Goumballe’s spot kick to set up Amferny Sinclair’s game-winner.
Daily Orange File Photo
Reliving the 1st Boeheim-Krzyzewski matchup before their final meeting
On Feb. 26, 2022, Syracuse and Duke played their final regular-season matchup with head coach Jim Boeheim and former Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski both in charge. The Blue Devils cruised to a 97-72 win at the Dome.
But in December 1989, Syracuse won the first meeting between the two Hall of Fame coaches. The Orange squeezed out a 78-76 victory despite blowing a 15-point first-half lead, after forward Dave Johnson knocked down two free throws in the final seconds.
The game was part of the inaugural ACC-Big East Challenge, and the Los Angeles Times called the Duke-Syracuse contest the best game of the competition. It marked a starting point for years of competition between the two winningest NCAA basketball coaches.
“Back then, it was just Syracuse trying to beat Duke, and it was just Jim Boeheim trying to beat Mike Krzyzewski,” said Mike Hopkins, an SU player at the time. “As the years go on, the thing that you realize about both of them (is) they’re two of the greatest competitors to ever do this.”
Remi Jose | Illustration Editor
Russell Shealy loves his pet pig
Syracuse goalkeeper Russell Shealy secretly asked Santa Claus for a pet pig for Christmas one year, but cried when he didn’t see one under the tree. So his parents extended their own offer — If he got all As, they would buy him one.
Shealy went into “overdrive” as a student, his mother Maureen said, eventually finishing with straight A’s in his classes. In disbelief, Maureen even called Shealy’s teacher asking if one of his grades could be bumped down to an 89. But his parents stayed true to their word and researched where to find a pig in Georgia.
For 14 years, Shealy’s pet pig, Bella, has been back home in Cartersville, Georgia. He has pictures of Bella saved on his phone and is always excited to talk about her, blushing sometimes. Bella’s also in the family Easter photos, which don’t include the family’s two dogs.
Maureen still has no idea why her son wanted a pig, surmising it just “struck his fancy.”
Daily Orange File Photo
Those close to Greg Robinson recall his generosity, passion for football
Former Syracuse football head coach Greg Robinson died Jan. 5 from a form of Alzheimer’s disease. He was 70 years old.
The southern California native coached, both collegiately and in the NFL, for parts of five decades. Robinson led the Orange from 2005-08, compiling a 10-37 record over four losing seasons, with five wins later vacated due to NCAA violations.
It was the kindness, generosity and overall passion for football that former Syracuse players and assistant coaches remember him for, several said. While at Syracuse, Robinson ingrained himself within the local community and created a family-like atmosphere within the program.
“He taught me life’s first biggest lesson: that you got to go after what you want in life, and you need to do it with as much passion as you possibly can,” former player Max Meisel said.
Maxine Brackbill | Assistant Photo Editor
Julie Williamson’s creativity, curiosity embedded forever with jersey retirement
On Oct. 9, Julie Williamson’s No. 9 became the first to be retired from SU’s field hockey program, becoming the third woman behind Felisha Legette-Jack and Katie Rowan Thomson to have her jersey retired at SU.
Former SU field hockey player Julie Williamson always found joy in the challenge of learning a new skill. “I never saw it as a chore, I always saw it as a chance to try something new to beat my opponent,” she said.
Williamson’s curiosity to be more creative helped her become a commanding force for Syracuse when it won the Big East championship for the first time in 1993. At the time, the title gave womens’ sports “respect” around the school. She was the first SU player to earn three straight All-American honors.
“I thought Julie was not only able to perform at that level, but she could take the team to a different level,” former head coach Kathleen Parker said.
Daily Orange File Photo
Jim Boeheim shifted from suits to quarter-zips. This is what his tailor thinks.
Jim Boeheim’s tailor isn’t mad about the Syracuse head coach’s shift from sport coats to quarter-zips. He isn’t mad that Boeheim probably won’t be buying specially-made sport coats lined with photos of the Dome or the Boeheim family to wear on game days.
“Right now, he’s a little bit more comfortable on the court,” said Boeheim’s tailor, Peter A. Roberti of Adrian Jules in Rochester, explaining that he wouldn’t try to convince Boeheim to switch back to sport coats.
For decades, basketball coaches have worn suits on the sidelines. But when the NBA laxed its suit-wearing mandate in the COVID-19 bubble, the results trickled down into college basketball during the 2020-21 season and have continued through this season.
“Somebody’s mad at me, but this is it,” Boeheim said with a laugh on Nov. 1, 2021, presumably referencing his tailor (who is, in fact, not actually mad at him).
Courtesy of SU Athletics
FROM PLAYERS TO COACHES: Inside Gary Gait, Kayla Treanor’s relationship before both head SU’s lacrosse programs
When Gary Gait jumped from the women’s lacrosse head coach to the men’s lacrosse head coach, Syracuse hired program alumna Kayla Treanor as the new women’s head coach. Treanor played under Gait from 2013-2016.
The pair first met over thirteen years ago at Treanor’s lacrosse tournament when she was ninth grade. Treanor told Gait that she always wanted to be a lacrosse coach.
Eight months after Treanor — an assistant on Boston College’s 2021 championship team — defeated Gait’s SU side in the national title, the pair were appointed to lead the Orange’s storied programs. Both coaches played for Syracuse, but now, they’re one flight of stairs away from each other at the Roy Simmons Coaching Center, with Treanor occupying Gait’s old office.
“I just can’t believe how lucky I am to have (him) in my life. To have him want me to come play for (the Orange) was awesome.”
Photo Illustration by Meghan Hendricks | Photo Editor
Syracuse local responsible for ‘1 of the best card collections’
NEW YORK — Buried deep beyond paintings, vases, furniture and the rest of the 10,000 works of art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a collection of pieces that could fit in the palm of your hand — baseball cards.
Syracuse native Jefferson R. Burdick is the man behind the cards. Known as the “father of baseball card collecting,” Burdick knew his cards deserved a place next to Leonardo Da Vinci drawings, and for almost 60 years, they’ve lived at The Met. The exhibit takes up three sides of a wall with 11 framed pieces featuring players like Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth and Stan Musial.
“He was kind of a visionary in that he thought this might be important when very few people thought there would be a reason to hold onto any trading cards,” said Dave Jamieson, author of Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession.
