Let me start this by saying that the current Syracuse basketball squad is among my most favorite squads–and I’ve been a fan since my dad took me to a game at Manley Field House as a gift on my seventh birthday–the old Manley, the one with the raised wood court laid down on top of the dirt floor.
But I’ll always be a sucker for the Louie (Orr) and (Roosevelt) Bouie show. Everything we take for granted now was either just beginning or just on the horizon–Boeheim’s head coaching career started with the 100 wins over 4 seasons of L & B. Manley Field House and its 50+ home court winning streak may have been “officially closed” by John Thompson and the hated Hoyas, but the Carrier Dome and the classic Big East rivalries with G’town, St. John’s and Villanova were all on deck.
I do miss the intensity of the old Manley Field House games–the Kennel Club of swearing, milk bone throwing students, the intimidating line up cheer–the fact that all 9,000 or so fans were there for basketball–not like too many folks today in the Dome who are there as a social event. It was one of the classic pits of all time–so much of a home court advantage that some schools refused to play there–I’m lookin’ at you Holy Cross. The Dome may be called the Loud House, but Manley was the insane asylum. Syracuse grew from an eastern regional team into a national power–and the glory days started with Louie and Bouie.
Enough reminiscing. This year’s team is awesome and da ‘Cuse is in the house! Let’s Go Orange!!!
P.S. my votes for the next big heads: Louie & Bouie, Pearl Washington and the Dome Ranger!
Still Racing In The Street 
one of my favorite manley stories: in ’66 or ’67, when calvin murphy was a freshman at niagara and ernie austin was scoring big points as a freshman at syracuse, manley was close to filled … maybe even at capacity … for a freshman game between those teams.
i’ll tell you the one thing that makes me sad about this team, which in virtually all ways i admire: i get sick of the game day commentators who take shots at devendorf, harris and flynn as being selfish players who didn’t work on defense. with harris and flynn, in particular, that’s revisionist history. harris sometimes made bonehead decisions with the ball, but he worked his butt off on both ends of the court – as evidenced by his toil in the marathon win over connecticut. as for flynn, any questions about his work ethic on the court are foolishness. the guy was relentless, and also was willing to play hurt.
none of that is meant to detract from the great chemistry and talent of this year’s orange. but all too often, in our culture, we feel this need to demean as well as praise … last year’s team got the orange back in the tournament and got the ball rolling again, setting the stage for what’s happening now.
sean
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Could the negativity be blowback from the off-the-court piggish behavior by those guys, especially Devo?
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Funny to stumble across this… I’m 50 now and a life-long Orange fan. My dad took me to Manley field house when I was a boy and I had the same Louie and Bouie poster hanging on my bedroom wall. Ahhh, the memories…
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Classic, Phil. Mike and I are sitting here watching “Orange Glory”, and I wanted to show him the famous pic of Louie and Bouie in stride. Search then find your blog! I never got to see a game at Manley, but certainly watched many of them on a black and white TV… loved that team!
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