A conversation with Jim Boeheim ahead of Dave Bing’s Ring of Honor Ceremony

Ahead of former Syracuse men’s basketball star Dave Bing’s induction into Syracuse University’s Ring of Honor, WAER Sports’ Francesco Simone had the opportunity to sit down with former SU men’s basketball head coach Jim Boeheim.

Bing and Boeheim both arrived on campus in 1962 and met each other through playing pickup games before eventually becoming roommates.

“Right away [Bing] was the leader of the team. Even as a freshman, he was the guy everybody looked up to,” Boeheim said.

Freshmen were not allowed to play varsity basketball at the time, so Bing began his career on the freshman squad, which beat the varsity team consistently during scrimmages. When he got to the varsity squad, he led the team in scoring all three seasons. In his senior year, Bing averaged 28.4 points per game, the highest single-season scoring average in Syracuse history.

“[Dave’s] the only guy that completely changed the direction of the program …he’s the best player that’s ever played here,” Boeheim said.

The two led the Orange to a 22-6 record in the 1965-1966 season, and reached the East Region Finals of the NCAA Tournament.

Bing was selected second overall in the 1966 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons. He averaged 20 points per game and was named the 1967 NBA Rookie of the Year. He spent 12 years in the NBA, where he became a seven time all-star, won a scoring title in the 1967-1968 season and won the 1975-1976 All Star Game MVP. Bing was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990, and was named one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players in 1997 and a part of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team in 2022.

After basketball, Bing was elected Mayor of Detroit in 2009. At the time, the city endured several issues including high unemployment, large debt and a shrinking population. Bing served one full term as mayor and, in 2014, founded the Bing Youth Institute (BYI), a nonprofit organization aiming to mentor African American boys in Detroit.

“There's a lot of players who gain respect from being a basketball player, but it's what you do outside of basketball that gains respect from other people … and Dave was always a leader and always did things for other people,” Boeheim stated.

The BYI has graduated six classes of students, and has a 100% high school graduation rate, with 80% of students who were a part of the BYI now being in college.

Outside of Bing’s ceremony, Simone and Boeheim also discussed the current state of the Syracuse men’s basketball program. Boeheim had nothing but praise for new head coach Adrian Autry, as well as the team this season.

“Coach Autry is doing a great job. This is a very young team. They’ve won every close game they’ve had.”

SU’s former head coach also applauded Autry’s decision to move away from the 2-3 zone defense.

“I said clearly, in the last two years you have to change. You cannot play all zone. You maybe can’t even play a little, but we didn’t have the team that could switch … We were just better suited in the zone.”

A notable thing Boeheim did during his tenure was invite some of his former players to return as coaches. Key examples of this on SU’s current staff are assistant coaches Gerry McNamara, Allen Griffin and Adrian Autry before he became head coach.

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“We have a 50-year family here…that’s what makes Syracuse basketball different. Duke has that because [former head coach Mike Krzyzewski] was there 40 years. Carolina has that because they have Roy [Williams] and Dean [Smith].”

Bing will be honored at halftime during Syracuse’s matchup with NC State on Saturday, November 27th. WAER has all the coverage of the game, starting with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Tipoff at 6:30. Portions of Boeheim's remarks to WAER will be aired throughout the broadcast.

Boeheim will be honored just under a month later as a part of “Coach Jim Boeheim Day” on February 24th when the Orange host Notre Dame.