“I think it’s a sign of all our hard work and dedication to the game. We’ve played it our whole lives and it’s kind of neat seeing it all come together like this.”
From showing up to all the practices to watching the team win a championship, the Boeheim kids have been through it all every step of the way. Jimmy, Buddy, and Jamie have been by their dad’s side their whole entire life and have watched their father achieve his greatest accomplishments as the Syracuse men’s basketball coach. After watching their father’s career, the Boeheim kids have all decided to follow in their father’s basketball footsteps, as they all have started a new chapter as basketball players at their own colleges.
Jim Boeheim attended Syracuse University in 1962 and played for the basketball team as a walk-on. After working hard the following years, Boeheim won his spot as team captain his senior year. At the end of his four years at Syracuse University, Boeheim did not want his basketball experience to end. Instead, he seeked out the position of the new graduate assistant as Syracuse University. Boeheim later was appointed as head coach of the men’s basketball team at his alma mater. This is where Boeheim really started of his career and led his team to victory, through perseverance and effort, on the court everyday. Boeheim was able to make 31 trips to the NCAA tournament, including Final Four appearances in 1987,1996, 2003, and 2013, and the NCAA championship in 2003. According to Leo Roth, writer at Democrat and Chronicle, Boeheim said, “The great thing about coaching is being able to stay involved in a great game. The reason I continued to coach the game of basketball is because I love the game and love to see players work hard and learn from the game to become better players and people… In coaching basketball, I feel like I have never worked a day in my life.” Boeheim has showed his love of the game since he was young. Through turning into a coach, he has passed down his love of the game to his children, and plans to continue to do so in the future.
Jim and Juli Boeheim have three children together that are now all playing basketball in college. Their oldest son, Jimmy, is playing Division 1 basketball at Cornell University. During high school, Jimmy attended Jamesville-DeWitt High School, where he was awarded an All-Central New York Selection as a senior and made the National All-Tournament team in his final two years at J-DHS. After high school he decided to go play a prep-season at the New Hampton School in order to prepare for college basketball. Jimmy is now a sophomore at Cornell and has used many of the skills that his father and previous coaches have taught him as he’s grown up to be able to play at college level as well as he does. The devotion to the sport has definitely paid off, as Jimmy averages 11.2 points per game. He had a career-high of 16 points against his father and brother at Syracuse on November 20th this year. He has dramatically improved his game compared to last year as a freshman, clearly shown through his stats and makes it very clear that his hard work has paid off. When asked by Roth what it meant to him and his siblings to be playing college basketball he said, “I think it’s a sign of all our hard work and dedication to the game. We’ve played it our whole lives and it’s kind of neat seeing it all come together like this.”
Along with Jimmy, Buddy has also started his career as a college basketball player at Syracuse University. Of course being coached by his father comes with pros and cons. When asked by Mike Waters from syracuse.com about the taunts about being coached by his father he said, “I hear them when I go in the game or when it’s quiet, it’s just something you laugh about. I knew that stuff was part of me coming here. It’s similar to high school, as I get older, I expect to hear it more.’’ as Boeheim said the taunts clearly don’t get to him, as he averages 6.8 points per game and has recently scored his all time high of 20 points helping to pick up a win against Pittsburgh on March 13th, in the first round of the NCAA tournament. In order to get to this point, Boeheim previously went to prep-school his senior year at Brewster Academy to get ready to play in college the following year. At Brewster Academy he was team captain and earned Second-Team AAA All-New England Prep School Athletic Council Honors. Before Brewster Academy, Boeheim played his first three years at Jamesville-DeWitt High School where he was the 2017 All-Central New York Large School Player of the Year along with receiving 2017 Second-Team All-New York State Sportswriters Association Honors. Buddy averaged 26.3 points per game and J-DHS and was able to lead his team to the NYSPHSAA Class A State Semifinals. Through his hard work and dedication in high school, Buddy is now able to be playing the game he loves in front of thousands of people at Syracuse every home game.
The Boeheim’s daughter Jamie Boeheim is also working hard during her season at the University of Rochester, where she is playing basketball. Throughout the season, her parents Jim and Juli are able to come and watch her games and help cheer her and her teammates on. When asked in an interview with Jamie Germano about what her father is like when it comes to basketball and watching her play, she said, “No matter how my game goes or how I play my dad always has a positive message and is never critical.” However, that is definitely not the case for this freshman who averages 4.7 points a game with a career high of 14 points against Baldwin Wallace on November 16th. In order to become the player she is this season, she worked extremely hard in high school to help achieve her future goals. Jamie attended Jamesville-DeWitt High School where she won three consecutive NYSPHSAA Class A State Championships during her her sophomore, junior, and senior years. She was captain of her team her senior year and was able to build the skills and get the experience that she needed in order to become a college basketball player.
With this many people in the Boeheim family and all their crazy schedules. Juli Boeheim definitely is the glue of the family. Jim is very quick to credit Juli for facilitating their children’s athletic and educational growth. Juli also helps oversee the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation strives to enrich the lives of kids in need within the Central New York community, as well as provide support for eliminating cancer through research and advocacy. While all the craziness in their life happens, they are still able to watch their children play basketball. “We can see Jimmy on Friday night at Cornell when Buddy and I are playing home on a Saturday, and if Jamie is home, they would play Sunday,’’ Jim said during an interview with Roth. Although the Boeheim’s are a very popular family in Central New York community, the Boeheim’s are just a normal family that are are doing their jobs and supporting each other and their children in their next chapter. “We’re experiencing the highs, the lows and the joys and everything our kids feel, we feel, just like every other parent. We want successes for our kids and for them to be good, healthy, happy kids.’’
Even though the Boeheim kids have grown up to play at their own schools they will forever bleed orange and will always remember the memories that they made growing up first hand on the bench of the Syracuse basketball team. Through the ups and the downs of the Orange, the kids were able to learn and love the sport of basketball and all it taught them. Yet, without the help from their dad who showed them how to achieve their goals and both their parents supporting them every step of the way, the history of the Boeheims could have been drastically different.
“We want successes for our kids and for them to be good, healthy, happy kids.’’
