Here’s who we think is most deserving of the honor
The Dome rafters are already full of many Syracuse Orange Legends, and that number grew one larger with Paul Gait’s addition on Saturday. The men’s lacrosse legend joined his brother in having a permanent fixture in the 44-year-old home of SU’s five main sports.
Dwight Freeney is already set to have his number 52 added to the others in the upper-level next fall, but we’re also interested in who’s next after him – and whether it’s also at the Dome or one of the South Campus fields. Here are who we think are most deserving for football, men’s and women’s basketball, and SU’s Olympic sports:
Mike: Art Monk, Jason Hart, Alexis Peterson, Ange Bradley
Monk seems like the obvious choice for football, being that he’s still among the program’s Top-10 in many all-time categories. The Philly connection while Fran is in town is a nice coincidence too.
I like Hart because he played a role that often gets overlooked: he was the best at forcing turnovers in MBB history, with 329 steals over his four years in Orange. Coupled with 709 assists, he was the ultimate team player.
WBB was tough because I believe Peterson and Kayla Alexander are equally deserving, but I went with the former for her role in leading SU to its first National Championship appearance. Her performance against Tennessee in the Elite Eight remains one of the best postseason lines from an SU player.
The final entry, while not a player, is still worthy of recognition for her role in building a championship-caliber Field Hockey program and winning the first Women’s National Championship in Syracuse Athletics history. Coach Bradley was well loved by her players and as someone who started his undergrad tenure covering one of her teams, she checked every box in the character department.
Kevin: Art Monk, Leo Rautins, Kayla Alexander, Gene Mills
With Syracuse football leaning towards honoring those alums in the Hall of Fame, Monk would be a strong candidate. He’s the only Orange player with over 1,000 rushing and receiving yards.
For men’s basketball there’s a lot of pretty good players to possibly honor. I thought about Jason Hart, Rafael Addison, or Stevie Thompson but I came back to Rautins who helped usher in the Syracuse rejuvenation when he transferred.
Kayla Alexander is the all-time leading scorer for women’s basketball and it really doesn’t need to be over-complicated when you have that accomplishment on your resume.
Gene Mills was a four-time All-America. His record at Syracuse was 144-5-1 with 107 of those wins by pinfall. He went 77-0 in his final two seasons for the Orange, winning NCAA titles in both. His name belongs in the Dome rafters.
Max: Art Monk, Buddy Boeheim, Tiana Mangakahia, Nathan Opoku
One Orange legend and three recent star athletes. Monk was the ultimate jack of all trades in the late seventies, leading SU in rushing yards, receiving yards and kick return yards. Currently 15th all-time in Syracuse all-purpose yards, Monk made the effortless transition to the NFL where he’d rack up 12,721 receiving yards en route to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
It’s hard to argue against Boeheim, who put together one of the best shooting careers in Orange history. Buddy ranks second in three-pointers made, 13th in points per game and led his father’s team in scoring his junior and senior years.
The best passer in SU women’s basketball history, Mangakahia holds the record for assists and free throw percentage in a single season. After battling breast cancer her senior season, she returned to the court for a fifth year in 2020, adding six more 10+ assist games to her already strong resumé.
Finally, Opoku was SU’s main striker on its 2022 National Championship squad, notching 11 goals and a team-high 30 points. He scored and assisted on both of Syracuse’s two goals in the national championship game against Indiana, guiding to the Orange to their first title in program history.
Dom: Art Monk, Jason Hart, Dyaisha Fair, Polina Shemanova
I’ll be clear in saying Mangakahia, Alexander and Peterson are all deserving and should have their numbers on a banner. However, Dyaisha Fair’s two seasons led to her becoming the third-highest Division 1 women’s basketball scorer ever and the program’s second All-American player, all while leading the Orange to one of its most improbable but successful single-season campaigns ever. That’s tough to argue against no matter how you slice it.
Polina meanwhile is the greatest to ever play Syracuse Volleyball and she even stuck around to help as an assistant coach last semester before going pro.
John (Lacrosse): Casey Powell, Ryan Powell, Alyssa Murray, Kayla Treanor
I understand there are plenty of players deserving beyond the Gait and Powell families, but now that the Gait brothers are both hanging from the rafters, it feels like the next moves should be to close the loop on the Powell’s. Casey and Ryan are tied for second in program history with 287 points each, were both four-time All-Americans and are two of the biggest reasons why the No. 22 is the most legendary jersey in the sport.
On the women’s side, Alyssa and Kayla join Katie Rowan as the most impactful players in program history. While Katie was the leader of the first ‘Cuse women’s lacrosse team to make it to the Final Four in 2008, Alyssa and Kayla were the engine of the era that followed, the most successful the program’s ever had. SU made the Final Four five straight years from 2012-2016, and one or both of them were on all five of those teams, including the first two championship game appearances for the program in 2012 and 2014.
Kayla’s third in program history with 393 points and was a four-time First Team All-American, while Alyssa’s fourth in program history with 362 points and was a three-time First Team All-American. She’s also the first player in program history with 100+ points in three different seasons.