NBA Hall of Fame player Dolph Schayes dies at 87

Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes, a 12-time All-Star who refined the big man’s role in the infancy of the NBA, died Thursday in Syracuse, N.Y. He was 87.

Schayes was diagnosed with terminal cancer six months ago and died after being stricken with a severe infection, his son Danny Schayes said.

Dolph Schayes was the franchise player for the Syracuse Nationals and their successor, the Philadelphia 76ers, from 1948 to 1964 and was voted one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history. He revolutionized the post position, always in perpetual motion instead of just planting himself in the paint.

As a 16-year-old freshman center, Schayes led New York University to the NCAA Final Four. He scored 18,438 points and grabbed 11,256 rebounds in the NBA.

After winning NBA rookie of the year honors in 1949, Schayes led the Nationals in scoring for 12 straight seasons and helped lead the team to its lone NBA title in 1955, becoming the first player in NBA history to score 15,000 points.

The 6-foot-8 Schayes was a seminal figure in the game. With a deadly two-handed, high-arcing set shot that he stubbornly used well into the era of the jump shot, he helped redefine the big man in the NBA.

“Dolph Schayes was one of the most influential figures in NBA history,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “He helped the NBA grow from its earliest days, emerging as one of the game’s first stars and displaying the kind of passion for competition and commitment to excellence that has come to define our league.”

When the Nationals moved to Philadelphia in 1963, Schayes was named player-coach of the 76ers. He retired as a player after the season, but stayed on as coach for three more seasons and was named NBA coach of the year in 1966 with Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer and Billy Cunningham.

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