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Story time with Jim Boeheim: Riding down I-81, playing pro basketball for $100 a night

Syracuse, N.Y. — Jim Boeheim, known primarily as a shooter, put the ball on the floor and headed for the basket.

The year was 1968, just two years after Boeheim had graduated from Syracuse University and almost a decade before he would become the head coach at his alma mater.

Boeheim, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard, was playing for the Scranton Miners in the Eastern Professional Basketball League. On this particular night, the Miners were facing their arch-rivals, the Wilkes-Barre Barons.

The Barons' roster included a fellow named John Postley. A rugged low-post player with a well-earned reputation as a tough guy, Postley had grown up in Philadelphia where he had battled with the legendary Wilt Chamberlain.