clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Five interesting things about Syracuse Basketball’s Clinton

We’ve never had a Trump, so this’ll have to do.

OrangeHoops

I don’t know if you know this but it’s Election Day. It’s been a bit under the radar but a guy named Donald Trump and a lady named Hillary Clinton are running for President of the United States (Gary Johnson’s in there too but I know more about the world than Gary Johnson so no).

In honor of this, we figured we’d look back in history at the famous Trumps and Clintons of Syracuse Orange basketball’s past.

If you can believe it, we’ve never had a Trump. Go figure.

We’ve also never had anyone with the last name Clinton. We have, however, had a player with the first name Clinton. Clinton Goodwin, who played for the Orangemen between 1900 and 1904.

Apropos of nothing other than his coincidental name, let’s remember Clinton for what he did and the legacy he left behind.

He scored three-ish points in his career

He may very well have scored more than three, and we can assume that’s the case since his career statline reads 3+ and he was a starter for three seasons, but as far as we’re aware, we can only account for three-ish points over his storied time with the Cuse. But what a three-ish it was.

He was a man of the world

He was born in Calcutta, India, where his parents were missionaries and hailed from Maine. We don’t know the full story of how he ended up in America but we do know he enrolled at Syracuse in 1896 and graduated in 1900. Apparently the eligibility rules were a bit more lax in those days because he didn’t start playing for the Orangemen until he became a medical grad student. Step your game up, Andrew White III.

He was Boeheim for a year

Believe it or not there was a time when Jim Boeheim was not head coach of the Syracuse basketball program. This was one of those years. “He was captain of the 1902 Syracuse Orangemen. As the team had no official coach, one of the primary responsibilities of the captain was to lead the team.” Imagine if DaJuan Coleman had to run the team while also playing? That’s basically what Clinton was doing.

He had the best nickname

“Goodwin was nicknamed the '60 Minute Man' for his prowess on the football field.”

He made Jim Brown look like Billy Celuck

Clinton excelled at not just basketball but also track, crew, football and baseball. Oh, Jim Brown played lacrosse and basketball? Oh gooooood for you [Christian Bale voice].

————

Go vote, dummies.