Dolph Schayes was one of professional basketball's early superstars, a crack shooter and top rebounder whose career stretched from the NBA's inaugural year to basketball's emergence as a major sporting attraction. Although Schayes represented a bridge between the old game and the new one--he was canning two-handed set shots long after the jumper had come into vogue--more than anything he was known as the star of the Syracuse Nationals. He was practically the only scoring leader Syracuse ever had; he was the top scorer in 13 of the club's 17 years in existence. Schayes never played for another organization, logging 15 seasons with Syracuse, following the team as it became the Philadelphia 76ers, and then becoming its coach, where he would win 1966 NBA Coach of the Year honors. Dolph Schayes found himself in the basketball limelight early on. A native of New York City, at age 16 he was on the floor with New York University against Notre Dame in a sellout at Madison Square Garden. Upon Schayes' graduation from NYU (then a college basketball powerhouse) in 1948, the services of the All-American were eagerly sought by teams in two leagues, the New York Knickerbockers of the Basketball Association of America and the Syracuse Nationals of the National Basketball League. The BAA and the NBL were rival leagues, fishing in the same pool for talent. When the "Nats," as they were known, offered 50 percent more money than the Knicks, Schayes boarded the upstate train. He was an immediate hit in Syracuse. There, the 6 foot 8 inch forward turned around the Nats in his rookie season, flipping their 24-36 record from the 1947-1948 season into an impressive 40-23 showing in the 1948-1949 season. The next year brought the BAA and NBL merger, and the season turned out to be the first of 12 consecutive seasons in which Schayes would lead the Nationals in scoring. He also steered the Nats to their first ever NBA Finals in his 1949-1950 sophomore season, but it would be another five years until Schayes captured an NBA Championship with Syracuse. That 1954-1955 championship season was the first in which the 24-second shot clock was in effect, and it allowed Schayes and his teammates enough time to mount a big second half comeback in Game 7 of that Championship Series. Amazingly, Schayes did not miss a single game from February 17, 1952 until December 26, 1961 (a streak of 706 games) and upon his retirement in 1964, he held the record for most games played with 1,059. He also held the NBA record for career scoring at that time, with 19,249 career points scored. In 1996, the 12-time All-Star was selected as one of the 50 Greatest NBA players of all-time. At present, the 82 year old Hall of Famer is the only remaining member of the Nationals to still reside in Syracuse. Schayes wore this Nationals jersey for games in the mid-1950s. The bottom tail has been hemmed and shortened with no manufacturer’s tags remaining. On front is “SYRACUSE.” Below and on back is the player number “4.” All lettering and numbering is done in red and navy blue Chenille fabric. Autographed on front in black marker and rates an 8. The jersey shows excellent game-use and besides the shortened bottom appears to have no other alterations of any kind. The autograph is accompanied by a LOA from JSA as well as an additional LOA from the man to whom Dolph gave the jersey.