UPDATED: April 24, 2018 at 5:24 p.m.

Tucked away on the second floor of the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center is a closet with a bare fluorescent light and stacks of paper on a desk. The area sits off in the corner of a film room, and the door to “Storage 208A” is usually open. There’s no sign, no giant checks. A few sheets of paper on the floor printed with “Boeheim Foundation” are the only visible suggestion that a growing charitable foundation is housed there.

The room functions as the headquarters of the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation, the nonprofit side job led by Syracuse’s head coach of 42 years and his wife Juli. They have raised money in central New York for decades, but their philanthropic efforts took off when they started the foundation in 2009.

Back then, Juli led the organization from a glass table underneath a television in their kitchen.

“Nothing flashy,” Juli said.

The foundation’s largest fundraising event is Saturday. At the “Basket Ball” at Turning Stone Resort, the Boeheims will offer a subtle reminder of the extent to which they’ve given.

In donations from the Boeheims themselves and hundreds of donors, the foundation has raised about $100,000 per year to the Make-A-Wish Foundation; about $5 million to the American Cancer Society over the past decade; and between $5,000 and $25,000 to about 100 other organizations per year, according to Boeheim and interviews with dozens of recipients of the contributions.

The Boeheim’s approach to philanthropy is a focus on local, small organizations that could use the money and the push.

The giving is emblematic of the Boeheims’ vision to lessen inequality in the Syracuse area and promote cancer research. Syracuse’s Hall of Fame coach has said he believes programs like the Boys & Girls Club are a solution to poverty in places such as Syracuse. He said “everybody” is affected by cancer, including himself. He survived prostate cancer in 2001 and his mother died of leukemia in 1977.

“We get a lot of support from the community,” Boeheim, 73, said. “So for us to give back is a powerful thing. Very powerful thing.”

***

Foundations run or started by sports figures have historically failed due to inexperienced family and friends as managers and inadequate planning or lack of ability to draw contributions, according to ESPN.

“We raise a million dollars a year in Syracuse for charity and most coaches can’t raise $100,000,” Boeheim said. “So we’re very fortunate.”

Courtesy of the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation

Juli said that when she first met Boeheim at a Kentucky Derby party in 1994, he was already underway in paving a path for their foundation. As an assistant coach in the early 1970s, Boeheim said he organized some of the early visits to Upstate, which had asked SU Athletics to visit sick patients. In March, a few days after Syracuse lost to Duke in the Sweet 16, Syracuse players visited sick children in Golisano Children’s Hospital.

Through the 2000s, Boeheim and Juli discussed forming a charitable foundation. They had given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Upstate and Coaches vs. Cancer, Boeheim said. One day in June 2009, they filed paperwork to create the nonprofit foundation that bears their name.

Jeff Rubin, CEO and president of Sidearm Sports, said he set up the foundation’s website, a modest platform that does not include many of the organizations to which the Boeheims donate. Those include Jowonio School, an inclusive preschool in Syracuse, and David’s Refuge, a place for respite for parents with children who have special needs or life-threatening medical conditions.

The foundation has largely focused on children, with initial programs centered on helping groups provide internships for local high school students, sneakers to children who can’t afford them and refurbishing basketball courts in partnership with the Carmelo Anthony Foundation.

Juli’s role has grown — “she’s making calls for the foundation all of the time,” said their daughter, Jamie — while Boeheim said he has cut back. Still, Jim Carrick, a board member and longtime friend of Boeheim, said he occasionally sees Boeheim pull out his calendar. In the offseason, he fills days with three to four speaking engagements and trips to local charities or hospitals.

“The work they’re doing off the basketball court has probably been the most impressive thing of their resume,” said Syracuse assistant coach Gerry McNamara, who added that speaking at the gala as a player was one of his “most enjoyable memories as a player at SU.”

***

A few years ago, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Syracuse were facing financial uncertainty. Funding was low and the buildings were in need of repair, said Patrick Driscoll, its executive director. Then came the Boeheim Foundation, which had been donating to the Salvation Army of Syracuse.

That relationship helped form the Boeheims’ charitable giving to the Boys & Girls Clubs for the past several years. They have donated $50,000 or more each year to the clubs, Boeheim estimated, including the funding for new courts.

“We’ve done a lot of repairs that nobody sees, the roofs, the plumbing,” Boeheim said. “When we started with them, they needed all of that. They were about to close. They didn’t have money to fix the buildings. We fixed all of the structures, redid all of the courts, put bleachers in.”

Courtesy of the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation

Three rooms at the Hamilton Street Boys and Girls Club have been repainted with money provided by the Boeheim Foundation. The facelift has livened up the building, Driscoll said.

“Coach has made it a call-to-action for folks to step up and support the Boys & Girls Club,” Driscoll said.

TheBoeheim’s Foundation contributes to the annual Hoops for Hope event run at Drumlins Country Club every October. Players and coaches, including Boeheim, sit with members of the Boys and Girls Club over dinner and chat about life, Driscoll said. The children fire questions at Boeheim.

“When did you start playing basketball?”

“What do you like about the Boys & Girls Club?”

“How many years have you coached and where are you from?”

Boeheim has looked back to his early years growing up in Lyons. Sometimes, he talks about how he was doubted when he arrived as a walk-on for the Orange. But he persisted and never gave up, Boeheim tells the kids. Other times, he deflects the attention, thanking family members and members of the program.

***

Forty-eight steps take you to the top of the Jim and Juli Boeheim Stairway of Hope from the Upstate Cancer Center lobby. When Juli hears of the patients who walk the stairs despite the severity of their illness, she said she cries. They do this not because there’s no elevator, but because patients say the stairs remind them of hope.

The foundation has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to cancer research at Upstate alone, said Eileen Pezzi, vice president for development at SUNY Upstate Medical University. But patients who have met players at the hospitals said the visits, signed posters and phone calls mean the most. Juli has been a board member of Upstate for about 15 years. Once, during the Summer Olympics a few years ago, Boeheim nudged Juli to text a patient in the hospital, just to check in with him.

“I can’t remember them saying no to a visit,” Pezzi said. “Sometimes our patients get direct calls from Jim or Juli. There are times we don’t even know and they both show up to see somebody.”

One of Boeheim’s closest friends at Golisano is Zach Haggett, a 17-year-old boy with a rare disease called mucolipidosis, which has prevented him from developing physically to full stature.

“Zach’s not a big fan of crowds and coach (Boeheim) isn’t a big fan of questions,” said Zach’s mother, Brenda. “They gravitate toward each other. We’ve had the pleasure of talking. Zach called Juli herself, thanking her, too.”

Jim Boeheim poses with Zach Haggett. Courtesy of Brenda Haggett

On the team’s last visit, Zach talked with Boeheim about Juli. He joked about how he was a bigger fan of Juli than her husband. For Christmas last year, the Boeheims gave the 17-year-old a framed photograph of Boeheim and Zach, signed by the head coach. Zach cried when he received the photo, which now sits in his bedroom.

***

Last Thursday afternoon, Boeheim leaned back in the chair at his desk in the Melo Center and chuckled. He thought about how a supply closet across a hallway from his office is the center of his philanthropic efforts.

The Boeheims, who have raised millions in the last 10 years, have found a way to use philanthropy to make a difference. Through the years, they’ve sent smaller donations to several organizations.

For several years, they have given about $5,000 per year to the YMCA of Greater Syracuse to fund an urban swim initiative. The Y’s swim program targets urban areas like Syracuse and is designed to cut the number of drowning deaths among minorities, said Stefanie Noble, director of marketing and communication at the Y. Noble said some minority children in Syracuse are not given opportunities for swim lessons and water safety. The Boeheims have given about $25,000 to the Y, which allocates the money to compensate the water program’s instructors.

“They keep donating,” Noble said, “and we keep appreciating it.”

The Boeheims have worked to maximize their philanthropy without seeking much attention. The couple mostly avoids large organizations, instead providing people in need with financial support. For them, it’s not about signing big checks and building a brand for Syracuse basketball.

“This,” Juli said, “is something we never want to let go of.”

CORRECTIONS: In a previous version of this post, the number of organizations the Boeheim Foundation contributes to every year was misstated. The foundation contributes to 100 organizations. Also, the foundation’s role in the annual Hoops for Hope event was misstated. The foundation contributes to the event. The Daily Orange regrets these errors.

CLARIFICATION: In a previous version of this post, the Boeheim Foundation’s role in providing internships for local high school students was unclear. The foundation partners with other groups to find internships.

Published on April 23, 2018 at 9:39 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21