SALT LAKE CITY — Elizabeth Boeheim is the only member of her immediate family who lives nowhere near where Syracuse plays its games. She’s the only child who didn’t get involved in basketball, and she has the only first name in her immediate family that doesn’t start with a “J.”

In Montana, she lives without an attachment to her father’s name. According to her estimation, a stranger asks about her last name only five or six times per year. She doesn’t see herself moving anytime soon. She can blend in.

Elizabeth, 33, lives in Missoula, Montana, about 500 miles north of Salt Lake City, Utah where Syracuse fell to Baylor in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In 1985, SU head coach Jim Boeheim had no children. He resisted adopting a child, but his ex-wife, Elaine, wanted to adopt a kid. In June, they adopted Elizabeth when she was one week old. Elizabeth attended the Orange’s season-ending loss on Thursday night, seated next to her stepmom — Boeheim’s wife, Juli — in the first row right behind the Syracuse bench.

Elizabeth rarely attends games in the Carrier Dome. She doesn’t have cable, and because of the time difference, she doesn’t watch SU basketball from her home in Montana. Every year, she visits her family — Elizabeth either goes to Syracuse or Boeheim makes a summer trip to Montana to fish with her. They dine at The Pearl Café on East Front Street near Elizabeth’s home. But while they don’t see each other often, Syracuse’s first round matchup with Baylor offered Elizabeth an opportunity to cheer on her father’s team in person, directly behind his bench.

“She’s a great girl, a treasure in our life” Juli said. “I always tell her, ‘I married your dad because of you.’”

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After Boeheim and Elaine divorced in 1993, he paid for a separate phone that Elizabeth could have in her own bedroom at Elaine’s house to call her father whenever and not have to worry about a busy signal. When he returned from road trips around 9 p.m. or 10 p.m., he drove by Elaine’s house and, if the light was on in Elizabeth’s room, Boeheim stopped in and kissed her goodnight.

“I started to become more of a human when my oldest daughter, Elizabeth, (Lizzy) came into my life,” Boeheim wrote in his book, “Bleeding Orange: Fifty Years of Blind Referees, Screaming Fans, Beasts of the East, and Syracuse Basketball.”

She enjoyed tagging along for her dad’s haircuts. Before his SU basketball road trips, he brought her to Barnes & Noble on Erie Boulevard East in DeWitt for books to read on his next road trip. Elizabeth indulged in books herself as she progressed through the Jamesville-DeWitt Central School District, from which she graduated in 2003, the year of Syracuse’s national championship.

Boeheim didn’t care that she didn’t play the sport he has devoted his life to. He appreciated how she taught him to be more dynamic than what casual fans see on the court. The support system he had with her helped him live a healthier and happier life. From Elizabeth, he found a softer persona in himself.

“I think my dad is really lucky in having a singular objective and clear passion,” Elizabeth said. “I’ve always envied that of him. He has loved and been committed to basketball all life, but I also think that can block out other things. Having kids and a family makes a person realize the richness that might be beyond a singular goal. He’d been focused for a while, and I think having kids forced him to think about that some more.”

Growing up, Elizabeth fell in love with travel because she accompanied her father on some of his road trips. A few years later, in 1997, her father married Juli. Elizabeth was the maid of honor at their wedding in Syracuse.

“I miss my family and dad a lot, but I always wanted to own my own home and travel,” Elizabeth said. “I wanted a family, never grand ambitions, few career goals. Nothing super specific. I just wanted the simple things in life.”

Over the years, Elizabeth visited Anchorage, Alaska, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Hawaii and a bunch of NCAA Tournament locations, including sites along the 2003 title run with Boeheim and Juli.

The title coincided with her senior year of high school. Then, she thought hard about attending Syracuse and was accepted to the university. But she wanted to branch out and chose Colby College, a small liberal arts school in Maine. She pursued a master’s degree at the University of Montana.

Even though she doesn’t see her father often, she loves him deeply for the person he is. She understands what fans see on TV — yelling at players and berating officials — but she knows that’s not what defines him.

“Of course he’s an incredible coach who has built a really successful career that stands out among other greats,” Elizabeth said of her father. “He’s a thoughtful person. He’s smart. He pays attention to the world and he’s a really good father. He cares more about his kids than anything else. I’m glad he’s my dad.”

Published on March 27, 2019 at 12:15 am

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21