Philadelphia artist Chris B. Murray paints a mural of Jim Boeheim, longtime coach Syracuse University basketball team, in downtown Syracuse. (Steve Featherstone/Steve Featherstone)
Artist Chris Murray’s love of Syracuse basketball goes deep. A longtime follower of the sport, Murray considers basketball a part of his identity.
As a former player, Murray dreamed of one day playing for Jim Boeheim, the championship-winning longtime head coach of Syracuse University Men’s Basketball from 1976 to 2023 (assistant coach 1969-1976). Those dreams didn’t work out, but he still found a way to express his love of the game and the coach: art.
“Basketball and making art were my escapes as a kid… and still are my two favorite passions,” said Murray.
His newest mural, going up this fall at 215 W. Fayette St., is Murray’s way to honor the coach’s legacy.
“This is a way I can still play a small part,” said Murray. “I want this to be a destination spot for students, the community, and for people who appreciated everything he did for the city.”
2024 Syracuse University Commencement Former Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim receives an honorary degree during the 2024 Syracuse University Commencement Ceremony held at the JMA Wireless Dome May 12, 2024. Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com (Dennis Nett/dennis nett | dnett@syracuse.com)
Syracuse’s 2003 championship win was a “canon event” for a young Murray in upstate New York, cementing the coach as an icon.
“(Boeheim) gave us a seat at the dinner table,” he said. “Seeing Syracuse go head-to-head against other titans — it just felt so great. It was like we mattered.”
Murray remembers coveting a spot on Boeheim’s basketball team.
“My career never went how I hoped it would with basketball, so I’m applying everything I put into basketball as a kid into my art.”
Murray designed his original mural idea in 2024, which featured Boeheim’s smiling face, along with Juli Boeheim and several past players, including Carmelo Anthony, Pearl Washington, Derrick Coleman, Gerry McNamara and Hakim Warrick. It also featured Otto the Orange and the redesigned JMA Wireless Dome.
But as the mural process evolved, Murray ran into roadblocks getting permission to paint each player in the original design.
Philadelphia artist Chris B. Murray paints a mural of Jim Boeheim, longtime coach Syracuse University basketball team, in downtown Syracuse. (Steve Featherstone/Steve Featherstone)
He decided to feature only Boeheim in the final piece.
“This mural kind of represents that letter from him that I never got, or that recruitment visit from him that I never got,” said Murray. “This is a full circle moment. Everything I’ve done over the last 15, 20, 25 years all circles back to painting this mural.”
In February, Boeheim signed a one-time license agreement to grant the rights for Murray to use several reference photographs to depict the coach in his three-story “legacy” mural.
The new design shows Boeheim with both arms raised high in triumph, alongside other iconic depictions of him coaching through the years. The Dome is featured, as it looked during most of Boeheim’s tenure.
The mural will cover around 800 square feet in Armory Square.
“The great thing about murals is that everybody sees them,” said Murray. “With someone like Jim, you don’t want it on a side street or the side of a coffee shop. You want it front and center.”
Boeheim mural Artist Chris Murray redesigned his Jim Boeheim mural to be painted at 215 W. Fayette St in downtown Syracuse. He received permission from the former coach and is seeking approval from the city public arts commission. (Provided photo/Provided photo)
Originally from Potsdam, N.Y., Murray has been a lifelong fan of the Syracuse Orange. He’s been based in Philadelphia for most of his professional career, but he always wanted to create a piece honoring Boeheim.
“I’ve done a lot of stuff with Philly sports, but my heart still belongs to Syracuse basketball,” he told syracuse.com last year. “Jim Boeheim, Jimmy B, I mean, he’s at the helm of it all.”
Murray cited red tape and politics as primary reasons for the delay in the mural’s approval.
“This has been two years in the making,” he said.
The Syracuse Public Art Commission (SPAC) approved Murray’s mural plan and $90,000 budget last May, provided that he could raise the funds for it.
Local donors made the mural possible. Murray also has a GoFundMe to help pay for his painting supplies, boom lift rental, lodging and travel expenses.
Jordyn Britton is a graduate student studying arts journalism at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.