By: Eric Handler
This profile is one of a series of articles posted on GoBonnies.com throughout this basketball season that shine a light on some great players from Bonaventure's rich men's basketball history. Earlier profiles include Glenn Price, Barry Mungar and Carl Jackson.
Since its inaugural 1976-77 season, the Eastern 8 and its successor the Atlantic 10 Conference have produced multitudes of great men's basketball players: Jameer Nelson, Mark Macon, Marcus Camby, Roy Hinson, Nate Blackwell, Maurice Martin and Cuttino Mobley are just some of the stars who have earned conference player of the year honors. Bonaventure's very own Andrew Nicholson (2011-12) and Jaylen Adams (2017-18) also were named conference players of the year.
In the conference's 45-year history, though, only five players have been named conference players of the year twice. Four of them are named James Bailey (Rutgers), Greg Jones (West Virginia), David West (the only three-time winner, from Xavier) and Steve Smith (LaSalle).
The fifth such player? Bonaventure's own Earl Belcher, who sits behind only Greg Sanders and Nicholson among the school's career points leaders.
Bona's joined the Eastern 8 (formal name: Eastern Collegiate Basketball League) prior to the 1979-80 season, Belcher's junior year. Despite the league's boasting such basketball powers as West Virginia, Villanova, Rutgers and Pittsburgh at the time, Belcher showed that he was more than ready for the big time, earning Eastern Eight Player of the Year honors for both his junior and senior seasons.
Given the work ethic instilled by his father, a Navy veteran, it's no surprise that Belcher pulled off this rare feat while also becoming just the fourth Bonnies player at the time to score 2,000 career points.
The Belcher family lived in Queens before moving to Syracuse when Earl was six years old. His father ran a strict household, teaching Earl the value of honest, hard work. Cutting corners was not an option, with Earl's learning early on about accountability and not wasting potential. Whether it was schoolwork, sports or chores at home, Earl always gave maximum effort.
"My dad believed that he only had to tell you once to do something, and if it wasn't done, then you'd have to deal with the consequences, which was usually a butt-whipping!" recalls Belcher.
Making A Name At CBA
He reaped the rewards of that hard work while playing high school basketball at powerhouse Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) in the Syracuse suburb of DeWitt. Belcher's junior year, 1975-76, was his first full season on varsity; he and two of his cousins formed an intimidating front line for CBA. Belcher averaged more than 16 points and 7 rebounds a game. He earned first-team All-City honors as the Brothers finished 19-3, winning their second straight league and Section III titles.
Belcher was unstoppable his senior year, notching 27.6 points (best in the league) and 14 rebounds a game as CBA won its third straight city and sectional championships. He led CBA in both scoring and rebounding for the second straight season. In his final game in a CBA uniform, he scored 38 points on 17-for-24 shooting from the field against Union-Endicott High School. In addition to making first-team All-City team again, he was named first-team All-Upstate and third-team All-State.
Years later, in 2018, Syracuse.com listed Belcher as the 12th best Central New York high school basketball player of all time. Pretty good for a guy who didn't pursue basketball seriously until the ninth grade, and whose first love was golf!
Looking "Forward" At Bonaventure
As for his college aspirations, Belcher said he wanted to go to a school where he would "fit in, hopefully play immediately and do some good things," in his words.
"When Bonaventure came knocking, that was it," he says. "They had just won the NIT (in 1977). They had a tradition of small forwards. Syracuse (University) is a 'guard school.' Bonaventure is a 'forward school.' Their main players were forwards. I fell into a very good situation."
Belcher took note of the great forwards who had donned the brown and white, stars with last names such as Crawford, Stith, Aiken, Sanders, Butler, Gantt, Jackson and Hollis, and he was eager to etch his name alongside theirs as a Bona great.
He also appreciated the straight-forward, no-nonsense approach of SBU coach Jim Satalin, himself a Syracuse native: "Coach was the type of guy who would give everyone a shot. 'You work hard for me, I'll play you; if not, you're going to sit next to me.' If you bust your ass, you'll play."
In addition to possessing an unquenchable thirst to succeed, Belcher had another thing going for him when he arrived on campus: CBA ran an offense similar to that of Bona's, so Belcher became acclimated more quickly than his fellow freshmen.
At the same time, he also was forced to step up his defensive play. He guarded star forward Greg Sanders in practice every day. Sanders was coming off a junior season which culminated with his scoring 40 points and being named MVP as the Bonnies defeated Houston in the NIT Championship game at Madison Square Garden.
"I never had to check a better shooter than Greg Sanders," Belcher says, "and I had to check him every day in practice. I've never faced an offensive threat like Greg Sanders. I learned a lot from him. His range was 45 feet and in."
Belcher averaged 7.3 points and 3.9 rebounds a game as a 6'5", 205-pound freshman (1977-78), with the Bonnies losing to Pennsylvania in the NCAA first round and finishing 21-8 for the season.
In his inaugural campaign, he scored 32 points against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the most ever in a game by a Bonaventure freshman. He averaged 18.5 points and 9 rebounds in the four games he started that season, giving the Bonnies faithful a taste of things to come.
A "Shooting" Star
Belcher exploded onto the scene the following year, averaging 21.5 points and 6.6 rebounds a game. The Brown and White finished with a 19-9 record, including a first-round NIT loss to Alabama. Belcher scored a career-high 33 points in that game against the Crimson Tide. He shot 82% from the foul line that season, a school record for sophomores.
He scaled new heights during the 1979-80 campaign. The junior upped his averages to 26.9 points (a league record) and 7.3 rebounds a game en route to earning first-team all-conference honors and his first Eastern Eight Player of the Year award. He was also named Honorable Mention All-American. His 26.9 points per game was the highest average for a Bonnie since Bob Lanier posted 29.1 points a game his senior year.
Belcher finished sixth in the country in scoring, notching a career-high 38 points twice, against Clarion State and Virginia Tech. He was also among the national free throw leaders, averaging 86.8% from the line.
"Earl was a very intelligent player off the ball," says Satalin. "He worked very hard to become a great offensive scorer and rebounder."
It was more of the same the following season (1980-81), as Belcher, now listed at 6'6" and 210 pounds, averaged 24.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game as a senior. He was the league's leading scorer for the second straight season. He secured his second conference player of the year award, another first-team all-conference selection and another Honorable Mention All-America nod. Belcher also was named to the all-tournament team of the Rochester Classic in-season tournament that SBU won.
"It was amazing what he accomplished, given his height," Satalin points out. "Earl had a knack for getting open with constant movement. Our offense was geared toward our strength - forwards Delmar Harrod and Earl, and we had a great screener in center Tim Waterman."
Belcher has fond memories of playing in the Reilly Center. "The Reilly Center was the toughest place to play," he says. "The fans, at that time, were right on top of you. We had the best fans in all of basketball. If you came into the Reilly Center, they would let you know that you didn't belong. We had the 'sixth man' in the stands, and they brought everything. I wouldn't want to play there (as an opponent)."
Belcher's name is all over the St. Bonaventure record book. He finished his career with 2,077 points; he is third on the school's career scoring board behind only Sanders and Nicholson. He sits near the top of the list of Bonnies players who surpassed both 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in their careers.
He led the team in scoring his final three years. and led the team in free throw percentage his sophomore and senior years. He is seventh among Bonnies in career free throw percentage. He averaged 6.3 rebounds a game for his career, shot .495 from the field and .831 from the line.
Hailing from Syracuse, Belcher took particular joy in defeating the hometown Syracuse Orangemen twice, as a freshman (in an ECAC Upstate playoff game in Rochester) and as a senior (when he led all scorers with 23 points in a win at the Reilly Center).
"It was very gratifying to beat Syracuse twice while at Bona's," Belcher says. "Marty Headd, who was my teammate in high school at CBA, played for Syracuse. Those were always great games."
Belcher shined even in losses to the Orangemen. In February 1980 in the fabled Manley Field House, for example, the junior had a game-high 28 points. That Syracuse squad, ranked #2 in the country at the time, boasted talent such as Headd, Roosevelt Bouie, Louie Orr, Erich Santifer Danny Schayes and Eddie Moss.
Belcher was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the fourth round of the 1981 NBA Draft. His pro plans came to a screeching halt when he broke multiple bones in his ankle during a pre-season game that fall (it was his second serious ankle injury; he missed three games his junior year at Bona's with a partially torn ankle ligament).
He could have tried to keep his NBA dream alive by enduring major surgery and significant rehab, but he decided to hang up his sneakers. Belcher recalls his dad saying, "Pull your big boy pants up and move on." "At that time, that wasn't what I wanted to hear, but it was the best thing," Belcher says.
Larry Weise presents Belcher with a commemorative 1,000-point ball.
A Well-Rounded Bonaventure Man
Belcher never wanted to be defined as simply a basketball player anyway. He had been (and remains) an avid tennis player, skier and golfer, and he did not want to risk further injury and not being able to pursue those other sports. "I'm a 10 handicap," he said in a recent interview, and a 3.5 tennis player. "And I still ski."
With his pro hoop dreams dashed, Belcher's old basketball coach at CBA, Bob Felasco, got him a job at Niagara Mohawk Gas & Electric (now National Grid), where Belcher worked for 18 years in the Management Training and Development department. Belcher later lived in Albany for 14 years before moving downstate in 2018 to Manhattan and then moving in 2023 to the Bronx, where he resides today.
Belcher's myriad other interests include music, acting and modeling. He had been one of the top saxophonists in Albany while living there, leading a number of jazz bands there and in Syracuse. One of the reasons he moved to New York City in 2018 was for the opportunity to play with some of the best musicians in the business. His goal? To perform at the famous Village Vanguard nightclub in Greenwich Village, which has been the home of John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Stan Getz, Miles Davis and other jazz legends.
Belcher is proficient on the piano, drums, guitar, trumpet and bass guitar, as well, and composes original music.
He also took up acting upon moving to New York City. After appearing in some community theater and Off Broadway productions, he landed roles in three television series: "Godfather of Harlem" on Epix, "Blue Bloods" on CBS and "East New York," also on CBS.
Belcher also does some modeling, appearing in magazines and in fashion shows.
While Belcher's basketball career ended with his ankle injury, his academic career continued. He earned his Master's degree in Business Management from the State University of New York at Oswego, and he has also taken Doctorate courses.
Belcher was inducted into the St. Bonaventure Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991,the Greater Syracuse Hall of Fame in 2002 and CBA's LaSallian Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006. His #25 Bonaventure jersey was retired in 2007, and he was named to the St. Bonaventure All-Time team in 2019.
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Belcher is just one of a number of Bonnies basketball players and teams whose exploits, although perhaps not well-known, were essential in weaving the fabric that is Bonaventure Basketball. As we move further into the 21st century, it is important that their stories are told and remembered.
This is one of the objectives of Project Unfurl, a documentary in progress. Project Unfurl: The Heart of Bona's Basketball will tell the story of the remarkable aura surrounding the St. Bonaventure University men's basketball program over the last eight decades.
In addition to chronicling the great NCAA and NIT teams, Project Unfurl will also shine a spotlight on many unsung SBU players and teams. To learn more about Project Unfurl, visit its official website: https://www.projectunfurl.com.
