One of the most prolific scorers in Delaware men’s basketball history, Dave Sysko led the Blue Hens to outstanding success during the early 1960’s. A native of Penn Grove, NJ, the 6-5 Sysko was a force on the offensive end, leading head coach Irv Wisniewski’s squads to a three-year mark of 45-23, including a school-record 18 wins in 1961-62. A three-year starter, he led the Middle Atlantic Conference in scoring as a senior in 1963-64 when he set a school record with a 23.9 point per game scoring average and earned honorable mention All-American and first team All-MAC honors. He averaged 19.2 points - the third highest mark in UD history - and 9.5 rebounds per game for his career and his career-high 45-point effort vs. Lafayette in 1964 remains a modern UD single game record. He set the UD career scoring record with 1,269 points and his 630 rebounds placed him No. 4 at Delaware upon graduation. He and his wife, Patrice, reside in Wilmington, DE. They have two children and two grandchildren. Dave has been President of C.F. Kettering Inc. for the last 12 years and Executive Director of The Laffey-McHugh Foundation for the last seven years. Active in the community, Dave is was co-founder of the Future Stars program, an academic program for promising young basketball players in Wilmington and New Castle County, and helped found Public Allies with his daughter, Suzanne Sysko, and Tony Allen in 1995. Public Allies is a leadership organization that provides young people an opportunity to work in the public sector throughout the state for one year. The program merged into the University of Delaware several years ago. Dave also taught Securities Analysis and Portfolio Analysis at UD for over 15 years.
|