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Former Syracuse basketball player Louis Orr passed away on Friday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 64.

Orr scored 1,487 points in his career at Syracuse from 1976 to 1980. He was half of the “Louie and Bouie Show,” alongside Roosevelt Bouie, leading the Orange to their first Big East title during a senior year when he averaged 16.0 points per game. Orr was also a part of Jim Boeheim’s first recruiting class.

“He came into my life as my first recruit, became a fantastic coach and colleague—but most importantly, he became a dear friend,” Boeheim wrote on Twitter. “I will treasure our years together.”

After his career finished at Syracuse, Orr was selected by the Indiana Pacers in the second round of the 1980 NBA draft, but he most notably played six years alongside Patrick Ewing with the New York Knicks. Ewing would go on to hire Orr as an assistant at Georgetown, where he coached for the last five years, being promoted to special assistant to the head coach this spring.

“We developed a friendship and a brotherhood,” Ewing said in a statement from Georgetown. “He will be truly missed and he will forever be part of this (Georgetown) program.”

Following a four-year stint as an assistant under Boeheim, Orr’s first head coaching job was in 2000-01, when he led the Saints to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title. He earned an opportunity to coach at Seton Hall the following year, spending five years at the forefront of the program. Orr won the Big East’s Coach of the Year award in 2003 after he led the Pirates to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in four years.

Orr is survived by his wife Yvette and their two children Monica and Chauncey.

Published on December 16, 2022 at 3:52 pm

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu