Seven Coolest St. Bonaventure Alumni From The Sports World

| Posted on |

What a time to be in Western New York; the Buffalo Bills are zeroing in on a top-tier quarterback in the NFL Draft, the Canisius men’s basketball team won their first regular-season conference title since 1996, and most importantly, the St. Bonaventure Bonnies have advanced out of the NCAA Tournament First Four and will now play No. 6 Florida in the Round of 64.

The win in the First Four — 65-58 over UCLA — was St. Bonaventure’s first victory in the Big Dance since 1970. Now, they’ve sent the world into a tizzy and everyone’s in love.

Of course, now we need to find out who the Bonnies’ coolest sports alumni are. And luckily, we found them! The list is pretty dope.

Check it out:

Seven Coolest St. Bonaventure Sports Alumni

-Chuck Daly — NCAA & NBA Head Coach

Daly, also known as Daddy Rich for his sharp style on the sidelines, spent one year at St. Bonaventure in the 1940’s. He’d go on to win two NBA Championships as the head coach of the Pistons, as well as a Gold Medal with the 1992 Dream Team.

Chuck Daly with 1992 Dream Team

-Mike Vaccaro — Sports Journalist

Vaccaro graduated from St. Bonaventure in the late-80’s and went on to write for the town’s local newspaper, the Olean Times Herald. He’d eventually write for several other papers, including the paper I read as a kid in Upstate New York, the Times Herald-Record. He currently is a columnist for the New York Post.

-Andrew Nicholson — NBA Player

Nicholson played four years with the Bonnies before going No. 19 overall in the 2012 NBA Draft to the Orlando Magic. He played five seasons in the NBA across four different teams but is currently playing in China.

-Bob Lanier — NBA Player/Coach

The best basketball player to ever come out of St. Bonaventure, Lanier was an All-American for the Bonnies and had his No. 31 retired by the university. In 1970, he led them to their only Final Four appearance. As an NBA player, he made eight All-Star teams and was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992. In 1994-95, he was the interim head coach of the Golden State Warriors for 37 games.

573fa53c35b32.image
Jim Baron coaching at Canisius in Buffalo, NY.

-Jim Baron — NCAA Player/Coach

Baron is a legendary figure in Western New York’s basketball scene. He played four years for the Bonnies, then went on to coach four different Division-1 programs — St. Francis, St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island, and Canisius. Over the course of his 800-plus games as a D-1 head coach, he led all four of his teams to 20-win seasons and postseason appearances. After the 2015-16 season, he retired from coaching.

-J.R Bremer — NBA Player

Bremer, who played four years with the program, was the star on St. Bonaventure’s 1999-00 team that made the NCAA Tournament. He went undrafted following his college career but had a very good rookie season with the Boston Celtics. Playing in 64 games, which included 21 starts, Bremer averaged 8.3 points per game and made the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.

And to wrap it all up, the absolute best Bonnie out there is…

-Adrian Wojnarowski — NBA Insider

Woj is easily the most recognizable name on this list, at least in current times. He graduated from St. Bonaventure in the early-90’s and went on to become the go-to guy for all things NBA. Currently, he works for ESPN, providing scoops on all the latest transactions and rumors around the league.

No. 11 St. Bonaventure will play No. 6 Florida on Thursday, March 15th at 9:57 P.M ET on TruTV.

Go Bonnies!