Search the Community

Syracuse, N.Y. — The evidence was there, sometimes hiding in plain sight. Chris Palombi Temara kept scrapbooks and dedicated a shelf to awards she'd won during her Syracuse women's basketball career. Unlocking details about her Orange Plus Hall-of-Fame career would have required initiative and curiosity from her three children, who professed to know nearly nothing about her athletic accomplishments. "She told us she played at Syracuse," Troy Temara, her youngest son, said. "That was pretty much the whole thing." "There's stuff all around the house. There's photo albums all around the house," Palombi Temara said. "You think any of them would ever open them? No. They don't open them. And I don't either." These days, Troy Temara and Shane Temara are beginning to grasp the significance of their mom's basketball influence. Last Wednesday, both young men signed letters of intent to play Division I college basketball. Troy, who will graduate from West Genesee with the Class of 2016, will attend George Mason University in the fall. His older brother, Shane, completed two years of junior college basketball and will play next season for North Texas. Two brothers playing Division I basketball is a rarity in Central New York. The Temara brothers can thank genetics and their own dedication to the game for the opportunity. Their mother, the former Christine Palombi, was a top 20 recruit when Syracuse University lured her to campus in 1981. At 6-foot-5, the left-handed West Genesee post player possessed a soft shooting touch and a knack for blocking shots. An All-Big East first team selection her senior season, she was inducted into the Orange Plus Hall of Fame in 1987. The highlight of her Orange career was the triple-double she posted against Georgetown on Jan. 13, 1984. In that game, Palombi scored 20 points, collected 18 rebounds and blocked 14 shots. "At that day and age, someone her size at 6-foot-5, most of the players were gawky and uncoordinated. But Chris wasn't. Chris was an athlete. She had so much potential coming in and when she got to Syracuse, she just blossomed," said former SU women's coach Barb Jacobs. "She just wanted to learn and be the best player she could be. She could jump, she could run, she had great hands and picked things up very quickly." After her Syracuse career ended, Palombi played professionally in Scotland, England, Spain and New Zealand. She spent three seasons in New Zealand, where in 1986 she met Mike Temara, who played rugby for the Auckland Maori. Palombi, on a whim, went with a couple basketball teammates to a birthday party for one of Temara's rugby teammates. The couple met at the party and in 1989, they married. The Temaras relocated to Central New York when Chris ended her professional playing career at age 28. They raised their three kids — Marie, Shane and Troy — first in Marcellus, then moved into the West Genesee School District in time for Shane to start high school. When the kids were little, their mom ("Mama Ice") taught them a variety of post moves in the family's driveway, where a basketball hoop was installed. On their own, the boys developed a fierce sibling rivalry. Soon, the driveway games moved to the Pine Grove fitness center's basketball court. read more: http://www.syracuse.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/04/west_genesees_temara_brothers_both_di_basketball_players_have_star_mom_to_thank.html