Jim Tedisco
Union College Athletic Hall of Fame
ECAC Division 3 and NY State Player of the Year
UPI “Small” All-American
1972 Union College graduate, Tedisco led the ’71-72 basketball squad in points, assists, and scoring average, and finished his three-year career holding 15 scoring and assist records during his 65-game tenure at Union (the NCAA did not allow freshmen to participate on the varsity teams during Tedisco’s career). He graduated as Union’s all-time leading scorer with 1,632 points. Tedisco’s career scoring average of 25.0 and his single-game point total of 49 (against Utica in 1970) still stand. His No. 14 jersey was retired before an estimated crowd of 3,500 after his last game in Memorial Field House (an 88-84 win over Hobart). A New York State Assemblyman since 1982, Tedisco was awarded the prestigious NCAA Silver Anniversary Award in 1997. Tedisco earned numerous honors during his career at Union, including: First Team Academic All-American (1969-70); Second Team UPI “Small” (for players under 5’10) All-American (1969-70); ECAC Division III Player of the Year (1970-71); First Team UPI “Small” All-American; First Team New York State College Division Team (1970-71); Third Team AP Player of the Year (1971-72); ECAC Division III Player of the Year (1971-72); New York State Co-Player of the Year (1971-72); First Team New York State College Division Team (1971-72), and First Team UPI “Small” All-American (1971-72). He was also a member of the 1997 NABC Silver Anniversary team. The Dutchmen won 44 games in his career and his senior season saw Union set what was then a college record 19-win season (19-3), which included a Union record-tying 15-game win streak.
Tedisco got a graduate degree in Special Education from the College of Saint Rose.[8] From 1973 to 1982, Tedisco worked in education; he served as a guidance counselor, basketball coach, and athletic director at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons High School in Schenectady, and later worked as a special education teacher, resource room instructor and varsity basketball coach at Bethlehem Central High School in Delmar, New York.[11]