Riverdale, NY - Manhattan Basketball Hall of Famers Steve Lappas and Larry Lembo will be inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame on Tuesday, October 3 at the Bryant Park Grill on 25 West 40th Street with festivities beginning at 6:00 pm.
The duo will be among the 28th annual induction class with Lappas being enshrined as a coach and Lembo as a contributor.
Lappas coached the Men's Basketball team for four seasons from 1988-1989 to 1991-1992 and led the Jaspers back to prominence during his tenure, capped by a 25-9 campaign in 1991-92. That season, Manhattan reached the MAAC championship game for the first time in program history and made their first postseason appearance in nearly 20 years, reaching the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). Lappas also coached at Villanova and UMass and currently works at the
CBS Sports Network as a college basketball analyst.
Lembo graduated as Manhattan's all-time leading scorer (1,443), a distinction he held for 13 years, and his career scoring average of 21.9 points per game is still the second-best mark in program history. He averaged a school-record 25.7 points per game as a junior in 1963-1964 before notching 23.5 points per contest as a senior in 1964-1965.
The Jaspers reached the quarterfinals of the NIT in 1964-1965 after defeating Texas Western in the first round. Lembo was selected by the New York Knicks in the fourth round of the 1965 NBA Draft before going on to a distinguished career as a college basketball official. He went on to work four NCAA Final Fours as a referee (1980, 1983, 1988, 1989) and was inducted into the Manhattan College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985.
