Three-Time NBA Champion Mario Elie Shined in His Time at AIC

Posted: Jan 22, 2021

Three-time Player of the Year. Three-time All-American. Three-time NBA Champion.

The story of Mario Elie, American International College Class of 1985, is a story of being told no and refusing to accept it. Perseverance, hard work, and a few kicks in the butt along the way led a young man from New York City through an NCAA Division II experience and all the way to the top of the basketball world.

And it might not have happened if Mario Elie’s older sister Nancy Elie hadn’t had to yell some sense into him after he was cut from his high school’s team in ninth grade.

“I came home after getting cut, and I was crying like a baby, and my sister read me the riot act…I never forgot that, and from then on, I said I would never feel like that again. I thank my sister Nancy for saying stop acting like a little wimp…that was a very critical part of my growth, coming from my sister,” he said.

He blossomed into a star at New York’s legendary Power Memorial, the high school alma mater of greats like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and yet at the end of his career, the opportunities for college were slim. Academic issues meant at the Division I level he would have to sit out a year, and late in the summer of 1981, he ultimately accepted the scholarship offered to him by Jim Powell to join the team at American International College.

“I was a kid that wanted to just barely get by in school and just be eligible to play…and I was getting letters from these schools, but they told me I had to sit a year…two weeks before check-in for school…Coach Jim Powell kept that scholarship for me…I said, let me go ahead and take this scholarship and see where it takes me,” Elie noted.

Once in Springfield, the talent in Elie quickly became apparent. He earned the conference’s Rookie of the Year Award in 1981, thanks to an average of 15.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. That was just a warm-up.

By 1982-83, AIC was in the driver’s seat. Elie led the charge with a team that had five players averaging double figures, and earned NE10 Player of the Year and All-American status for the first time. A 20-7 record overall put the team in both the NE10 and NCAA Tournament, but the team fell short in the conference’s title game to Assumption and in the NCAA Regionals to Sacred Heart.

Elie upped his game again in 1983-84, winning NE10 Player of the Year and All-American honors once more as he averaged 18.9 points per game. This time, he added Tournament MVP to the trophy case, leading the Yellow Jackets over Stonehill in the conference’s title bout. However, the NCAA Tournament ended with another OT loss to the Pioneers.

“Disappointment really put a chip on my shoulder,” Elie said.

Determined to not have it happen again, Elie put together an astounding senior campaign. He averaged 20.1 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest. The NE10 Player of the Year and All-American status were his a third time, and an NE10 Tournament crown and MVP came home with him a second time as the team crushed hometown rival Springfield in the title game.

And in the NCAAs, Elie finally led the team to the regional crown with a win over Sacred Heart.

The run ended in the Elite Eight with a heartbreaking loss to Kentucky Wesleyan, and Elie’s playing days at AIC ended with him owning the College’s record for scoring at 2,124 points. It also ended with a phone call – the Milwaukee Bucks had selected him in the NBA Draft.

The path to the NBA, however, was as winding as his path to AIC had been. Cut from camp, Elie began to play all around the world – winning an MVP award in Ireland, spending two seasons in Portugal, and even playing in Argentina before returning to the US to play in the Continental Basketball Association with the Albany Patroons. In 1990, he was noticed by the Philadelphia 76ers, and finally got his shot on a 10-day deal. He played three games, and those performances sparked interest with Golden State, where he would sign his first full contract, a two-year deal. A trip to Portland followed, and then he was traded to the Houston Rockets.

Elie’s time with Houston is well-documented. He was a reserve player on the 1993-94 Rockets but appeared in all seven Finals games as the team upended the Knicks in Game 7 for its first ring. Elie had made it.

He made it bigger the following year. Down 3-1 against the Phoenix Suns, his Rockets battled back, and Elie hit the famous “Kiss of Death” shot with just seconds left to give Houston a 115-114 win and the improbable comeback. The Rockets made The Finals again, and Elie started all four games, shooting a series-high 64.9 percent and averaging 16.3 points per game while covering no less than Shaquille O’Neal defensively as Houston swept Orlando. In the process, Houston beat teams with 62, 59, 60, and 57 wins – a combined .726 winning percentage that remains the toughest road any team has ever overcome to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Elie had one more title in him, coming in 1999 as the elder statesman brought in to help the San Antonio Spurs get some snarl to their game. “Houston, I played with some thugs. San Antonio, I played with some very nice men. That was the difference. So when I got there, I knew what I had to do…they needed a swift kick in the butt. They responded, and it was fun to see,” Elie said about the difference between Houston and San Antonio.

With a lineup including Elie but also the already-legendary David Robinson and the soon-to-be legendary Tim Duncan, the Spurs had the league’s best record and rolled through other teams – they downed Kevin Garnett and Minnesota 3-1, swept Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and the Lakers as well as Rasheed Wallace and the Trail Blazers, and sank the Knicks again 4-1 to win it all.

“The one thing I remember about that night is that I did not take my uniform off. I wore my uniform until 9 o’clock the next morning when I got back to the hotel…just amazing, a Division II guy,” Elie said of the final win.

Elie retired from playing in 2001, but not from being involved in the game, coaching for 15 years. But his connection to AIC was always important, and in 2005 when the Yellow Jackets opened their Athletics Hall of Fame, Elie was a member of its inaugural class. A decade later, the College retired his number, the first student-athlete so honored.

“I had a lot of ups and downs, but AIC…I’ll never forget the people,” Elie said. “Taking my kids up there to see where I went to college a couple of years ago, getting my number retired was very humbling. I owe that school a lot…when I get a chance to go, I always like going to Springfield to visit.”

That experience shaped him and made him into what he became, and he knows that the next generation at AIC has the same capability.

“Follow your dreams. If you believe deep down inside you want to do something, you want to be something, go for it. I had a lot of doubts in my journey, but I had good people to keep me in line that said ‘go for it, keep pursuing, don’t give up on your dreams,’” Elie said. “It’s what you bring to a team, the intangibles. Don’t be ashamed to be a role player…look at the benefits you get…if you have dreams, follow them to the fullest, believe in yourself…and I will always be a Yellow Jacket, through and through.”

Mario Elie Links of Note:

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