By Matthew Gutierrez<\/p>\n
The wife of one of the most recognizable figures in Central New York is standing inside her kitchen, but her thoughts are elsewhere. Because, well, it\u2019s gotten a lot quieter at home: In August, Juli Boeheim sent her twins off to college. The year before, her oldest child, Jimmy, began his freshman year at Cornell.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So in her off-time \u2014 what little of it there is \u2014 Boeheim visits her three children. That means frequent trips: west on the Thruway to see her daughter, Jamie, a freshman at the University of Rochester; south on Interstate 81 to see her older son, Jimmy, a sophomore at Cornell University; and the 15-minute drive to Syracuse University, where her younger son, Buddy, is a freshman.<\/p>\n
All three play basketball \u2014 of course they play basketball. Their father, Juli\u2019s husband Jim, is the Hall of Fame men\u2019s basketball coach at Syracuse. Juli married him in 1997. Since she moved to Syracuse, she\u2019s quietly spent the bulk of her life not living in glamour, but giving back to the people all around her \u2014 including her children and the community that fell in love with her husband\u2019s teams.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community has been so generous to us,\u201d Juli said. \u201cLiving here has been beyond anything I could have imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n
A small table in the Boeheim family room functions as the center for their philanthropic endeavors \u2014 and what\u2019s become Juli\u2019s life work. It\u2019s a no-frills operations: just a MacBook and some notes. She makes calls, sends emails and prepares events for the foundation she and her husband started nine years ago. The Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation allows Juli to empower children in the community and direct resources to organizations and causes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Her office was once the family playroom. Now she spends hours there behind a desk, volunteering her time to lead the organization that\u2019s donated millions to local organizations such as the Salvation Army and Make-A-Wish CNY.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s in there all of the time working on the foundation,\u201d said son Jimmy. \u201cThat\u2019s her main job. It\u2019s her personality, just doing good things for other people. She understands the community has given her and my dad so much, so they want to give back.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Juli was born in Miami and grew up in Kentucky. She tried modeling in Chicago for a year, but she didn\u2019t like it. People questioned her accent. \u201cWhat nationality are you?\u201d they\u2019d ask.<\/p>\n
She returned to Kentucky, then her life changed forever. She reluctantly attended a Kentucky Derby Party on May 7, 1994, and Jim Boeheim happened to be in town. They met and hit it off, forming a bond that\u2019s kept them together 24 years later.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Shortly thereafter, Boeheim moved to Central New York and took classes at SU toward a master\u2019s degree in child and family studies with a focus on infant and young children with disabilities. She didn\u2019t become a teacher, but she channels the lessons she picked up through schooling in many ways. Through the family\u2019s foundation, she regularly works with children and women in the Boys and Girls Club, Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital and the Upstate Cancer Center.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s not about signing big checks or looking good,\u201d said her daughter, Jamie. \u201cAll of what she does comes from her heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Juli has served on the boards of the ARC of Onondaga, University Hospital, Upstate Medical University Foundation and the Syracuse Community Health Center. She\u2019s also been active with the Rescue Mission and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She wants to inspire her children, women in Syracuse, and her community overall. She is strong and able to hold her optimism through adversity, such as being right by her husband\u2019s side as he battled prostate cancer in 2001. Members of the Syracuse men\u2019s basketball team often see her roaming in the locker room after games. She congratulates players and encourages them to dream bigger, while appreciating the little things in life. Players call her a “mother figure.”<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got here, I had a hard time because in the South you just smile at people and say hi,\u201d Juli said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t get that here, and that bothered me. But after a little time, strangers started coming up to me at Wegmans, wherever, talking about the foundation. I love that. The community welcomed me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Matthew Gutierrez The wife of one of the most recognizable figures in Central New York is standing inside her kitchen, but her thoughts are elsewhere. Because, well, it\u2019s gotten a lot quieter at home: In August, Juli Boeheim sent her twins off to college. The year before, her oldest child, Jimmy, began his freshman…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,101],"tags":[157,744,215],"class_list":["post-2217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-features","tag-inspire","tag-juli-boeheim","tag-syracuse-university"],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Juli-Boeheim.jpg?fit=5000%2C3338&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3480,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=3480","url_meta":{"origin":2217,"position":0},"title":"Cover: Felisha Legette-Jack – SU hoops hero puts her heart into everything she does","author":"Alyssa Dearborn","date":"February 1, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By Norah Machia When Syracuse University Women\u2019s Basketball Coach Felisha Legette-Jack unexpectedly lost a close friend to heart disease, it was both a shock and a wake-up call. Her friend had undergone open heart surgery, and the odds for a successful recovery seemed to be in her favor. 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