Before Dionte Christmas became a legend on the hardwood of The Liacouras Center, he was just a kid trying to earn his role on former head coach John Chaney’s roster. Christmas joined the Owls in 2005, but instead of making a splash on the court, he found himself watching from the sidelines.
Chaney retired following the 2005-06 season, which rattled Christmas, who began contemplating his future in the program before his second year on North Broad started. While Temple looked for Chaney’s successor, Christmas also was thinking about where his new home was going to be.
Before he decided to leave Temple, Christmas’ former middle school coach Jerome Island reached out to make a last-ditch effort for him to stay. Island knew then-Penn coach Fran Dunphy, who was looking to be the Owls’ next coach, and gave his former player a sales pitch to stay in the Cherry and White.
“[Island] told me, if coach Dunphy took the job I should consider staying,” Christmas said. “Coach Jerome Island was a guy that I really looked up to as one of my idols. He coached me when I was 12, 13 and 14. I really trusted him.”
Christmas decided to stay at Temple and lace his shoes up for Dunphy when he officially took the reins that fall. The decision proved to be fruitful for the Philadelphia native, who helped kickstart the Dunphy era and ended his career as one of the best Temple players in program history. Now, nearly 15 years after his playing career ended, he is being inducted into the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 18.
“It means a lot,” Christmas said. “I still got people my age or a little older that still talks about my impact at Temple and me playing. I have kids that watch a lot of YouTube or have been to the games when they were kids and then speak on the things I did at Temple.”
Growing up in Philadelphia, Christmas watched Chaney run the Atlantic-10 Conference during the ’90s and early 2000s. He saw Temple greats Aaron Mckie, Mardy Collins and Lynn Greer build a legacy on Broad Street and wanted to be in their position one day.
There was only one problem; Chrsitmas’ skillset wasn’t honed yet. The undersized guard was cut by his high school team as a sophomore and he wasn’t sure if his dreams of playing at the next level would come true.
However, a six-inch growth spurt in 10th grade helped him secure a spot on the team at Samuel Fels High School. He averaged 26.1 per game during his senior season and turned heads after just two years of varsity hoops.
Despite the accolades he earned in high school, Chaney didn’t come knocking. It wasn’t until Chaney and assistant coach Dan Leibovitz saw him during a workout near the end of his senior year that they got more serious in recruiting Christmas, and they soon sealed the deal and landed his commitment.
“I was kind of salty about that because I wanted to stay home,” Christmas said. “It was like a late recruitment. I’m glad they did it, because that was one of the schools that I really wanted to go to.”
Christmas joined a Temple roster with Collins, Antywane Robinson and Mark Tyndale already in the spotlight. He spent his first year learning from more experienced teammates until his number was called.
“I think any time you’re transitioning from high school, where you’re the best player on your team to college, there’s always a period of growth and you lose some confidence,” said former teammate and current Temple assistant coach Chris Clark “He always worked while he waited. It’s not like he never stopped working on his game. He was always in the gym.”
That chance finally came during his sophomore year. Tyndale had to sit the first handful of games due to eligibility issues, thus thrusting Christmas into the starting lineup in 2006, which he never let go of.
Christmas dazzled the North Philadelphia crowd with 20 points per game as a sophomore — a 17-point increase from his freshman year. He took the conference by storm, leading the A-10 in points his first year with significant minutes.
The production jump earned him All-Atlantic-10 second-team and the conference’s most-improved player. While people on the outside may have seen his rise as a shock, it wasn’t a surprise to Dunphy.
“You could see that he was just ready to burst on the scene,” Dunphy said. “We needed him. He was the best scorer we had as a sophomore. His junior and senior years were absolutely outstanding. But you could see it coming.”
While he put up flashy numbers on the stat sheet, the Owls didn’t pick up wins. When Tyndale returned to the lineup later in the year, the two struggled sharing the ball and Temple’s season suffered because of it. The team won just 12 games in 2007, missing out on any postseason bid for the first time since 1982.
Once Christmas and Tyndale got comfortable playing together, the tides completely changed. The Liacouras Center became the Dionte Christmas show and the tandem took off on the court.
The Owls won the conference tournament and made March Madness for the first time since 2001. The group exceeded every expectation set before the year and helped kickstart what was five straight tournament appearances.
Christmas repeated the same efforts his senior season to close out his Temple career, scoring more than 2,000 points in an Owls uniform.
“My junior year, everything was just a shock,” Christmas said. “I was just in a place in my head, like ‘wow, this is really happening.’ When you work hard, good things come to you. My senior year, it was just like all business, I knew what I wanted. I knew how I was going to get there and I knew wasn’t nobody going to stop me from getting there.”
Christmas is the Owls’ fourth-highest scorer in program history, but his biggest achievement was the bond he made with the coach he almost never played for. Dunphy ushered in a new era when he took the job, while still keeping the same morals Chaney did.
Dunphy brought in the gritty Philadelphia mindset and his players followed. Despite being demanding of his growing star, Christmas never wavered. The pair forged a bond during their three years together and became more than a coach and player — they became close friends.
So much it cost Dunphy his signature mustache.
While Christmas left Temple to pursue a pro career following his senior season, he was just one class shy of graduating. Dunphy told his former guard he had to finish his degree but his schedule made it difficult. After Dunphy told him he was going to stop talking to his basketball colleagues about him if he didn’t get the degree, Dunphy decided to add an extra incentive for Christmas.
If Christmas were to obtain his diploma, Dunphy told him he would shave off the hair on his upper lip that made him so famous in the City of Brotherly Love. After not hearing from Christmas for an entire summer, Dunphy got a text telling him to get his razor ready.
“It was the happiest I had been in a while,” Dunphy said. “I was happy to shave it, happy to pay off my debt. I owed him because I opened my big mouth. I’m just so happy that he got the degree. It’s a great accomplishment. He deserved that.”
It’s been 15 years since Christmas stepped foot on the court as a Temple player, but his impact echoes throughout the facilities. His induction into the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame this week serves as a testament to his hard work despite it being something he never expected to happen.
“I’d be lying if I told you that I’d be in the Athletics Hall of Fame at Temple University,” Christmas said. “The accolades are crazy, even when I look back at it, even when people tell me some of the things, and I just like, ‘that’s crazy’. Because just knowing where I came from, knowing my basketball journey when I was young and up until that point is like, wow.”
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