Temple University Athletics
Fran Dunphy Shaves His Mustache To Honor Dionte Christmas
10.6.11 | Men's Basketball
Photo Gallery | Video 1 | Video 2 | 20/20 Visual Media webisode
PHILADELPHIA - Temple University men's basketball coach Fran Dunphy fulfilled a promise made to his star player, Dionte Christmas, back in 2009, and shaved his signature mustache Friday morning in front of a packed Al Shrier Media Room in the Liacouras Center. Dunphy, who has had his mustache since 1971, had told Christmas that he would shave his mustache if he graduated from Temple. Christmas, who scored 2,043 points in his four-year career (2005-09), completed his bachelor's degree in African American studies in August.
"The bigger story of me shaving this mustache is that this young man graduated from Temple University and I'm really proud of that," Dunphy said of Christmas, who was in attendance for the event. "I'm proud of him for the hard work he put in and I'm proud of Temple and Coach [John] Chaney and his staff for giving him the opportunity to play at Temple.
Temple gave him the opportunity to come here, but they just didn't allow him to do his work on his own — everybody contributed in this issue…Temple gave him the opportunity, nurtured him, guided him and mentored him to get this degree, and he finally completed this thing in August of this year."
