Syracuse women's basketball guard Dyaisha Fair shows off the hard hat in the locker room after a win. Photo courtesy of Syracuse Athletics.

Syracuse, N.Y. — At Buffalo, it was the lunch pail.

At Westhill, it was the gold “W” chain.

Now that Sue Ludwig and Felisha Legette-Jack are reunited at Syracuse, they knew they needed a way to reward players who make hustle plays and show the blue-collar mentality that originally drew them to each other back in their playing days for the Orange in the 1980s.

Enter the hard hat, used to celebrate players who dive for loose balls, snatch offensive rebounds and get their hands in passing lanes.

Syracuse’s players and coaches created the hard hat, awarded after each game to the player who leads the team in hustle plays.

“They go crazy when we give the hard hat out, the whole team,” Ludwig said.

At first, the award was subjective, based on the coaching staff’s observations. But Ludwig thought the award needed more objectivity, so she created a scoresheet to tabulate each player’s hard hat stats.

Players earn a point for forced turnovers, dives on the floor, deflections (including blocks and tips), charges and offensive rebounds.

The hard hat wasn’t ready for the first six games, but Dyaisha Fair became the first hard hat recipient in Syracuse’s loss to Purdue on Nov. 30.

Alaina Rice took home the award against Yale, Asia Strong won it against Coppin State, Dariauna Lewis wore it after Wagner and Cheyenne McEvans got it after Sunday’s win vs. Wake Forest.

In just 20 minutes at Yale, Rice won a “landslide” victory, according to Ludwig. She totaled eight hustle plays, including five offensive rebounds, as well as five “on the floors” and two forced turnovers.

The hard hat travels on the road with the Syracuse women's basketball team. Alaina Rice won it after her performance at Yale on Dec. 4. Photo courtesy of Syracuse Athletics.

Lewis tallied her fourth double-double of the year against Wagner, including a stretch where she picked up four offensive rebounds and putbacks in the span of just a few minutes. At the postgame press conference, she addressed questions about her rebounding efforts with the hard hat perched atop her dreadlocks.

When Lewis leaned forward mid-answer, her hat fell off its perch.

Ludwig is planning on tabulating season-long hard hat stats as well. She hopes that by making the hard hat a competition, it will encourage players to hustle more and restore the style of play she and Legette-Jack played in the prime era of the Big East.

She’s already gotten some early adopters – Zach Kiggins, who took over Ludwig’s post with Westhill girls basketball, said he’s planning on using it with the Warriors.

Legette-Jack reiterated the award symbolizes the players she’s trying to draw to the program.

“Those kind of players, those blue collar players worked well for us the past 10 years at Buffalo, and why should I change what we stand for because we have better talent?” Legette-Jack said. “We called it the ‘Buffalo bling’ for being the bomb, but we’re here now, so it’s the same kind of mindset.”

The hard hat is spray painted orange and is decorated with gems and glitter in addition to stickers from the football equipment room. Photo courtesy of Syracuse Athletics.

Finding and designing the hat was a bit of a process.

Amber Moore, the director of basketball operations, went to a hardware store to pick up a hard hat. One problem: She couldn’t find an orange one.

The staff bought a white hard hat and spray painted it orange. Syracuse then took the adjustable insert out of the hard hat and decorated it with gems, glitter and stickers from the football equipment room.

It travels with the team and is on the checklist for when the team’s bus is about to take off for the Dec. 29 road trip to Louisville.

Already a fixture of Syracuse’s postgame press conferences, Ludwig and Legette-Jack see the hard hat as a symbol of the culture they’re trying to create.

“It’s so cool to celebrate that,” Ludwig said, “because that’s the core of what we’re looking for.”

Contact Connor Pignatello anytime: Email | Twitter

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