The research on early basketball players at Georgetown is neither swift nor exact, as many archival records can lead in a number of directions. Such is not the case with former Georgetown center Jim Tormey, thanks to an extensive biography available at the Syracuse Basketball Wikia, a site dedicated to showcasing individuals active in basketball from that city.

Tormey came to Georgetown in 1912 following a year at Syracuse and two years at Dean Academy (now Dean College), where he was a three sport athlete. Tormey played one year on the football team at Georgetown, two years with basketball, and three with the baseball nine, having been elected captain of the latter in 1915.

As far as basketball was concerned, Tormey made a name for himself. Former coach John O'Reilly referred to Tormey as one of the best players he ever coached, and in some respects he was the first true center that used the position as a scoring one and not simply a rebounder.

"Jim Tormey, captain-elect, was the mainstay of the team on both offense and defense," read the Ye Domesday Booke of 1915. "Big and fast and playing a dribbling game, he was a scoring machine in himself." Tormey led the varsity in scoring with a 5.6 points average in 1915 despite a number of lingering injuries from his previous years in the sport. By the reference to "captain elect", Tormey would have been captain for the 1915-16 team had he chosen to stay in school; instead, he graduated with his law degree in 1915.

Tormey's life after law school is illuminated in the aforementioned web site. He returned to the Syracuse area and played on a variety of club teams, including the barnstorming group known as Basloe's Globe Trotters, unrelated to the Harlem Globetrotters of later years.

"Jim moved on from his athletic career and excelled at his law career," reads the bio. He was Corporation Counselor for the city of Syracuse from 1935 to 1945 and held the assistant attorney general post with the state for several years. He retired in 1962."

According to his 1974 obituary in the Syracuse Post-Standard, "[Georgetown] University awarded him its Medal of Honor in 1969 for services to the school", although the exact award in question is still unknown as Georgetown does not have an award by that title.