Most people are
not aware of the long love affair between Jews and basketball. In the early
half of the 20th century, basketball was considered “The Jewish
man’s game,” and Jewish players dominated professional basketball. In the 1920s
and 1930s, a team of Jews, the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association,
SPHAs,
dominated basketball, playing games throughout the East and Midwest as
“The Wandering Jews.” They earned five dollars a game, which was big bucks for
city kids in those days.
Jews have also
been deeply involved in basketball as college and professional players as well
as coaches and team owners. Famous National Basketball Association (NBA)
players over the years include Neal Walk, Dolph Schayes, Larry Brown, Rudy
LaRusso, Art Heyman, and Max Zaslofsky. An Israeli basketball legend, Tal
Brody, was Israel’s first modern day sports hero. In 1965, Brody, an
All-American player at the University of Illinois, led the U.S. team to a gold
medal at the Maccabiah Games, and in 1969 he led Maccabi-Tel Aviv to Israel’s
first Maccabean gold medal. In 1977, Brody led the Maccabi team to the European
Cup championship, and in 1999, he was awarded the Israel Prize, the nation’s
highest civilian honor.
Basketball Hall of
Fame Jewish coaches, Larry Brown, Red Holzman, and Red Auerbach, led their
teams to NBA championships, including an incredible nine titles for the
Auerbach-coached Boston Celtics. Other Jewish basketball notables are Maurice
Podoloff, one of the founding fathers of the NBA; Abe Saperstein, founder and
longtime owner of the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters; and 1989-2014 NBA
Commissioner David Stern; followed by current Commissioner Adam Silver. A
popular saying is that it is easier for a Jewish boy to own an NBA team than to
play on an NBA team. This is borne out by the fact that, while there is
currently only one Jewish player in the NBA, at least seven of the 30 NBA teams
have Jewish owners.
Beth Tfiloh
Basketball
Beth Tfiloh (BT) Dahan Community Day School has a
comprehensive athletics program featuring interscholastic teams for basketball,
soccer, lacrosse, tennis, golf, swimming, baseball, and softball. The highlight
of the 2022-2023 sports season was a championship season for the boys basketball
team. For the first time since 2000, and only the second time in school
history, on February 26, 2023, the boys team won the MIAA “C” league title
before a packed house at the Chesapeake Employees Insurance Arena on the
University of Maryland Baltimore County campus. The BT Warriors, under Coach
Ari Braun –
and led by Guard Michael Cohen’s game high 35 points [what does this mean? Not clear] – defeated the
Saint Peter & Paul Sabres 65-58. This was an especially sweet win as the BT
boys had been defeated in semi-final games the previous two seasons.
A highlight of
BT’s athletic program is the annual Florence and Joseph Weiner Memorial Family
basketball tournament. Boys and girls teams from Jewish day schools in Israel,
Canada, and throughout the United States travel to the BT campus for a friendly
but intense basketball competition. For boys, the tournament started in 1988
and for girls in 1994. It is a four-day event, which resumed in 2022 after a Covid
hiatus, showcasing teams from New York, Israel, Toronto, and Dallas, as well as
BT. The Weiner tournament draws large crowds and is considered the most
prestigious Jewish day school basketball tournament.
Tamir Goodman and
Talmudical Academy
Tamir Goodman is a
basketball legend in Baltimore. He grew up in an observant Jewish family in
Pikesville, started playing basketball at age five, and while playing at
Talmudical Academy, he gained national recognition by Sports Illustrated as one of the best basketball players in America,
“the Jewish Jordan.” While a junior, he was ranked as the 25th best
high school player in the country, scoring an average of 35.4 points per game.
Because basketball was detracting from academic studies, TA dropped the program,
and Tamir transferred to Takoma Academy for his final high school year. After
graduation, Tamir was recruited to play for the University of Maryland, but he
decided to play at Towson University because the school seemed more compatible
with his commitment to Sabbath observance.
After Tamir’s
sophomore year at Towson, he fulfilled his dream by making aliyah in 2002. Tamir served in the Israel Defense Force, following
which he played for several professional teams in the Israeli Premier League
and the EuroLeague. He made history as the first observant Jew to play in both
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and professional
basketball. Unfortunately, Tamir’s professional career was cut short by
injuries, and he retired from basketball in 2009. Following retirement, Tamir
has enjoyed a multifaceted second career as a basketball coach, entrepreneur,
and motivational speaker around the globe. Tamir runs a summer overnight
basketball camp in Jerusalem, at which he has coached 5,000 kids from around
the world. Tamir lives in Jerusalem with his wife Judy, a competitive swimmer,
and five children.
Basketball at
Yeshiva University
Who would have
thought that Yeshiva University (YU) in New York City would become known as a
basketball powerhouse? Yeshiva University is the only Orthodox school in the
NCAA. Students need to balance sports participation with religious observance
and a rigorous academic schedule. The YU Maccabees play in the Division III
Skyline Conference, which devised a schedule that does not require the team to
play on Shabbat. Over the past four years, YU won the Skyline Conference
championship three times. Unfortunately, this past season, YU hit a bump in the
road on their journey to another Skyline championship. The team was again
ranked number one in its division and a win against Farmingdale State College
would have clinched a top ranking. However, YU had to forfeit the game citing
inadequate warm-up time after Shabbat.
From 2019 to 2021,
the team won 50 straight games, representing the third longest winning streak
in NCAA basketball history. In 2022, the team advanced to the “sweet sixteen”
round of the Division III NCAA tournament. One of YU’s star players, Zevi
Samet, was named Skyline men’s basketball rookie of the year for 2023 and
earned a spot on the All-Conference first team. Samet, a Monsey resident,
averaged 21.5 points per game, the highest in the Skyline Conference.
As quoted by Rabbi
Ari Berman, President of YU, “Our team does not just play for a school, they
play for a people.”
Basketball in
Israel
Basketball has
really flourished in Israel. It is now the second most popular sport, just
slightly behind soccer. Basketball got a kickstart in 1949, when, under the
sponsorship of the U.S. State Department, legendary City College of New York
coach Nat Holman traveled to Israel to set up clinics to develop the sport.
There are now mens and womens national teams that represent Israel in
international competition. Currently, the mens team is ranked 33rd in
the world and 16th in Europe, while the womens team is ranked 36th
in the world and 16th in Europe. There is also a multi-tiered
professional club league system founded in 1954, with the Israeli Premier
League, or Ligat HaAL, as the top tier.
Maccabi-Tel Aviv,
the best of the 12 teams in the Premier League, represents Israel internationally
in the 16-team EuroLeague, the top tier of European professional basketball
club competition, and has won six EuroLeage titles, most recently in 2014. The
team has sent several Israeli players, including Omri Casspi, Deni Avadija, Yam
Madar, and Gal Mekel to the NBA in America.
There have been
over 800 African Americans who have played professional basketball in Israel.
They get a chance to play at a high level in front of up to 10,000-plus
passionate fans, and they find a sense of community that many had never
experienced before. The players appreciate the high standard of living in
Israel and the Israeli lifestyle. Some of the players, including former NBA
all-star Amar’e Stoudemire, have converted to Judaism, become Israeli citizens,
or served in the IDF, and, clearly, they have become ambassadors for the State
of Israel. A recently published book, Alley-Oop to Aliyah (Skyhorse
Publishing), by sports journalist David Goldstein, provides an in-depth look
into almost every aspect of an African American basketball player’s life in
Israel.
All of these
individuals have left an incredible mark on American and Israeli basketball.
Even today, from Baltimore to New York and across the ocean to Israel, Jews
continue with their love of the game.
