Jews in Basketball

History of Jews in Basketball

Hebrew Hoop Stars
by the Encyclopedia Judaica (CD-ROM Edition)

Invented in 1891 in the United States, the game was ideally suited to the crowded urban areas where most of the nation's Jewish population lived. Jewish settlement houses on New York's East Side and Chicago's West Side gave Jewish youth their first opportunity to play the game and set many players on their way to stardom. Jews played basketball in the 1890s, and in 1900 the first Jewish professional player, Paul ("Twister") Steinberg (1880- ), began his career at Little Falls, New York. Later he coached at Cornell University (1910-12) and for many years acted as referee at college games. Frank Basloe (1887-1966), professional player and coach of the Herkimer, New York team, organized a squad that toured the country in 1903-23. Basloe was president of the New York State League in 1937-48. Harry Baum (1882-1959), a New York City settlement worker and professor of electrical engineering at the City College of New York, developed a style of play that made outstanding professional players of Barney Sedran, Louis Sugarman (1890-1951), Jake Fuller (Furstman), and Max (Marty) Friedman (1889- ). Friedman captained the World War I American Expeditionary Force team that won the Inter-Allied Games basketball tournament and introduced the sport to Europe. Other outstanding professionals of the 1910-25 era were William Cone and Emanuel (Doc) Newman (1890- ). Henry Hart Elias (1882-1941) was the first Jewish college player. He played on the initial Columbia University team in 1901; was the team's captain in 1903, and the school's first basketball coach in 1904-05. The first Jewish player to win collegiate honors, Samuel Melitzer (1888- ), an All-East selection in 1907, and an All-American in 1909, was also from Columbia. William Laub, 1926; Louis Bender (1910- ), 1930, 1932, and David Newmark (1946- ), 1966, also received All-America recognition at Columbia. From 1909 to 1950 the City College of New York produced teams that were among the best in the nation and were nearly all-Jewish. With the exception of Ira Streusand (1890-1964), 1908, professional star Nat Holman trained all the other Jewish players from C.C.N.Y. who were selected as All-Americans, namely Louis Farer, 1922; Pincus (Pinky) Match (1904-1944), 1925; Moe Spahn, 1932; Mo Goldman (1913- ), 1934; Bernard Fliegel, 1938; William (Red) Holzman (1920- ), 1942, and Irwin Dambrot (1950).

All-America selections from other New York City schools (New York University, Long Island University, and St. John's) were Maclyn (Mac) Baker (1898- ), 1920-21; Milton Schulman, 1936; Robert Lewis, 1939; Jerome (Jerry) Fleishman (1922- ), 1943; Sidney Tanenbaum (1925-1988), 1946-47; Adolph (Dolph) Schayes, 1948; Donald Forman (1926- ), 1948, and Barry Kramer (1942- ), 1963-64; Ben Kramer (1913- ), 1936; Jules Bender (1914- ), 1937; John Bromberg, 1939; Daniel Kaplowitz, 1939; Irving Torgoff, 1938-39; Oscar (Ossie) Schectman, (1919- ), 1941, and Jackie Goldsmith (1921-1968), 1946; Max (Mac) Kinsbrunner (d. 1972), 1930; Max (Mac) Posnack, 1931; Nathan Lazar, 1933; Jack (Dutch) Garfinkel (1920- ), 1939; Harry Boykoff (1922- ), 1943, 1946; Hyman (Hy) Gotkin, 1944-45, and Allan Seiden, 1958-59. In 1928-31 Kinsbrunner, Posnack, Albert (Allie) Schuckman and Jack (Rip) Gerson were members of the "Wonder Five," one of college basketball's most famous teams.

Other All-America players included Cyril Haas, Princeton, 1916-17; Leon (Bob) Marcus, 1918-19; Samuel Pite, Yale, 1923; Emanuel (Menchy) Goldblatt (1904- ), Pennsylvania, 1925-26; Carl M. Loeb Jr., Princeton, 1926; Edward Wineapple, Providence, 1929; Louis Hayman, Syracuse, 1931; Jerry Nemer (1912- ), Southern California, 1933; Herbert Bonn, Duquesne, 1936; William Fleishman, Western Reserve, 1936; Marvin Colen, Loyola of Chicago, 1937; Meyer (Mike) Bloom, Temple, 1938; Bernard Opper (1918- ), Kentucky, 1939; Louis Possner, DePaul, 1940; Morris (Moe) Becker (1917- ), Duquesne, 1941; Irving Bemoras (1930- ), Illinois, 1953; Len Rosenbluth (1933- ), North Carolina, 1955-57, was the college player of the year in 1957; Lawrence Friend (1935- ), California, 1957; Donald Goldstein, Louisville, 1959; Jeff Cohen, William and Mary, 1960-61; Arthur Heyman (1941- ), Duke, 1961-63, was the college player of the year in 1963; Howard Carl, DePaul, 1961; Robert I. (Rick) Kaminsky (1942- ), Yale, 1964; Talbot (Tal) Brody (1943- ), Illinois, 1965, and subsequently a star in Israel, and Neal Walk (1948- ), Florida, 1968-69.

College coaches included Leonard Palmer (1882- ), first C.C.N.Y. coach, 1909-16; Edard Siskind (1886-1955), Fordham, 1910; Samuel Melitzer, N.Y.U., 1911; Michael Saxe, Villanova, 1921-26; Louis Sugarman, Princeton, 1921; David Tobey (1898- ), Savage School of Physical Education, 1924-42 and Cooper Union, 1947-60, an outstanding referee from 1918 to 1945 and the author of the first book on basketball officiating (1943), is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame; Leonard D. Sachs (1897-1942), Loyola or Chicago, 1924-42, had a 224-129 record; Emil S. Gollubier (1890-1969), Chicago Hebrew Institute, 1918-62; Albert M. (Dolly) Stark (1897-1968), Dartmouth, 1929-36, 1945-46; Bernard (Red) Sarachek, Yeshiva, 1943, 1946-69; Harry Stein (1916-1959) , Brandeis, 1949-58; Samuel Cozen, Drexel Tech, 1952-68, had a 213-94 record; David Polansky, C.C.N.Y., 1953-54, 1957-58, 1960-68, 1970-7 1; Roy Rubin, Long Island University, 1961-, in 1968 L.I.U. was the small college national champion; Harold (Hal) Blitman, Cheyney State, 1962-69; Jules Rivlin, Marshall, 1956-62; Irving Olin (1917-1970), Brandeis, 1964, and Harry Litwack, Temple, has been at the Philadelphia school since 1925 as a player and coach. He became head coach in 1953 and his teams have won over 300 games including the 1969 National Invitational Tournament in New York City.

The majority of the players who made All-America in college went on to play professional basketball. Other Jewish players who excelled as professionals during the 1925-70 period were David (Pretzel) Banks (1901-1952), the Original Celtics; George (Red) Wolfe (1905-1970), Shikey Gotthoffer and Inky Lautman of the Philadelphia Sphas; Louis Spindell and Phil Rabin (Rabinowitz) of the American League; National Basketball Association players Leo Gottlieb, Sidney (Sonny) Hertzberg, Max Zaslofsky (1925-1985), all-N.B.A. guard in 1947-50, who led the league in scoring in 1948.

Coaches, managers, and owners of professional teams included Jack (Nibs) Neiman, manager of the Rochester, New York, Centrals, 1902; Edward (Eddie) Gottlieb (1900-1979), organized, played for, and coached the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association (Sphas) team in 1918-45. In 1946 he helped found the Basketball Association of America (which became the National Basketball Association) and from 1947 to 1968 was a coach and owner of the Philadelphia Warriors; Abe Saperstein, founder, owner, and coach of the Harlem Globetrotters; Barney Sedran, a coach and promoter in 1932-46; Lester Harrison, coach and owner of the Rochester Royals of the N.B.A. in 1949-58; Benjamin (Ben) Kerner (1917- ), owned teams in the National Basketball League and the National Basketball Association in 1946-68; Arnold (Red) Auerbach, Boston Celtics coach and general manager; Max Winter, owner of the Minneapolis Lakers in the 1950s; Adolph (Dolph) Schayes, N.B.A. coach of the year in 1966 with the Philadelphia 76ers; and William (Red) Holzman, played for Rochester Royals in 1946-54, and in 1970 was coach of the year when his N.Y. Knickerbockers won the N.B.A. championship. Maurice Podoloff (1890-1985) was elected president of the Basketball Association o f America in 1946 and served as the first commissioner of the National Basketball Association until 1963. Leo Fischer (1897-1970), an outstanding sportswriter, was president of the National Basketball League in 1940-44, and Harry Rudolph (1907-1973), president of the Eastern League.

Referees who gained prominence were Sam Schoenfeld (1907-1956), who starred at Columbia University in 1928-30 and later founded and was first president of the Collegiate Basketball Officials Association; Mendy Rudolph (1928- ), who became an N.B.A. official in 1953 and in 1969 became the league's chief of referees; and Norman Drucker, who after 15 years with the N.B.A. became supervisor of A.B.A. officials in 1969. Jews coached and won medals at the Olympic Games. Julius Goldman, an American, coached Canada to an Olympic medal in 1936, and Alexander Gomelsky did the same for the Soviet Union in 1964 and 1968. Canadian Olympic coaches include Men Abromowitz (1948) and Ruben Richman (1934- ). Harry D. Henshel served as chairman of the United States Olympic Basketball Committee in 1956, and Harold Fischer coached United States gold medal teams at the 1951 and 1967 Pan-American Games. Tanhum (Tanny) Cohen-Mintz of Israel was named to the European All-Star team in 1964 and 1965. Members of the Basketball Hall of Fame are Leonard D. Sachs, David Tobey, Barney Sedran, Nat Holman, Arnold (Red) Auerbach, and Abe Saperstein.

Ernest Grunfeld won gold medals as a member of the American men's teams at the 1975 Pan-American Games and the 1976 Olympic Games, and Nancy Lieberman was a member of the American women's teams which gained Pan-American Games gold and Olympic Games silver medals. Miss Lieberman was named the outstanding college player twice, winning the Wade Trophy following the 1978-79 and 1979-80 seasons, when her school Old Dominion won the women's championship. In 1979 she helped the United States win the FIBA World Championship and a silver medal in the Pan-American Games.

New York Knickerbocker coach William (Red) Holzman led his team to the championship of the National Basketball Association in 1973. Larry Brown was named Coach of the Year in the American Basketball Association in 1973 and 1975. In 1979 Brown moved to the college ranks to coach at U.C.L.A. His team reached the finals of the national collegiate (NCAA) championship in his first season. Coach Larry Brown, basketball's traveling man, left the NBA New Jersey Nets in 1983 to go to the University of Kansas. In 1988 he went from Kansas to the NBA Antonio Spurs, and in 1992 he moved from San Antonio to the NBA Los Angeles Clippers. Brown's Kansas club won the college (NCAA) championship in 1988, and San Antonio went from a 21-61 record in Brown's first year to 56-26 the following year. The 35-game swing was a one-season NBA record.

Alexandre Gomelsky returned to coach the U.S.S.R. national team in 1977. His team won an Olympic bronze medal in Moscow.

Players Adolph (Dolph) Schayes (1972) and Max (Marty) Friedman (1971); coach Harry Litwack (1976) and contributors Edward Gottlieb (1971) and Maurice Podoloff (1973) were elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Death claimed Eddie Gottlieb in 1979, and 1933 University of Southern California All-America Jerry Nemer, and referee Marvin (Menchy) Rudolph in 1980.

David Stern became the commissioner of the National Basketball Association in 1983 and in 1992 was named the most powerful person in sports by a national sports publication. The Sporting News said of him, "As a direct result of David Stern's progressive leadership, the NBA now has the greatest universal appeal of any professional sport."

Israeli Nadav Henefeld enjoyed an outstanding 1989-90 season at the University of Connecticut. Connecticut won the Big East title and reached the NCAA championship final eight. For his efforts Henefeld was named honorable mention All-America.

Senda Berenson, the "Mother of Women's Basketball" and its first female entrant, and William (Red) Holzman, who coached in the NBA for 18 years, were inducted into the International Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985 and 1986. Holzman's New York Knicks teams won the NBA championships in 1970 and 1973.

The Encyclopedia Judaica CD-ROM contains all the text of the original 16 Keter volumes, the eight yearbooks and the two Ten-Year update volumes. In addition it includes many statistical updates and an interactive time-line. The CD has over 2500 pictures, 100 maps, slideshows, audio, and fifteen minutes of video.