Tal Brody
A New Jersey All-star basketball player in high school, Brody led his team to an undefeated state championship.Before the NBA season started, he traveled to Israel, where he led the American team to a gold medal in the 1965 Maccabiah Games.[14] At the time, freshmen were not allowed to play on the varsity basketball team, but as a sophomore he replaced the just-graduated Jerry Colangelo.[8] To his surprise, rather than arriving in Biblical Israel (with people riding camels and living in tents), he found himself in a modern society in which for the first time he met Jews from around the globe.[35] Brody returned to Israel in 1966 to "take up that challenge", help an entire country rather than just one team, and take one year out of his life to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv.[6] Ralph Klein, Israel's most successful coach at the time, said that up until the enthusiastic Brody's arrival, Israelis had only viewed basketball as a fun game.[14] To capitalize on Brody's quickness and speed, his coach abandoned the team's formerly slow pace in favor of a fast-paced motion game, built around fast breaks.[9] He had a vision of what he could accomplish, and saw the positive impact on the Israeli people's morale whenever Maccabi Tel Aviv beat a team in Europe.Instead of heeding the advice, he volunteered his services to lead Israeli soldiers at the Jordanian border in athletic exercises, as he stayed in Israel through the war.[39] He then played for two years for the U.S. Army and United States Armed Forces All Star Teams as a starting guard, while Israelis worried over the impact of his departure.He won ten Israeli League championships with the team, and six Israel State Cups, in what has been described as a "stellar" and "amazing" career.[3][10][22][38] With Maccabi Tel Aviv, he appeared in 81 FIBA European Champions Cup (now called EuroLeague) games, scoring 1,378 points.[16] In the first round of the European-wide top-tier level FIBA European Champions Cup (later renamed to EuroLeague), Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Real Madrid, of Spain's top league, 94–85.[17][33] In the FIBA European Champions Cup 1976–77 season semifinals, Maccabi Tel Aviv was matched against CSKA Moscow—the Red Army team.[16][17][33][43] Six of its players had played on the Soviet national team that had controversially defeated the United States in the 1972 Summer Olympics, and their captain was Sergei Belov (who years later recalled that Brody was one of his toughest opponents).[3][16][33] In the end, Maccabi Tel Aviv's "home game" was played in the small, neutral town of Virton, Belgium.[43] The feeling among Israelis was not only that CSKA Moscow had been defeated, but that a victory – albeit small – had been achieved against the mighty Soviet Union.proclaimed an elated, euphoric Brody in his heavily American-accented Hebrew, as a TV announcer pushed a microphone in front of him for a post-game quote, while people danced the hora around him in excitement and celebration.[22][66] Brody, as the team captain, received the European Cup trophy from FIBA's Secretary General, and lifted it over his head.[6] Brody was given the honor of lighting the torch at the opening of the 1981 Maccabiah Games at Ramat Gan Stadium, in front of 45,000 fans and sportsmen from 54 countries.[6][43] Brody serves as well on the Board of Directors of the Maccabi World Union (MWU), which organizes the Maccabiah Games in Israel.[3][23][34][53] He helped organize and promote an exhibition game between Maccabi Tel Aviv and the New York Knicks in the U.S., with all proceeds going to benefit Migdal Ohr.[14][53] In 1985, Brody joined with Herzliya and its Mayor (Eli Landau) to construct and run one of the world's largest basketball schools, designing a unique program with specially chosen coaches.When Likud party chairman Benjamin Netanyahu approached him personally, however, and asked him to step forward for the country, Brody for the first time considered entering politics.[13][14] Netanyahu suggested that Brody could more effectively push the advances he was already seeking, in education, sports, immigration, absorption, and social issues, if he were a member of the Israeli Knesset.[13][68] He noted that the Knesset would be a third career calling for him, as long as it allowed him to concentrate on those areas that were already his focus, such as sports, education, aliyah, the Diaspora, Israeli-American relations, and helping children who are "at risk", and that he saw it as a good way to spend the third phase of his life after basketball and business."[70] Brody ran for a national slot (places 2–19 on Likud's list), to represent the district between Tel Aviv and Haifa, along the Israeli coast.[59] Danny Danon, the well-organized chairman of World Likud—who was backed by Zo Artzeinu co-founder Moshe Feiglin—beat him in what turned out to be an intense fight for the slot on the Likud list.[89] Prime Minister Netanyahu asked Brody in early 2009 to help Israel in a yet-to-be-created official position of goodwill ambassador for the country.[95][96][97][98] After Brody returned to Israel in 1970, he married a 20-year-old Israeli woman, Ronit Born, in a wedding that Defense Minister Moshe Dayan attended as his guest of honor.
Trenton, New JerseyTrenton CentralIllinoisNBA draftBaltimore BulletsShooting guardMaccabi Tel AvivEuroLeagueFIBA Saporta Cup Finals Top ScorerIsraeli LeagueIsraeli State CupFIBA European SelectionIsrael PrizeAll-AmericanConverseBig TenBasketball ReferenceIsraelBasketballAsian Games1974 IranMaccabiah Games1965 Tel Aviv1969 Tel AvivHebrewgoodwill ambassador1965 NBA draftAll-starpoint guardUniversity of Illinoisgold medal1965 Maccabiah GamesMoshe DayanFIBA European Champions CupRed ArmyCSKA MoscowHerzliyaJewish Community CenterPolice Athletic LeagueBoys ClubTrenton Central High SchoolAll StarThe Star-LedgerTemple UniversityZeta Beta TauJerry ColangeloIlliniBig Ten Championship1965 All-AmericanRick BarryBill BradleyBilly CunninghamThe Sporting NewsJerry Sloan1965 National Basketball Association DraftWashington WizardsRonald GreenSteve ChubinRon WattsHebrew schoolmaster's degreeeducational psychologySt. Louis HawksRalph Kleinfast breaksEurope's second-tier competitionFIBA European Cup Winners Cup1966–67 seasonFinalsPrime MinisterLevi EshkolIsraeli Defense ForcesChief of StaffKnessetSix-Day WarVietnam WarU.S. ArmyUnited States Armed ForcesUSA Men's National Basketball Team1970 FIBA World ChampionshipBelgradeYugoslaviaaliyahIsraeli ArmyreserveIsrael Defense ForcesIsraeli Air Force1973 Maccabiah GamesMunich Massacre1972 OlympicsErnie GrunfeldIsrael State CupsIsraeli Super LeagueIsrael national teamOmri Casspi2009 NBA draftSacramento KingsCold WarEuropean-wide top-tier levelReal MadridSpain's top leagueZbrojovka BrnoCzechoslovakiatop-tier league1976–77 seasonUSSR Premier LeagueSoviet national teamcontroversiallyUnited States1972 Summer OlympicscaptainSergei BelovCommunistsTel AvivVirtonMaarivDavid and GoliathYitzhak RabinZionistNeil ArmstrongMenachem BeginrefusenikYisrael BaAliyahNatan SharanskyIsrael's Davis Cup teamIsrael Tennis Association