- Tal Brody
Talbot "Tal" Brody (Hebrew:טלבוט "טל" ברודי ;born
August 30 ,1943 inTrenton, New Jersey , U.S.) is a formerbasketball player. He is considered a star of European and Israeli basketball.Height: 1.87 m (6' 1½"). Position:
Shooting guard .Brody spent most of his career with the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club. In
Israel he is widely recognized as a national hero and a symbol of the young country's achievements, not only in basketball. His famous remark "We are on the map" became a part of Israeli culture and is often used in various situations and contexts, from political speeches to National Lottery commercials.Career
In 1965 Brody, recently graduated from the University of Illinois and picked 15th in the
1965 NBA Draft by the Baltimore Bullets, led USA team to a gold medal atMaccabiah Games . Immediately he was approached by Maccabi Tel Aviv managers who wanted him in their team. Among those who asked Brody to stay in Israel were Education Ministry officials and even another icon -Moshe Dayan . Eventually, it worked.Brody completed his
master's degree ineducational psychology , and returned toIsrael in 1966, helping Maccabi Tel Aviv to reach the European Cup finals. He returned to the US in 1969 to fulfill his military duty, played forUS Army All-Star Team, and then for the US National Team at the1970 FIBA World Championship inBelgrade ,Yugoslavia . [ [http://www.usabasketball.com/history/mwc_1970.html 1970 USA Basketball] ] Brody then returned to Israel to live.Brody played for Maccabi Tel Aviv until 1980, winning ten domestic championships and six cups. With Maccabi Tel Aviv he appeared in 81 European Cup games, scoring 1,378 points.
The highlight of his career came in 1977. In the European Cup final group, Maccabi Tel Aviv was matched against CSKA Moscow in the semi-final. CSKA Moscow was a powerhouse European team with four European Cup titles. For political reasons (the
Soviet Union broke off diplomatic relations with the Jewish state a decade earlier and politically and militarily backedIsrael 's Arab enemies at the time), CSKA Moscow would not agree to go toTel Aviv for the game (which would have resulted in a technical defeat), nor was theIsrael i club allowed to play inMoscow . In the end, Maccabi Tel Aviv's home game was played inVirton ,Belgium .The game was of huge symbolic value for Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and for many Israelis who ordinarily were not interested in
basketball . When Maccabi Tel Aviv won 91:79, the feeling was not only that CSKA Moscow had been defeated, but a victory -- albeit small -- had been achieved against the mightySoviet Union , the power behindIsrael 's enemies. "We are on the map", - proclaimed Brody in his heavily American-accented Hebrew, - "And we are staying on the map, not only in sports, but in everything" [In Hebrew: "אנחנו במפה! ואנחנו נשארים במפה - לא רק בספורט, בהכל"] . Maccabi Tel Aviv went on to win its first European title, defeating Mobilgirgi Varese 78:77 in the final game inBelgrade . Brody, as the team captain, lifted the cup.Brody also played for Israeli National Team, scoring 1,219 points in 78 games.
In 1979, Brody was the first sportsman to be awarded the
Israel Prize .Life after basketball
When Brody retired from basketball in 1980, a special retirement game was arranged in his honor and the European All-Star Team arrived in
Israel to play against Maccabi Tel Aviv. He was asked to joinYitzhak Yitzhaky 's One Israel party, but rejected the offer. Brody continued with Maccabi Tel Aviv as an assistant coach, then became a sports commentator for Israeli television. Currently he runs an insurance business.Brody was inducted into the Israeli Basketball Hall of Fame.
In 2004, he lit a torch at the 56th Independence Day ceremony.
Political career
Brody was reported in August 2007 as having decided to run for
Knesset , with theLikud in the next general election. Brody said the time was right for him to shift careers after many years running a firm that manages employment benefits programs for companies. He said the Knesset was a good way to spend the third phase of his life after basketball and business.Since retiring from basketball, Brody had volunteered with many organizations, including the Spirit of Israel, which raises money for "vital human needs" as defined by the
Jewish Agency andKeren Hayesod , andMigdal Or , which helps at-risk, impoverished, orphaned and underprivileged children, and spoken around the world for the Foreign Ministry and American Jewish organizations.Brody could be the first New Jersey native in the Knesset since
Marcia Freedman , who served from 1973 to 1977. [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1187502427748&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull]References
External links
* [http://www.talbrody.co.il/ The Tal Brody Legacy site]
* [http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/TalBrody.htm International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame - Tal Brody's profile]
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