Brod, Tal

Childhood and Student Years

Talbot Brody was born in Trenton (New Jersey) into a Jewish family. His grandfather and father immigrated to the United States in the 1920s from Palestine through Eastern Europe. Tal began playing basketball at the age of eight at the Trenton Jewish Center, then at the local kids club and school team. In high school, he was the leader of the school team, winning the State Championship with the Trenton Central High School in 1960 ^[1] and ending the last season with 15.3 points and 4 rebounds per game ^[2] . At the end of school, more than 40 colleges and universities offered him a scholarship based on his joining their teams, but Brody chose the relatively weak sporting University of Illinois , believing that he would play a more prominent role in a team of this level ^[2] . His expectations were met: with his participation, the Illinois team won the Big Ten conference championship in 1963 and reached the Central and Eastern Regional Finals (the next such success, “Fighting Illinay” will be achieved only in 1980), and Brody was the only sophomore who played in the start five. Over the next two years, Brody joined the symbolic amateur USA teams ^[1] , along with future NBA stars such as Rick Barry , Bill Bradley and Billy Cunningham ^[2] .

In 1965 , the year Brody graduated from the first degree at the university, he was selected under the 12th overall number in the NBA draft by the Baltimore Bullets team. In the same year, he was included in the team of American Jews, who defended the colors of the United States at Maccabiad - the World Jewish Games in Israel, and won gold medals with her. While in Israel, he received an offer to stay in this country and help develop basketball in it. Tal rejected both proposals (both from the Bullets and the Israelis), intending to continue his studies and obtain a master ’s degree ^[1] .

Professional Career and Team Performance

In 1966, Brody again rejected the offer to play in the NBA, this time received from the Atlanta Hawks club, to which the Bullets were sold the rights to his contract ^[2] . But in the same year, the Israelis turned to him again - now representatives of the country's leading basketball club, Maccabi (Tel Aviv) . They managed to persuade the American to sign a one-year contract with the team. Brody finished the 1966/67 season with Maccabi in the final of the Cup Winners' Cup - the second most important European club tournament. Although the Israelis lost in the final to the Italian super club “Inis” (Varese) , the very entrance to the final was a sensation - before that the Israeli team usually lost already at the first stage of the European tournament ^[1] . In addition, on the way to the Maccabi finals, it was necessary to solve the problem that seemed impossible - to recoup after losing in Badalona with a difference of 32 points from the local “ Hoventut ”. The Israelis coped by winning exactly 32 points on their site, and in the additional third match they won with a difference of 26 points. This event became known as the “Badalon Miracle” ^[3] .

Shortly after the final against the Yinis, the Six Day War began . The American authorities appealed to Brody, as well as other US citizens, to leave the war zone, but he remained in Israel and even spoke to Israeli soldiers on the Jordanian border ^[2] . According to the results of 1967, Brody was recognized as the "Athlete of the Year" in Israel ^[4] .

In 1968, Brody was drafted into the US Armed Forces . His service fell on the years of the Vietnam War , but a talented athlete was not sent to the front. Instead, he was included in the national team of the US Army and served in its ranks. In 1969, he even got the opportunity to perform at the Maccabiad a second time, and this time he played for the Israeli team, becoming the champion again. In 1970, he was invited to the U.S. national team at the World Cup in Yugoslavia . The composition of the American team was rather weak (the future two-time NBA champion Bill Walton played for her, but he was too young to make a significant contribution to her game), and in the end she remained only fifth. Brody finished the tournament in third place on the national team's scorers list with 10.4 points per game, having spent his best matches against the teams of Australia (19 points) and Czechoslovakia (17) ^[2] .

In 1970, Brody made aliyah , having received Israeli citizenship, and already next year began regular appearances in the national team of Israel . He played for the national team at three European championships and two pre-Olympic tournaments, and in total spent 78 games for the team, gaining 1219 points ^[2] . Throughout the rest of his career, Tal played for only one club - the Tel Aviv-based Maccabi, winning a total of ten Israeli champion titles and six Israeli Cups ; on his account 4049 points scored in the games of the championship of Israel ^[2] .

However, Brody achieved the main achievement of his playing career in the FIBA ​​Champions Cup in the 1976/77 season. In the semi-finals of this tournament, having already defeated the eminent Real Madrid , Maccabi met with one of the strongest clubs in Europe - Moscow CSKA . At the height of the Cold War and in conditions of broken diplomatic relations, the Soviet side refused to meet with the Israelis both on its site and in Tel Aviv, and a neutral venue was chosen for the match - the Belgian city of Virton . Despite the pressure, Maccabi confidently won with a score of 91:79. After the match, Brody spoke the words that became winged in Israel:

We are on the map, and we remain on the map - not only in sports, but in everything!

Original text (Hebrew)

אנחנו במפה ואנחנו נשארים במפה - לא רק בספורט, בהכל

After defeating CSKA, Brody was facing the finals with the same rivals as they had ten years ago - the Italian team from Varese, now bearing the sponsorship name "Mobilgirgi". The task was complicated by the fact that Tel Aviv had already twice lost the Mobiljirgi in the regular season ^[3] . The match was held in Belgrade , the capital of socialist Yugoslavia, which also did not have diplomatic relations with Israel. The El Al plane, where Maccabi players flew to Belgrade, was the first Israeli plane to receive permission to land in Yugoslavia ^[4] . Following him came a few charter flights with five thousand fans, including the first-ever Belgrade Boeing 747 airport. The Israeli side scored nine points for the break, but seven seconds before the end of the game, the Maccabi advantage became minimal: the team scored 78:77, and the Varese players had the ball, however, the Israelis' good defense did not allow the Italians to snatch the victory, interrupting the combination, played out by Aldo Ossola and Bob Morse . In this championship match, Brody, the captain of Maccabi, scored only 9 points - much less than Jim Botright and Miki Berkovich - but it was to him that FIBA ​​President Borislav Stankovich awarded the Champions Cup after the game. The return of Maccabi to Israel was welcomed by 150 thousand fans ^[2] .

In total, Tal Brody spent 81 games for Maccabi in Europe, gaining 1378 points ^[2] . He continued his performances until 1980 , and even before the end of his playing career, he was awarded the highest civilian award of the Jewish state - the Israeli Prize .

After the end of his playing career

After completing his performances, Brody briefly became an assistant coach at Maccabi ^[2] . Since the mid-1980s, he has been involved in the creation of basketball schools in Israel, and also served as an intermediary in contacts between Maccabi and the NBA. Thanks to his efforts, Maccabi regularly participated in friendly matches with the NBA teams ^[4] .

After the end of a sports career, the main source of income for Brody is the insurance business . He also tried his hand at politics, and in 2008 officially participated in the internal elections in the Likud party , responding to a proposal by party leader Benjamin Netanyahu ^[5] . Brody refused to run on the national list and chose to fight for a seat from the Central District (including Raanana , where he lives), but lost there to Dani Danone - chairman of the Likud World Movement ^[6] . Brody, a patriot of Israel, attaches great importance to the propaganda of the Israeli point of view in the world and considers sports contacts as an opportunity to introduce people abroad to her; So, in 2009, as part of the activities of the American-Israeli Friendship League, he brought 12 children from Sderot to a basketball camp in the United States, subjected to rocket and mortar shelling from the Gaza Strip , allowing them to tell Americans about their lives ^[7] . Since 2010, Brody has officially acted as the Israeli Goodwill Ambassador. ^[8]

According to Israeli basketball commentator Yaron Arbel, the history of basketball in Israel is divided into two parts - before and after Tal Brody ^[2] . His achievements in the development of Israeli sports were awarded in 1979 with the Israel Prize . In 1996, his name was included in the lists of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ^[4] , and two years later, according to a survey of the Maariv newspaper, he was named the man who had the greatest influence on the development of sports in Israel and one of the five best basketball players in history Israel ^[1] . Number 6 was forever assigned to him in the Maccabi team (Tel Aviv) ^[9] .

Brody's European successes are also celebrated in his homeland, in the USA. In 1996, the University of Illinois awarded him the title of “Person of the Year,” which is awarded annually to one of the athletes who graduated from this university ^[1] , and in 2012, the fighting Fighting Illinai university team permanently assigned him number 12 (at the same ceremony, number 30 was assigned to the owner of the Harlem Globtrotters team, Manny Jackson , and number 35 was assigned to the former star of the same team, Gowoner Won) ^[9] . In 2011, his name was listed on the US National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. ^[10]

• Biography on the website of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame

• FIBA Europe Website Results
• Vladimir Stankovic. Tal Brody, Israeli basketball history (neopr.) . Euroleague (June 19, 2013). Date of treatment August 8, 2013.