Ossie Schectman
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| Player information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Oscar Benjamin Schectman | |
| birthday | May 30, 1919 | |
| place of birth | Kew Gardens , United States | |
| date of death | July 30, 2013 | |
| size | 183 cm | |
| position | Point guard | |
| college | long Island | |
| Clubs as active | ||
1941-1946 Philadelphia Sphas 1946-1947 New York Knicks 1947-1950 Paterson Crescents
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Oscar Benjamin "Ossie" Schectman (born May 30, 1919 in New York City , † July 30, 2013 in Delray Beach , Florida ) was an American basketball player of the New York Knicks in the BAA and the NBA and the Philadelphia Sphas and the Paterson Crescents of the OJ .
The 1.83 meter tall point guard scored the first basket in NBA history.
Career
Schectman, the son of Jewish immigrants, grew up in poverty on New York's Lower East Side. Like many other young Jews, he played basketball and established himself as one of the best basketball players in town. In 1941 he joined the Philadelphia Sphas, a team in the young professional league ABL, and with a salary of $ 60 per game Schectman became one of the first professional basketball players ever. With the Sphas, Schectman established himself as a reliable playmaker, averaging ten points per game. At that time, he mainly scored his points with a lay-up that now seems archaic , in which the ball was not released with one hand above the head but with two hands at chest height, and with the standing throw, which is also outdated in modern basketball .
After the end of the Second World War he was hired by the New York Knicks of the professional league BAA (a forerunner of today's NBA). On November 1, 1946, the BAA opened with the game New York Knicks - Toronto Huskies : Schectman scored the first basket of the game and thus the first basket in the history of the BAA and its successor, the NBA. By the way, almost all of his teammates (Sonny Hertzberg, Stan Stutz, Hank Rosenstein, Ralph Kaplowitz, Jake Weber, and Leo Gottlieb) were also New York Jews. Schectman scored 8.1 points and 2.0 assists per game in his only BAA season. With 109 assists, he was the third best assists in the BAA 1946/47 season.
After his Knicks year Schectman went back to the competition league ABL and led the Paterson Crescents to the ABL finals. In 1950 he ended his professional career.
Schectman is a member of the National Jewish Hall of Fame.
Web links
- Historical entry on nba.com
- Career statistics (NBA) on basketball-reference.com
- Career Statistics (ABL) on abpr.org
- Bio on ESPN.com
- Short biography
Individual evidence
- ↑ Man Who Scored First Basket In NBA History Dead At 94 ( Memento of the original from August 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schectman, Ossie |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Schectman, Oscar B. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American basketball player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 30, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kew Gardens, Queens |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 30, 2013 |