Tal Brody

Player information
Tal Brody

Full name	Talbot Brody
birthday	August 30, 1943 (77 years and 1 day)
place of birth	Trenton , New Jersey , United States
size	1.87 meters
position	Shooting Guard
college	University of Illinois
NBA draft	1965, 15th pick, Baltimore Bullets
National team
	USA Israel

Talbot "Tal" Brody (born August 30, 1943 in Trenton , New Jersey , Hebrew name טלבוט ברודי) is a former American - Israeli basketball player from Maccabi Tel Aviv . The 1.87 meter tall Brody played the position of shooting guard and is considered one of the greatest basketball players in Israel. For his patriotic remarks in the 1977 European Cup victory in Tel Aviv, he is considered a popular hero in Israel. He is currently working on a career as a politician.

biography

Brody was a standout local Trenton Central High School player in his youth. Over 40 universities wanted to recruit him and he chose the nearby University of Illinois . In 1965, he was drawn as 15th pick in the NBA draft by the Baltimore Bullets , but turned down that offer to graduate from university. Strongly connected to his Jewish faith, Brody then played for the US selection that took part in the Maccabiah games. The Maccabi Tel Aviv scouts were very impressed with his game and convinced Brody to join their club. In 1966 he made his debut in the team in his new home country, but had to return quickly to do his military service . During this time he played games for the US Army basketball team . In 1970 Brody took part in the 1970 World Cup for the United States national basketball team and finished fifth alongside NBA star Bill Walton . But then he turned his back on the states, emigrated to Israel and took citizenship. Together with coach Ralph Klein and teammate Miki Berkovich , he became part of the Maccabi team that dominated the domestic league in the 1970s. Brody was ten times champion and six times cup winner.

For the national team of his new home, Brody played 78 games and made 1,219 points. Brody also became part of the famous Makkabi Tel Aviv team that won the European Cup in 1977. In the semifinals, they met the Soviet team CSKA Moscow , who had previously won the cup four times in a row. Since the Soviet Union took a strong anti-Israeli stance in the Middle East conflict in 1977 , the Soviets refused to play in Tel Aviv. In addition, the Israelis were refused entry for a possible game in Moscow. The Belgian Virton was chosen as the neutral venue , where Tel Aviv sensationally defeated Moscow with 91-76. The euphoric Brody then spoke the sentence: "אנחנו במפה! ואנחנו נשארים במפה - לא רק בספורט, בהכל" (Eng .: We [Israelis] are on the world map, and we stay on the world map. ) For this patriotic sentence Brody was in Israel became a folk hero and this quote is now part of national folklore. The involuntary weird sound of his Hebrew with its heavy American accent only added to the appeal of this sentence. In the final, Mobilgirgi Varese was defeated 78-77 and Maccabi captain Brody had led his team to win the first international sports cup in the history of Israel. Teammate Berkovich compared this success as important for Israel as the miracle of Bern was for West Germany. Even non-Maccabi fans and Israelis not interested in sports admire this team today.

Brody was the first athlete ever to be honored with the Israel Prize in 1979 . In the fall of his career he played for Tel Aviv until 1980 and was then passed with a game against a FIBA All-Star team. After his career, Brody worked as a commentator, sold insurance and worked in various charitable organizations.

At the beginning of 2008, Talbut 'Tal' Brody was one of a group of 105 basketball players who were nominated by the Euroleague basketball and / or basketball fans to determine fifty important figures in basketball in Europe , active in the period 1958 to 2008 and subsequently in May 2008 in Madrid ( Spain ). All nominated players played a particularly prominent role in the European Cup competitions of FIBA Europe and the Euroleague basketball and were each among the particularly prominent stars of their national league teams.

Private life

Brody lives with his second wife Tirza and has two grown children with her. His parents are Shirley and Max Brody and he has an older sister named Renee. During his time at the University of Illinois, Brody earned a master's degree in education . After his military service in the US Army, he emigrated to Israel in 1970 and also took on citizenship. This made for the curiosity that Brody had to do military service again, since in Israel every Jewish citizen (with a few exceptions ) is drafted into the army. During this time Brody worked as a fitness coach and founded a company for the import / export of sporting goods.

successes

European Champion Clubs' Cup (1977)
Finalist in the European Cup Winners' Cup (1967)
Israel Prize (1979) - Brody was the first ever athlete to receive the award
10 × Israeli champion
6 × Israeli cup winners

Individual evidence

^ NN: The All-Time Player Nominees. ( Memento of January 2, 2015 on the Internet Archive ) Archived from EuroLeague website; Barcelona, January 2, 2015. Accessed February 2, 2019.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Brody, valley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Brody, Talbot
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Israeli-American basketball player
DATE OF BIRTH	August 30, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH	Trenton , New Jersey

[1] NN: The All-Time Player Nominees. ( Memento of January 2, 2015 on the Internet Archive ) Archived from EuroLeague website; Barcelona, January 2, 2015. Accessed February 2, 2019.