Tal Brody
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Tal Brody (born August 30, 1943 in Trenton, New Jersey, USA) is a former basketball 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.
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[edit] 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 at Maccabiah 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 in educational psychology, and returned to Israel 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 for US Army All-Star Team, and then for the US National Team at the 1970 World Championship in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (bronze medal). 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, CSKA Moscow would not agree to go to Tel Aviv for the game (which would have resulted in a technical defeat), nor was the Israeli club allowed to play in Moscow (the Soviet Union politically and militarily backed Israel's Arab enemies at the time). In the end, Maccabi Tel Aviv's home game was played in Virton, 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 mighty Soviet Union, the power behind Israel'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"[1]. Maccabi Tel Aviv went on to win its first European title, defeating Mobilgirgi Varese 78:77 in the final game in Belgrade. Brody, as the team captain, lifted the cup.
Brody also played for Israeli National Team, scoring 1,219 points in 78 games.
[edit] Retirement
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 join Yitzhak 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 1979, Brody was the first sportsman to be awarded the Israel Prize. In 2004, he lit a torch at the 56th Independence Day ceremony.
