Tal Brody is Israel's first modern-day sports
hero. A University of Illinois All America
in 1965, Brody joined the Maccabi-Tel Aviv
team after leading his United States team
to a gold medal in the 1965 Maccabiah
Games.
In 1967, the New
Jersey-born basketball star was
named Israel's Sportsman of the Year after leading
the Maccabi-Tel Aviv team to a second place finish
in the European Cup Basketball Championships. In
1969, he took Israel to its first Maccabiah Games
basketball gold medal. In 1970, Brody officially
“made Aliyah” — became a citizen
of Israel.
In what was then the State
of Israel's greatest international
sporting achievement, Brody led his 1977 Maccabi
team to the European Cup Championship. In Israel's
quest for the title, competition on the court occasionally
needed to surmount political intrigue. At the height
of the Cold War and a Soviet boycott of Israel, the
Middle East champions were matched against ZSKA Moscow
(the Red Army team), champions of the Soviet Union
and winners of the four previous European Cups. The
Soviets refused to play their semifinal match versus
Maccabi in Tel Aviv and would not allow the Israelis
to come to Moscow. Virton, Belgium, was selected
as a neutral site, but the location did not help
the Bolsheviks. Brody's Maccabi team triumphed 91-79.
The championship contest against Italy's Mobil Girgi
was held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, also a communist
country at the time. The El Al plane that delivered
Maccabi-Tel Aviv to the event was the first Israeli
plane permitted to land in the country. “The little
team that could” won the tournament of 23 national
champion teams by defeating Italy's best 78-77, to
capture the European title.
During his playing career, Brody's Maccabi-Tel Aviv
teams won 10 Israeli championships and 6 Israeli
State Cups.
At the University of Illinois, the 6'11/2“ guard
won All Academic honors in 1965. That year, he was
the thirteenth pick overall and number 2 selection
of the Baltimore Bullets in the NBA draft, but opted
to return to Illinois for his masters degree. That
summer, he was selected to the U.S. Maccabiah team
and traveled to Israel for the first time. One year
later, he accepted an offer by Maccabi-Tel Aviv to
play with the Israeli team.
In 1968, Brody was drafted into the U.S. Army, where
he served primarily on the All-Army and All-Armed
Forces basketball teams. His U.S. Armed Forces team
finished third in the World Championships in Belgrade.
In 1979, Brody was awarded the Israel
Prize, the
country's highest civilian honor.
