Who started Judaism? Jews believe that God made a special covenant with Abraham and that he and his descendants were chosen people who would create a great nation. A list of famous Jewish basketball players. They visited . Today we refer to stereotypes about Black men to explain why they dominate basketball, but this is an after-the-fact justification. He is a member of the international Jewish Sports Hall of fame and in 1980 became the second AFL Player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame after former teammate Lance Alworth. | Cover", "NFL has Jewish year Jewish News of Greater Phoenix", "Keep your eyes out for these pro-footballers", "What Being Jewish Means To Me American Jewish Committee", "On Religion An Offensive Tackle Named Shlomo", "Head Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly Was Once a Counselor at a Jewish Summer Camp Tablet Magazine", "American Jewish Congress Congratulates Marv Levy", "Of the Rooney Rule, Classically Black, and other distinctively American outrages", "NFL owners approve Vikings sale to Wilf", "Connecting the World to Jewish News, Culture, and Opinion", "Jews (and Mel) on the big screen, Winter sports roundup | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California", http://www.jewishsports.com/news/summer02.htm, "The Jewish Advocate | This Weeks Issue | Sports", "Jason Zucker Signs With Minnesota Wild; Expected to Make NHL Debut on Thursday", http://www.nndb.com/people/804/000022738/, The Hebrew Hulk San Diego Jewish Journal, "JWA - Winter Olympics - Jewish Women in the Olympics", "Ice dancing couple training in Stamford for Nationals", "JWA - in Focus - Jewish Women in the Olympics", http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/dhh_weblog/2006-blog/2006-01/2006-01-15-women_figureskating.htm, https://web.archive.org/web/20081230072757/http://www.forward.com/issues/2002/02.03.08/news4.html/, "New Jersey participants in Maccabiah Games", "Averbuch Named Jewish Scholastic Athlete of The Year", "California Golden Bears - Official Athletic Site", "Charlie Reiter Named To Jewish Sports Review All-America Team", "American 'amphibious creature' dives right in", "Israeli reaches doubles semis at Rogers Club tennis", "The A-Z Guide To Jewish Grand Slam Champions", http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/9020/edition_id/171/format/html/displaystory.html, "Victor Niederhoffer Hall of Fame Profile", "Roads'Beth David Congregation to honor Jewish, Israeli Sony Ericsson players", "The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 | Jewish Athletes Marty Glickman & Sam Stoller", https://web.archive.org/web/20120425050919/http://www.jccoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/sports-hall-of-fame-sponsorship-form_2009.pdf, "Satellite News and latest stories | the Jerusalem Post", "Celebrity Jewish Speakers Famous Jews in Sports Jewish Athletes", "Israeli softball is building a women's 'dream team' for the 2020 Olympics", http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/ShaunTomson.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Jewish_American_sportspeople&oldid=1134226833, This page was last edited on 17 January 2023, at 16:35. The planet we are growing into is too small for people to identify themselves by their differences from othersand too sophisticated to resort to the kinds of childish name calling we see in this article. . Abishai, one of King Davids generals and relative. LaRusso was born to a Jewish mother and Italian father in Brooklyn. However, one group that currently still does not have much representation in the league is the Jewish community. Heyman signed a letter of intent to play college basketball for North Carolina, but before moving down to Tobacco Road, he changed his commitment to rival Duke. (2001). Who are the best Jewish basketball players that played in the NBA? He alone bagged around seven medals at the event, a feat which took many sports lovers and critics by surprise. In high school, he was named the Los Angeles Times High School Player of the Year in 200304. . Schayes played 16 seasons for the franchise, one in the NBL and the next 15 in the NBA (the BAA and NBL merged in 1949). In nine NBA seasons, he averaged 16.9 points, 10.2 rebounds and plenty of blocked shots before it became an official stat. Fantastic find and very well written message. The list "Jewish basketball players" has been viewed 74 times. There were still a few Jewish players who made it to the top of the game such as Lennie Rosenbluth and Art Heyman in the 1950s and 1960s. Former NBA commissioner David Stern was also a Jew. He is probably best known as the head coach of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1967 to 1982. There was a news article back in the 40's I believe that stated that Blacks didn't have the intellect to play basketball. Israel's national under-20 basketball team won their first European Championship title in July 2018, beating the Croatian squad 80-66. While there is only one currently in the league (Deni Avdija, of the Washington Wizards), the league has been graced by the likes of Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes, Omri Casspi and Ernie Grunfeld, among others. Home; STORIES; . His parents divorced when he was 2, and Melinda remarried an Israeli man named Yehuda Kolani. Bird was drafted by the Storm first overall in the 2002 WNBA draft and holds the record for most assists in league history. So Davis became known as Bummy, though he was not a bum, either as a boxer or as a person. One such player is Omri Casspi, who was born in Israel and now plays for the Sacramento Kings. Some converted to Judaism, some married Israeli women, some became citizens, some . Since his debut in 2011, Zucker, who recently celebrated his 30th birthday, has tallied 286 points, including 153 goals. Please logout and login again. Bird was drafted by the Storm first overall in the 2002 WNBA draft and . Omri Moshe Casspi (Hebrew: , born June 22, 1988) is an Israeli professional basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League and EuroLeague. He starred at Oceanside High School, where college scouts from across the country came to visit. Dolph Schayes was both a professional basketball player and a coach for the National Basketball Association. Jordan Farmar. This is a list of notable Jewish American sportspeople. After the war, the Jewish legacy in basketball focused mostly on the coaching ranks, frequently manned by former players. "Jewish skaters vie for spots in the NHL". Tennis. In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, we're taking a look at the top Jewish NBA players of all time. "Roughhouse Rudy" was one of the most bruising players of the 1960s. Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism. Lieberman is regarded as one of the greatest figures in American women's basketball. He played in five All-Star Games and finished seventh in scoring in 1967-68 as a San Francisco Warrior. Teenager Shahar Pe'er broke into the world's top 20 in 2006 and performed well at WTA-ranked . Horvitz, Peter S., and Joachim Horvitz. When Jews Dominated Professional Basketball. 7), but he never became an NBA superstar. The 21-year-old has shared Hanukkah with his Washington Wizards teammates, spoken at the team's Jewish Heritage Night and attempted to grow the NBA's popularity in Israel. As a coach, he won 938 games (a record at his retirement) and nine National Basketball Association (NBA) championships in ten seasons (a number surpassed only by Phil Jackson, who won 11 in eighteen seasons). He was also the head coach of the Washington Capitols and Tri-Cities Blackhawks. That's why the sport was dominated by Jews in the first half of the 1900s. . People like to come to fights to see guys they think are tough." Clark is easily the best Jewish three-point shooter in WNBA history and the league's biggest hummus advocate. Be the first one to comment on this story. by Ben Greenfield. When the discussion for the best active Jewish athlete comes up, Ryan Braun should definitely be included. Heyman had a solid seven-year pro career. The league did not integrate blacks until 1950. And according to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey, within the next four decades, Christians will remain the worlds largest religion; if current trends continue, by 2050 the number of Christians will reach 3 billion (or 31.4%). Several years ago, Jonathan Bornstein and Benny Feilhaber, high profile Jewish American soccer players who played in the MLS and were members of the US national team, visited Israel. Diego Schwartzman is the highest-ranked Jewish tennis player in the world. Thats why the sport was dominated by Jews in the first half of the 1900s. Some members of the list may practice other religions or no religion at all, but are of Jewish descent. In that inaugural season, Zaslofsky was a 20-year-old who had already spent two years fighting in the U.S. Navy during World War II and two years playing basketball for St. John's. 1 pick in NHL draft", "These 3 hockey-playing Jewish brothers just made NHL history", "All-Time List of Jewish Skaters in the NHL", "Ontario Jewish Communities: Sudbury Sports", "Jewish Montrealer Devon Levi represents Canada in WJC as starting goalie", "David Levin to be chosen 1st overall in OHL Priority Selection", "Handful of Jewish skaters start NHL season", "Two Jewish skaters crack Calgary Flames lineup", "Four Jewish Players Chase AHL's Calder Cup", "Nystrom is the highest Jewish draft pick in NHL draft history", "Welcome to the big time, Trevor Smith Kaplan's Korner on Jews and Sports", "Nate Thompson on his decision to convert to Judaism: 'I like what I'm a part of', "Toronto hockey player coveted by U.S. And Canada", "Bob Winograd career profile at HockeyDraftCentral.com", "Prolific scorer 'Chick' Zamick starred in England", "Jason Zucker Signs With Minnesota Wild; Expected to Make NHL Debut on Thursday", "From religious school to world kickboxing champion", "Fabrice FOURMENT et son Dojo du "Maccabi Paris" (http://www.maccabiparis.com/) dcide de rejoindre le Shinkyokushinkai", "Israeli Hebron Settler Wins Women's World Thai Boxing Title", "Top 50 Hottest Jewish Men (10-1) Page 1", "Noad Lahat Official UFC Fighter Profile", "Israeli MMA fighter Natan Levy defied odds to enter the UFC - The Jerusalem Post", "The Official Website of the Ultimate Fighting Championship", "Joel Woolf Barnato (BAR3541) | British Jews in The First World War", "NASCAR's First Israeli Driver to Compete in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series", "Candy Bowl: Alon Day revving up to be NASCAR's 1st Jewish driver", "Beyond the Cockpit: Alon Day Looks to Become the First Israeli NASCAR Driver", "The Drive of Alon Day: Born in Israel, bred on video games, the Jewish pilot tows NASCAR's latest diversity hopes", "Jewish American race car driver talks about his faith", "The Bugatti revue: Blast from the Past - Rene Dreyfus", "The Jewish Race-Car Driver Who Outpaced the Nazis", "They call him Baby Driver from Argentina", "19-year-old Jewish Prodigy Bound for the NRL", "Rugby Maccabi Australia International Games", "SA veteran concerned for rugby's future", "Muscular Judaism and the Jewish Rugby League Competition in Sydney, 1924 to 1927", "Maccabi Usa Fields An Elite Level Open Rugby Team For The Maccabiah Games", "ISAF Sailor | Sailors: Sailor Biography", "The Next Richest Man in the World Larry Ellison is a very lucky guy: He has more money than anyoneexcept Bill Gates", "