1. Oscar Benjamin "Ossie" Schectman was an American professional basketball player.
15 Facts About Ossie Schectman
1. 2.
Ossie Schectman is credited with having scored the first basket in the Basketball Association of America, which would later become the National Basketball Association.
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Ossie Schectman played basketball and baseball while attending Samuel J Tilden High School in Brooklyn, New York, and played under coach Clair Bee at Long Island University.
4.
Ossie Schectman was a member of the team in 1939, when they won the National Invitation Tournament and National Championship.
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Ossie Schectman was named to the Converse All-American first team in 1941.
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Ossie Schectman played with the Sphas until 1946, when he joined the New York Knicks of the Basketball Association of America.
7.
On November 1,1946, in the first ever game of the Basketball Association of America which later on became the NBA, Ossie Schectman made the first basket when the Knicks played the Toronto Huskies at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.
8.
Ossie Schectman played 54 games for the Knicks in his one season with the team.
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Ossie Schectman suffered a serious internal injury in a game in Chicago in March, 1947.
10.
In that one season, Ossie Schectman averaged 8.1 points per game, ranking 39th in the league.
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Ossie Schectman was made a member of the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Long Island University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.
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Ossie Schectman was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.
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Ossie Schectman appeared in the 2008 documentary film The First Basket.
14.
On July 30,2013, Ossie Schectman died at age 94 in Delray Beach, Florida.
15.
Ossie Schectman was survived by his sons Stewart and Peter, his sister and two grandchildren.