68 Facts About Tal Brody

Tal Brody played on national basketball teams of both the United States and Israel, and served in the armies of both countries.

Tal Brody is Jewish, and the son of Max and Shirley Tal Brody.

Tal Brody's father spent three years in Israel, in the 1920s, working as an engineer on the construction of the Rothenberg electric station, the country's first.

Tal Brody was born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey.

Tal Brody started playing basketball at age 8, in the Biddy Basketball League of the Trenton Jewish Community Center, in the Police Athletic League, and in the local Boys Club League.

Tal Brody was quick, slick, smart, and an excellent shooter and passer.

Tal Brody's team won the Big Ten Championship, and was rated the number three team in the nation.

Tal Brody was voted a 1965 All-American, along with fellow college basketball players like Rick Barry, Bill Bradley, and Billy Cunningham.

Tal Brody was named first team All-Big Ten, a second team academic All American, and a Converse top-10 player.

Tal Brody was picked 12th in the 1965 National Basketball Association Draft by the Baltimore Bullets, known today as the Washington Wizards.

Tal Brody led the team to a gold medal, as he played alongside Ronald Green, Steve Chubin, and Ron Watts.

Tal Brody had never previously traveled anywhere outside the US Before he arrived in Israel, all he knew about it was what he had studied in Hebrew school.

Tal Brody first returned to the United States and completed his master's degree in educational psychology at Illinois.

Tal Brody returned to Israel in 1966 to "take up that challenge", help an entire country rather than just one team, and take one year out of his life to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

The experience, and the excitement Tal Brody generated, made a deep impression on him.

Tal Brody had a vision of what he could accomplish, and saw the positive impact on the Israeli people's morale whenever Maccabi Tel Aviv beat a team in Europe.

Tal Brody initially intended to help Israeli basketball for only one year.

Tal Brody returned to the US in 1968, to fulfill his military duty during the Vietnam War.

Tal Brody then played for two years for the US Army and United States Armed Forces All Star Teams as a starting guard, while Israelis worried over the impact of his departure.

Tal Brody played for the USA Men's National Basketball Team, which finished fifth at the 1970 FIBA World Championship in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in May 1970.

Tal Brody made aliyah and became an Israeli citizen towards the end of 1970.

Tal Brody led the national team to a gold medal, as they beat a US team led by Ernie Grunfeld in the finals.

Tal Brody won ten Israeli League championships with the team, and six Israel State Cups, in what has been described as a "stellar" and "amazing" career.

Tal Brody was selected to the FIBA European Selection.

Tal Brody played for the senior Israel national team, scoring 1,219 points in 78 games.

Mobilgirgi Varese had beaten the Israelis twice that year, and had beaten them in the European-wide second-tier level FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup finals ten years earlier, when Tal Brody first started playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Tal Brody himself became widely known as an Israeli national hero, and as a symbol of Israel's achievements.

When Tal Brody retired from basketball in 1980, a special official retirement game was arranged in his honor, and the FIBA European Selection All-Star Team arrived in Israel, to play against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Tal Brody became the first sportsman to be awarded the Israel Prize, Israel's highest civilian honor, in 1979.

Tal Brody was given the honor of lighting the torch at the opening of the 1981 Maccabiah Games at Ramat Gan Stadium, in front of 45,000 fans and sportsmen from 54 countries.

In Israel, Tal Brody is widely recognized as a revered national hero, icon, and legend.

Tal Brody is a superstar, on a level similar to that of Michael Jordan in the United States.

Tal Brody is known by the nicknames: "Mr Basketball", and "The man who put Israel on the Map".

In 1996, Tal Brody was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and in March 2011 he was inducted into the US National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Tal Brody was inducted into the Israeli Basketball Hall of Fame.

Tal Brody represented Maccabi Tel Aviv as it became the first non-US basketball team to be honored at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, in a special exhibition in 2008 entitled "Putting Israel on the Map".

Tal Brody was on the team's Board of Directors until 2007, when Netanyahu approached him with regard to entering politics.

Tal Brody was a sports commentator for Israeli television in the early 1990s.

Tal Brody serves as well on the Board of Directors of the Maccabi World Union, which organizes the Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Tal Brody was appointed to serve on a panel of experts who select recipients of the Israel Prize for athletics.

Tal Brody was featured in a 2008 documentary entitled The Jewish Basketball Hall of Fame, Volume 1, produced by Yisrael Lifschutz.

Tal Brody was featured in a book by the title: A Voice Called; Stories of Jewish Heroism, by Yossi Katz, which was published in 2010.

Tal Brody ultimately sold the sporting goods business to his partner.

Tal Brody handled pension programs, provident funds, and health and education funds for 20 years.

Tal Brody has since retired from the business world, which he calls the second stage of his life.

Since retiring from basketball, Tal Brody has initiated, volunteered for, and assisted a number of charitable organizations and efforts.

Tal Brody is Chairman of the Spirit of Israel, a non-profit Jewish Agency subsidiary that he created in 1999.

Tal Brody arrived at the idea for the charity when he attended a meeting at which efforts to raise money in the US for Israel were being discussed.

Tal Brody began to muse about what Israelis were doing for themselves on the charity front.

Tal Brody helped organize and promote an exhibition game between Maccabi Tel Aviv and the New York Knicks in the US, with all proceeds going to benefit Migdal Ohr.

In 1985, Tal Brody joined with Herzliya and its Mayor to construct and run one of the world's largest basketball schools, designing a unique program with specially chosen coaches.

The basketball school is run by the municipality of Herzliya, with Tal Brody serving as its president.

Tal Brody has spoken around the world for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and for American Jewish organizations.

Tal Brody was asked to join Yitzhak Yitzhaky's One Israel party in 1980, after he retired.

Tal Brody did not view himself as a politician, and was not seeking a political career.

Tal Brody found it difficult to turn away Netanyahu, who impressed upon him that it would be important to Israel for Tal Brody to run for office.

Tal Brody announced in August 2007 that he was seriously considering running for the Knesset in the general election, as a Likud candidate.

Tal Brody said in November 2008 that he felt that it was the appropriate point in his life to change careers, after having spent much of his life first playing basketball and then heading an insurance agency that managed employment benefits programs for companies.

Tal Brody noted that the Knesset would be a third career calling for him, as long as it allowed him to concentrate on those areas that were already his focus, such as sports, education, aliyah, the Diaspora, Israeli-American relations, and helping children who are "at risk", and that he saw it as a good way to spend the third phase of his life after basketball and business.

Tal Brody stressed that in his view it was not politics, but rather "good citizenship".

Tal Brody ran for a national slot, to represent the district between Tel Aviv and Haifa, along the Israeli coast.

Tal Brody became the fourth candidate who was formerly a resident of the US, and was supported by Likud Anglos, Likud's English-speaking division.

Tal Brody had in mind the creation of a sports program with Birthright Israel Taglit to encourage aliyah.

Tal Brody joked that if he were to win, he looked forward to playing basketball against President Obama, who is an intense basketball fan.

Tal Brody speaks at schools, universities, Jewish and non-Jewish organizations and community centers, synagogues, Christian events, African-American organizations, and fundraising events.

In May 2015, Tal Brody was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to shaping and helping Israel through sports and dedicated hasbara efforts at a Nefesh B'Nefesh Bonei Zion 2015 Prizes special ceremony at the Knesset hosted by Knesset Member Tzachi Hanegbi.

Tal Brody has three children, and five grandchildren.

Tal Brody instead picked up the language from colloquial use.