101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
had traded for his rights, Brody decided to go back to
Israel.
First final for Maccabi
In the 1966-67 season, Maccabi played in the Saporta
Cup. After defeating Aris, Joventut and BK Botev
of Bulgaria in the semifinals stage, Maccabi reached
the final. On the other side awaited Ignis Varese. It
was the first final for two future greats of European
basketball, to be played over two games. In Varese,
on April 7, 1967, Ignis won 77-67 despite Brody’s 27
points, which made him the top scorer in the game. Six
days later, in the Tel Aviv game, Brody scored 26, but
Maccabi could only win by a point, 68-67, and the title
ended up in Italy.
The following year, Brody was already the best
sportsman in Israel. Maccabi games, especially the continental
ones, became socio-political events, with the
permanent presence of government members. Head
coach Ralph Klein started to build a great team with
Brody as the centerpiece. During the 1967 Six-Day War,
the United States government sent Brody a telegram
telling him to abandon Israeli soil. Instead, he decided
to stay and even worked with Israeli army soldiers on
the Jordanian border.
As an American citizen, he came back to the United
States in 1969 to fulfill his military service and came
close to ending up in another war, in Vietnam. Fortunately,
Brody was called for the USA team that played
the 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana. That was the first time
I saw Tal Brody. On a pretty modest team, with Bill Walton
as a future star, but too young at the time to have
a prominent role (3.7 points), Brody was the third-best
scorer with 10.4 points, behind only Kenny Washington
(11.8) and Mike Silliman (11.7). Brody scored 19 points
against Australia and 17 against Czechoslovakia as the
Americans placed fifth.
After the Ljubljana tournament, Brody decided to
go back to Israel to live there and play basketball. He
became an Israeli citizen, which meant he had to do
military service again!
Unforgettable Belgrade
Tal Brody would play with Maccabi until 1980. He
won 10 Israeli Leagues titles, six national cups and – as
the icing on the cake – the EuroLeague title in 1977 in
Belgrade against the club’s greatest rival of those years,
Varese. Exactly 10 years after the defeat in the Saporta
Cup, Maccabi exacted revenge by winning the European
title 78-77. I can clearly remember the atmosphere at
the legendary Pionir Arena, with 5,000 Maccabi fans
having come from Israel and all over Europe. At that
time, Yugoslavia didn’t have diplomatic relations with
Israel, but basketball opened the borders. Several charter
flights landed in Belgrade, even the first jumbo jet in
the history of the airport. At the break, Maccabi held a
39-30 advantage, but Varese had a last chance to win
with the final possession of the game and 7 seconds
to go. Good Maccabi defense stopped a play between
Aldo Ossola and Bob Morse, however, and Maccabi
won its first continental crown. Jim Boatwright led the
winners with 26 points and Miki Berkowitz added 17.
Brody, the team captain, contributed 9 points and was
the protagonist of a historic photo, receiving the trophy
from the hands of FIBA President Borislav Stankovic.
Mission accomplished.
The return home was an experience to behold. More
than 150,000 people welcomed the new European
champs as national heroes. It was the first international
title for any Israeli team in any sport.
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