101 Greats of European Basketball

Prior to winning that final, Maccabi had to get past
great rivals like Real Madrid, Spartak Brno and CSKA
Moscow. The game against CSKA took place on neutral
ground in Belgium because the Soviet authorities would
not allow CSKA to play in Tel Aviv, nor would they grant
Maccabi players visas to play in Moscow. After beating
CSKA 91-79, Brody uttered the words on Israeli TV that
would go down as one of the most famous sayings in
Israeli culture – sports or otherwise: “We are on the
map and we’re staying on the map. Not only in sports,
but in everything!”
The 1976 pre-Olympic tournament was played in
Edinburgh, Scotland. There Brody led the Israeli team
with 15 points. I remember his great game against Yugoslavia:
he scored 22 points, but Israel lost 123-103.
All told he scored 1,219 points in 78 games wearing
the Israel national jersey. For Maccabi, in European
competitions, he scored 1,378 points in 81 games. In
the national league, Brody tallied 4,049 points. Despite
these numbers, the fact remains that his contributions
cannot be measured by just points or assists. The true
measure of his greatness comes through Brody’s mere
presence and historical role.
Over the years, Brody received many recognitions in
Israel, among others the “Israel Prize” – the top civilian
honor awarded by the state – in 1979. He was inducted
into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in
1996 and into the United States National Jewish Sports
Hall of Fame in 2011. Two years later, his No. 12 college
uniform was retired by the University of Illinois Fighting
Illini. For a short time, Brody was an assistant coach
with Maccabi, but his current activities focus more
on politics. However, as a recognized philanthropist,
he is always eager to help kids and to perform some
basketball tricks. Brody owns an insurance company
and dabbled in politics as a candidate for the Knesset,
the country’s Parliament, but he was not elected. Since
2010, he has been a Goodwill Ambassador for Israel.
But when talking about sports, like Yarone Arbel says,
there was a “before and after Tal Brody” in Israeli basketball.
101 greats of european basketball
Tal Brody
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