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| What: |
Charity Basketball Game to Benefit the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund and the America-Israel Friendship League's 'Citizenship Through Sports' program.
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| When: |
Sunday, May 16, 2004, 5:00pm |
| Where: |
Riverbank State Park |
On Sunday, May 16th, a team of FDNY basketball players defeated the Israeli Legends team by a score of 76-63 in a charity basketball game at Riverbank State Park. The game benefited the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund, the Thomas R. Elsasser Fund and the America-Israel Friendship League’s “Citizenship Through Sports” program. FDNY lead throughout most of the game, increasing their lead to as many as 23 points in the second half.
MVP’s of the game were Greg Cornelius (14 points, 8 rebounds) from the Israeli Legends team and Keith Long from the FDNY. Long was injured in the game’s opening minutes after draining a three-point shot that gave the FDNY an early lead that they would not surrender for the remainder of the game. Paul Petersen led the way for FDNY, adding 16 points and four rebounds.
| Player Bios |
Tal Brody
Tal Brody is widely considered to be Israel's first modern day sports hero. A University of Illinois All-American and the 13th pick by the Baltimore Bullets in the 1965 NBA Draft, Tal joined the Maccabi Tel Aviv team after leading his United States team to a gold medal in the 1965 Maccabiah Games. He was named Israel's "Sportsman of the Year" in 1967 after Maccabi Tel Aviv took second place in the European Cup Basketball Championships. In 1969, he guided Israel to its first Maccabiah Games basketball gold medal.
In what was then the State of Israel's greatest international sporting achievement, the Brody-led Maccabi team defeated Italy's Mobil Girgi to capture the European Cup Championship in 1977. During his playing career, Brody's Maccabi Tel Aviv teams won 10 Israeli Championships and six Israeli State Cups. In 1969, Tal was awarded the Israel Prize—the country's highest civilian honor.
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Aulcie Perry
Aulcie Perry starred at Bethune-Cookman College and later played professional basketball with the Virginia Squires in the ABA before joining Maccabi Tel Aviv in 1976. Perry had an illustrious career for Maccabi Tel Aviv from 1976 to 1985, where he won the European Cup in 1977 and 1981, the Intercontinental Cup in 1980, nine league championships and eight National Cups.
Perry has dedicated himself to developing young Israeli basketball players at his summer basketball camp at the Wingate Institute and also runs a basketball school for youngsters in several locations throughout Israel. Aulcie is involved in the coaching of handicapped children and serves as head coach to one of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s top youth teams.
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Willie Sims
Willie Sims played for Louisiana State University and was drafted by the Denver Nuggets in the fifth round of the 1981 NBA Draft. From 1987 to 1992, Sims played for Maccabi Tel Aviv where he won five league championships, three National Cups and played in three European Cup Finals. Before joining Maccabi Tel Aviv, Sims played for Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Hapoel Eilat and represented the United States in two Maccabi Games.
Moti Daniel
Moti Daniel played for George Washington University from 1985 to 1987 and later went on to play in three European Final Four competitions for Maccabi Tel Aviv between 1987 and 1996. After his career at Maccabi Tel Aviv, Daniel played for Hapoel Jerusalem in 1997 where his team won the Israel Cup.
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Nadav Henefeld
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Nadav Henefeld is widely regarded as one of the greatest Israeli players of all time and was selected by EuroBasket magazine as the best defensive player in European Basketball history.
Before playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv in 1990, Henefeld came to America and joined Coach Jim Calhoun's University of Connecticut Huskies. In 1989-90, Nadav helped lead the Huskies to a 31-6 record, the Big East Title, and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Henefeld averaged 11.6 points per game in the Tournament as the Huskies reached the Elite Eight before falling to Duke University by one point (79-78) in overtime on Christian Laettner's last-second shot. During the regular season, Nadav averaged 11.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 3.7 steals per game, setting the NCAA freshman record for steals in a season (138) as he earned the nickname "The Gaza Stripper." That year, Henefeld was also named the Big East Newcomer of the Year. Nadav's three-point shooting ability was particularly notable; he converted on 43 outside shots in 114 attempts (37.7 %).
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Greg Cornelius
Greg Cornelius played his college basketball at East Carolina University. Cornelius played in the Israeli League for 12 seasons, where he won two League Championships, one National Cup Championship, and reached the European Cup Finals in 1988. Today, Cornelius teaches basketball to the youth in Reshon Junior & Senior High School as well as directing, along with Aulcie Perry, the Premier Summer Basketball Camp at the Wingate Institute.
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Shlomo Lutski - COACH
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Legendary Israeli basketball coach Shlomo Lutski has been around professional basketball since 1960, when he played in the first Israeli basketball league with the
Maccabi Petach Tikya club. As a player, Lutski was the top scorer in the league in1963 and 1964. In 1963, he was invited to play for the Israeli National team. However, Lutski took some time off from basketball and decided to finish his studying by attending the Wingate Institute in 1966. Between the years of 1966 and 1986, Lutski took on the role of teacher and received his first coaching job (1975) in the Israeli Basketball League. Since 1994, Lutski has been the manager of the Israeli National Basketball Team. Today, Lutski remains in Israel as the manager of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Veteran Team.
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Last Updated On:
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 | |
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