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1 Page 12 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 28, 1986 Israeli basketball Role of U.S. players creates dilemma by David Landau JTA —J ERUSALEM Israel is slowly emerging from a profound but ultimately cathar tic dilemma posed by the sudden appearance here of Michael Ray Richardson, an American bas ketball star. Richardson’s desire to play in Israel forced not only the bas ketball fraternity, but the general public, to confront the issue of foreign stars and their role in the local sport. Richardson’s case was particu larly poignant and complex. The former New Jersey Nets star is barred from playing in the Na tional Basketball Association (NBA) for two years because of drug abuse. One of the highest- paid players in the NBA, he took a massive salary cut in his hope to spend his enforced exile con tributing his talents to Israel’s lowly Hapoel Ramat Gan team. Had the plan succeeded, it would have been a great coup for Ramat Gan’s energetic manager, Avraham Chemmo. His team, languishing at the bottom of the Israeli National League, could well do with a true star. Chemmo argued that his scheme was in the nature of a double rehabilitation: of Hapoel Ramat Gan and of Richardson, who had publicly forsworn drugs and pledged to reform his life. On the other side of the great debate—which reached the Knesset at its peak—sports leaders and other public figures contended that to permit Richardson to play would turn the country, and its basketball, into a haven for drug addicts and other criminal types who had justly been sus pended. The controversy was scuttled by a ruling from the Federation DOES YOUR CAREER. OR THE THOUGHT OF CHANGING IT, HAVE YOU ON THE ROPES? Let’s face it, not everyone loves their job. Or career. But many people feel boxed-in because they need help in order to do something about it. The Jewish Vocational Service is a non profit social service agency. 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I’ 1 - of International Basketball As sociations (FIBA) to the effect of barring a player censured by his own league. But the Richardson contro versy served to reignite a year long debate in Israel over whether the local sport is becoming “too Americanized’’ with the absorp tion of what many feel is a dis proportionate number of Ameri can players into local teams. There are 43 American-born players on the 12 National League teams, an average of 3.5 players per team. Many of the 43 are bona-fide Israelis: born Jews or serious converts to Judaism who have settled here, done their army service and in many cases mar ried and set up Israeli homes. In some cases, however, con versions are widely thought to have been less-than-sincere, and marriages more a matter of con venience than love. One former Maccabi Tel Aviv star, Aulcie Perry, converted to Judaism in the U.S., took Israeli citizenship—and became a na tional hero. Now he is back in the U.S., where he has been arraigned on heroin charges in a New York court. Until last year, the Israel Bas ketball Association (IBA) permit ted only one foreign player per league team, then the ceiling rose to two. Usually the American players are past their prime, in the stage where they would nor mally drop out of the NBA, or never were good enough for the world’s best basketball. In Israel, there is no longer even a sham of amateurism. Pay ments are made openly and pub licly, without any pretense. The premier club, Maccabi Tel Aviv, is offering its two American con tract players $120,000 each this season. Indeed, it is Maccabi which sets the pace. Championship winners for the past 20 years, the Tel Aviv team is still unchal lenged inside Israel and is a major force on the European basketball scene. For years it has had American players—some of them short-term guests, others eventual immi grants. Tal Brodie, longtime team captain, was one of the first and best known of the Americans. His comment on Maccabi’s win over CSKA Moscow in 1977 is immortalized in Israeli folk-his tory: “Anahnu al hamapa” (we are on the map), he declared in mm REALTORS* ZAC PASMANICK, CRS Certified Residential Specialist OFFERING THE BEST OF INTOWN LIVING MORNINGSIDE VIRGINIA-HIGHLAND MIDTOWN DRUID HILLS ANSLEY BUCKHEAD off.: 874-8800 Res.: 892-1177 DIRECT DIAMONDS & COLORED GEM BUYERS ANTWERP-TEL AVIV-BANGKOK FEDERAL WHOLESALE DIAMONDS AND JEWELRY Open To The Public” 5895 Memorial Drive Suite K Stone Mountain, Georgia 30083 Steven L. Rubin (404) 299-3159 (out of town call collect) his heavily accented Hebrew. Today Brodie runs a lucrative sports business while the Mac cabi flame is carried by skipper (and homegrown star) Mickey Berkowitz. The overseas com ponent of the club is represented by Kevin Magee and Lee Johnson. The main goal of Maccabi and other top Israeli teams is to play in Europe; the standard at the European championship level ap proximates good American col lege basketball. The top four clubs from each country qualify for the European championship opening rounds, and the best six on the continent play each other through the season on a double round-robin basis leading up to the championship. Despite Soviet and Eastern Bloc opposition, Israel’s place is firmly established in the Euro pean framework (unlike in soccer, where Israel is kept out by the Soviets, and has to made do with Asian football.) Maccabi itself has qualified for the best six terms in Europe for the past 11 years. Twice it won the European cup, twice more it was in the finals. The Soviets refuse to come to Tel Aviv; Israel’s home games wi*h them are played, therefore, at a neutral site in Western Europe. Thousands of Israeli tourists and emigrants often make a point of attending to cheer the Tel Avivians on a bleak winter night in Brussels or Amsterdam. For the country as a whole— even for people who have never seen a game or held a basket ball—Maccabi Tel Aviv has be come a concept laden with patri otic pride. Families gather’round their TV sets most Thursday eve nings during the winter to watch the matches with nail-biting con cern. The next morning the entire nation discusses like experts the finer points of a pass, fake or basket. Thanks to Maccabi—and thanks, arguably, to the foreign players who gave the team its edge over the years—basketball is on the map in Israel itself, threatening to displace soccer as the most popular spectator sport. The richer clubs have built fine stadiums (Maccabi’s facility in Yad Eliahu, a Tel Aviv suburb, seats 2,000 comfortably). Most kibbutzim, too, boast well- equipped basketball halls. Some teams, though, are still confined to inadequate and elderly facili ties. Ticket prices, moreover, are in line with the game’s burgeoning popularity—though some would argue they are way out of line for wage-earning families. At a recent match in the capital between Jerusalem Hapoel and Maccabi Tel Aviv, fans were required to pay $15 for a seat. This year’s European nations competition provided what many here believe is an indication— and vindication—of Israeli bas ketball’s growing success. The na tional team was a highly respect able fifth. All the players were native Israelis—the rules in the international tournament are es pecially strict on this point—save for Lavon Mercer, an American who converted to Judaism and •settled m’Israel four years ago