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Tal Brody (Hebrew: טל ברודי; nicknamed Mr. Basketball; born August 30, 1943) is an American-Israeli former basketball player, and current Goodwill Ambassador of Israel, who lives in Israel. Brody was drafted # 12 in the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft, but chose to pass up an NBA career to instead play basketball in Israel. He played on national basketball teams of both the United States and Israel, and served in the armies of both countries. A New Jersey All Star basketball player in high school, Brody led his team to an undefeated state championship. In college he was a high-scoring, slick-passing All American and All-Big Ten guard in 1965, while playing for the University of Illinois. That year, he was drafted 12th in the NBA draft. Before the NBA season started, he traveled to Israel where he led the American team to a gold medal in the 1965 Maccabiah Games. Convinced by Moshe Dayan and others to return to Israel to help elevate the country's basketball team and morale, he passed up his NBA career to instead play basketball for Maccabi Tel Aviv. In 1977, he led Maccabi Tel Aviv to the European Cup Basketball Championship. Along the way, his team defeated the heavily favored Soviet Red Army team CSKA Moscow. Brody's famous remark upon beating the Soviets – "''We are on the map! And we are staying on the map – not only in sports, but in everything.''" – became a part of Israeli culture. It has been used for decades in various contexts, from political speeches to National Lottery commercials. ==Early life== Brody is Jewish, and the son of Max and Shirley Brody.〔〔 His father and paternal grandfather had emigrated from Eastern Europe to the United States, spending years in Palestine along the way. His father spent three years in Palestine in the 1920s, working as an engineer on the construction of the Rothenberg electric station, the country's first. Both his father and his grandfather, who lived in Palestine for 10 years, helped build the country's first airfield, in Herzliya.〔 Brody has an older sister, Renee.〔 He was born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey.〔〔 Brody started playing basketball at age 8 in the Biddy Basketball League of the Trenton Jewish Community Center (JCC), in the Police Athletic League (PAL), and in the local Boys Club League.〔〔 He then attended Trenton Central High School. There, he was a New Jersey basketball All Star selected to the First Team All-State Team by ''The Star-Ledger'' in his senior year, and led his undefeated 24–0 team to a state championship. He graduated in 1961.〔〔〔〔 Asked by his yearbook what he wanted to be in his life, he said that he would like to become either a professional basketball player, or an FBI agent.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tal Brody」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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