Tal Brody

His father spent three years in Israel, 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 Israel 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 high school 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.

Talbot "Tal" Brody (Hebrew: טל ברודי; born August 30, 1943), nicknamed Mr. Basketball, is an American-Israeli former professional basketball player and current goodwill ambassador of 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.

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.

Over 40 colleges approached Brody with scholarship offers.

The Temple University Owls head coach Harry Litwak, in recruiting him, tried to dissuade him from going to powerhouse University of Illinois, suggesting that at the large school he would be "a small fish in a big pond".

Conceding that the university was in fact a big one, Brody nevertheless told the coach that he liked the challenge of trying to be "a big fish" in a big pond.

Brody attended the University of Illinois.

On the social side, he joined Zeta Beta Tau, the campus Jewish fraternity.

The basketball-focused Brody would sleep with his basketball, and dribble it to class.

At the time, freshmen were not allowed to play on the varsity basketball team, but as a sophomore he replaced the just-graduated Jerry Colangelo.

Brody was an outstanding 1.87 m (6'1 3⁄4") tall basketball star for the Illini, playing point guard while wearing uniform # 12. He was quick, slick, smart, and an excellent shooter and passer. His team won the Big Ten Championship, and was rated the number three team in the nation.

In college, he was a high-scoring, slick-passing All-American and All-Big Ten point guard in 1965, while playing for the University of Illinois.

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.

He was voted a 1965 All-American, along with fellow college basketball players like Rick Barry, Bill Bradley, and Billy Cunningham.

He was also named first team All-Big Ten, a second team academic All American, and a Converse top-10 player.

The Sporting News picked him as one of the top 10 players in the nation, along with Bradley, Barry, Cunningham, and Jerry Sloan.

In 1965, he graduated from Illinois with a bachelor's degree in physical education.

Brody was picked 12th in the 1965 National Basketball Association Draft by the Baltimore Bullets, known today as the Washington Wizards.

That June he trained in a one-week Bullets rookie camp, and the team deemed him one of the best players.

After the camp, the Bullets provided him with an apartment in Baltimore.

He traveled to Israel for the first time in August, with the Bullets' permission and his parents' blessing.

In 1977, he led Maccabi Tel Aviv to the FIBA European Champions Cup (now called EuroLeague) 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.

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 Israel, along the way.

As of 2008, Brody was still ranked 33rd among the all-time scorers in Illinois history.

That year, he was drafted 12th in the NBA draft.