DAVID Vyorst’s documentary “The First Basket” is a valuable reminder that for nearly three decades, basketball was dominated by Jewish players – and coaches who found the sport an ideal vehicle for assimilation in the United States.
It seems improbable in an era dominated by the likes of Kobe Bryant, but one Ossie Schectman scored the opening basket in the first NBA game in 1946. Largely Jewish college basketball teams – relatively short but scrappy – from New York drew huge crowds to championships at Madison Square Garden.
This began to change after the CCNY basketball scandal of 1951, which involved players taking payoffs from gamblers. Around the same time, professional basketball introduced its first African-American player and Jews began migrating to the suburbs, where they took up golf and tennis.
“The First Basket” rounds up many Jewish veterans, some now deceased, to tell stories of a sporting tradition that continues in present-day Israel.
Running time: 86 minutes. Not rated (nothing offensive). At the Village East, Second Avenue and 12th Street.