Rudi Ball

Who was Rudi Ball?

Rudi Victor Ball was a champion ice hockey player.

Ball was born in Berlin, Germany and died in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Ball was the sole Jewish athlete to represent Germany in the 1936 Winter Olympic Games. Helene Mayer, also Jewish, represented Germany at the Summer Games that year. There was much controversy about his inclusion in the 1936 German Olympic Ice Hockey team at the time by the Nazi government. Ball was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004.