Tal Brody

Who is Tal Brody?

Tal Brody 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 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.