Eric Minkin (אריק מנקין; born November 28, 1950) is an

American-Israeli , native_name_lang = , image = , caption = , population = 110,000–150,000 , popplace = New York metropolitan area, Los Angeles metropolitan area, Miami metropolitan area, and other large metropolitan are ...

former basketball player. He played the center position. He played in the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional sports, professional competition in Israeli sports club, club basketball, making ...

, and for the

Israeli national basketball team The Israel men's national basketball team ( he, נבחרת ישראל בכדורסל) represents Israel in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Israeli Basketball Association. Israel is currently ranked 33rd in the ...

Biography

Minkin is 6' 7" (201 cm) tall, and is Jewish. He attended

Germantown Academy Germantown Academy, informally known as GA and originally known as the Union School, is the oldest nonsectarian day school in the United States. The school was founded on December 6, 1759, by a group of prominent Germantown citizens in the Gree ...

('68), where in basketball Minkin was a three-time Philadelphia High School

Inter-Academic League The Inter-Academic League (officially the Inter-Academic Association of Philadelphia and Vicinity, commonly known as the Inter-Ac) is an inter-scholastic athletic conference. The high school sports league consists of selective private schools in th ...

First-Teamer, from 1966-68. Minkin scored 1,358 career points for the school—at the time, the school record. Minkin played basketball for Team USA in the 1969 Maccabiah Games in Israel. Others playing on the team included Andrew Hill, Steve Kaplan, and

Neal Walk Neal Eugene Walk (July 29, 1948 – October 4, 2015) was an American college and professional basketball player who was a center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for eight seasons during the late 1960s and 1970s, playing overseas after ...

. He attended

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

(BA, Political Science and Government, '72), and played for the

Davidson Wildcats The Davidson Wildcats are the NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics teams representing Davidson College of Davidson, North Carolina, United States. A member of the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10), Davidson College sponsors teams in ten men's ...

from 1969 to 1972. In 1970-71 and 1971-72 Minkin was Second Team All-

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

. He graduated as a First Team Jewish All-American. Minkin played in the

for

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

and

Hapoel Galil Elyon Hapoel Galil Elyon ( he, הפועל גליל עליון), also known as Hapoel Nofar Energy Galil Elion for sponsorship reasons, is an Israeli basketball club. The team competes in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top tier of Israeli b ...

. He was part of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Israeli team that in the

1976–77 FIBA European Champions Cup The 1976–77 FIBA European Champions Cup was the 20th edition of the European top-tier level professional basketball club competition FIBA European Champions Cup (now called EuroLeague). The Final was held at the Pionir Hall, in Belgrade, Yugos ...

(EuroLeague) semifinals defeated

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

— the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

team—in a dramatic upset. He recalled: “I drove myself to play better than everybody else. I was the smallest, whitest center in Europe. What choice did I have?” He also played for the

in the 1979 FIBA European Championship for Men. Minkin lives in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...

, and worked for 22 years as a

registered nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

Sarasota Memorial Hospital Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) is an 839-bed health care facility located in Sarasota, Florida. The hospital was founded in 1925, and is a level II trauma center. History Early years Local residents started to raise funds for the hospital in ...

’s cardiac acute unit.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minkin, Eric 1950 births Living people 21st-century American Jews American men's basketball players Basketball players from Pennsylvania Centers (basketball) Competitors at the 1969 Maccabiah Games Davidson Wildcats men's basketball players Germantown Academy alumni Hapoel Galil Elyon players Israeli men's basketball players Israeli people of American-Jewish descent Jewish American sportspeople Jewish Israeli sportspeople Jewish men's basketball players Maccabiah Games basketball players of the United States Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players Sportspeople from Sarasota, Florida