![Miki Berkovich (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Miki_Berkovich_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Moshe "Miki" Berkovich (or Mickey Berkowitz; he, משה "מיקי" ברקוביץ'; born 17 February 1954) is an Israeli former professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player. A 193 cm
shooting guard
The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...
, he is considered to be one of the greatest Israeli basketball players of all time.
Berkovich was named one of
FIBA's 50 Greatest Players
FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991) is the list of the 50 greatest players in the history of FIBA international basketball, as selected in the year 1991, by FIBA Magazine. The list was created in honor of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the ...
in 1991. In 1998, he was named Israel's Top Sportsmen of the 50 Year
Jubilee
A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...
(1948–1998). He was named one of the
50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors, by a select panel in February 2008, and was then honored at the
2008 EuroLeague Final Four
The 2008 Euroleague Final Four was the final phase Euroleague Final Four tournament of the Euroleague 2007–08 season, featuring four teams that survived a 14-game Regular Season, 6 games in the Top 16 phase, and a best-of-three quarterfinal. It ...
in Madrid. He became a
FIBA Hall of Fame player in 2017.
Early years
Born in
Kfar Saba
Kfar Saba ( he, כְּפַר סָבָא), officially Kefar Sava, is a city in the Sharon region, of the Central District of Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-largest city in Israel. The population of Kfar Saba i ...
, Berkovich began his long and distinguished career with
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 ...
, at the age of 11, when he joined the youth club. At the age of 15, he was playing for the junior squad. In 1971, at the age of 17, he made his debut with the senior men's team in
Israel's top professional league.
College playing career
In 1975, Berkovich played
college basketball
In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
at
UNLV
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...
in the United States. During the 1975–76 season, he played in 11 games and averaged 2.5 points per game as the Runnin' Rebels finished 28–1 and were the number one seed in the Western Region of the
NCAA tournament. They defeated
Boise State 103–78 in the first round, although Berkovich registered no points and only one rebound. UNLV then lost to
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
114–109 in the second round; Berkovich did not play in the game. He returned to
Maccabi after just one year.
Club playing career
Berkovich returned to Israel following the 1975–76 season and played a considerable role in
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 ...
's fortunes during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In 1977, Berkovich helped Maccabi Tel Aviv to win its first
FIBA European Champions Cup (
EuroLeague) championship by defeating
Mobilgirgi Varese by a score of 78–77 in
the final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
, held in
Pionir Hall,
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
, and
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 ...
91–79 in the semifinals game held in
Virton
Virton (; Gaumais: ''Viertån''; wa, Vierton) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. It is also the administrative centre of the district (''arrondissement'') of the same name, as well as the princ ...
, Belgium. This achievement led to
Tal Brody
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 ...
's famous statement of "We are on the map, not only in basketball".
In 1981, the second FIBA European Champions Cup title came for Maccabi, against another Italian team,
Sinudyne Bologna. Berkovich scored the winning basket from an
assist
Assist or ASSIST may refer to:
Sports
Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team:
*Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...
by
Moti Aroesti
Motti Aroesti (born 11 July 1954), is a retired Israeli professional basketball player and coach.
Biography
Motti Aroesti was born in Givatayim. Basketball career
Aroesti played club basketball with Maccabi Tel Aviv, from 1973 to 1988.
Aroes ...
, setting the score at 80–77. There were no
three-point shots back then, so the Italians could only score a two-point basket in return. Maccabi won the game by a score of 80–79.
Berkovich's career in Maccabi came to an end in 1988 when he and Aroesti joined
Maccabi Rishon LeZion. Later, he played with
Hapoel Jerusalem
Hapoel Jerusalem is a sport organization in Jerusalem as a local branch of the Hapoel movement. The branch was established in the 1920s and represents the city in more sports than any other sport organization in Jerusalem. Today, the club's leadi ...
and
Hapoel Tel Aviv.
During his playing years with Maccabi, he won 16
Israeli national league championship titles and 13
Israeli national cups.
NBA offers
After the
EuroBasket 1979
The 1979 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1979, was the 21st FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. Twelve national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation entere ...
, Berkovich had contract offers from the
New Jersey Nets
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
and the
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...
from the
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
, but a contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv stood in the way. Maccabi's management insisted that he stay in the team, so they had to settle the case in
civil court
Civil law may refer to:
* Civil law (common law), the part of law that concerns private citizens and legal persons
* Civil law (legal system), or continental law, a legal system originating in continental Europe and based on Roman law
** Private la ...
.
National team career
In 1972, Berkovich took the
Israeli under-18 national team to a fourth-place finish at the
1972 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship and he was the leading scorer of the tournament. He also won a gold medal at the
1974 Asian Games
The 7th Asian Games ( fa, بازیهای آسیایی ۱۹۷۴) were held from 1 to 16 September 1974 in Tehran, Imperial State of Iran. The Aryamehr Sports Complex was built for the Games. The Asian Games were hosted in the Middle East for th ...
in
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
.
In 1979, Berkovich was a part of the senior
Israeli national team that finished second at the
1979 EuroBasket in Turin. Berkovich was named
the tournament's MVP.
Upon his retirement, he was second all-time in appearances (165) and points scored (2,842) among members of the senior men's Israeli national basketball team.
Post-playing career
Berkovich retired from basketball in 1995, after which he wrote an autobiography called ''Born to Win''. He went on to become the owner of the
A.S. Ramat HaSharon
A.S. Ramat HaSharon ( he, א.ס. רמת השרון) is a professional basketball club based in Ramat HaSharon, Israel. The club are currently members of the Israeli National League.
History
The club first participated in the Super League in t ...
basketball team. Both of his sons, Roi and
Niv Berkovich, played for the team at the time. He later became the director of basketball operations of
Ironi Nahariya
Ironi Nahariya Basketball Club ( he, מועדון הכדורסל עירוני נהריה; ) known for sponsorship reasons as Ironi Rain Nahariya () is a professional basketball club based in city of Nahariya in northern Israel. The team plays in t ...
, but left the team after just one year.
See also
*
List of select Jewish basketball players
References
External links
FIBA Hall of Fame ProfileEuroleague.net 50 Greatest ContributorsIsraeli Super League ProfileLegendary basketball player Miki Berkovich is the first Israeli to be honored at FIBA’s Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkovich, Miki
1954 births
Living people
Asian Games gold medalists for Israel
Asian Games medalists in basketball
Basketball players at the 1974 Asian Games
FIBA Hall of Fame inductees
Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. players
Hapoel Tel Aviv B.C. players
Israeli Basketball Premier League players
Israeli men's basketball players
Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent
Jewish men's basketball players
Maccabi Rishon LeZion basketball players
Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players
Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games
Shooting guards
UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball players
1986 FIBA World Championship players
People from Kfar Saba
Competitors at the 1977 Maccabiah Games
Maccabiah Games basketball players of Israel
Maccabiah Games silver medalists for Israel