Ossie Schectman

Benjamin Oscar " Ossie " Schectman (* May 30, 1919 in New York City; † July 30, 2013 in Delray Beach, Florida) was an American basketball player for the New York Knicks in the BAA and the NBA and Philadelphia SPHAS and the Paterson Crescents the ABL.

The 1.83 meter tall point guard scored the first basket in NBA history.

Career

Schectman, the son of Jewish immigrants, grew up in poverty in New York's Lower East Side. Like many other young Jews he played basketball and established himself as one of the best basketball player in the city. In 1941, he joined the Philadelphia SPHAS on, a team of young professional league ABL, and with a salary of $ 60 per game Schectman was one of the first professional basketball players ever. The SPHAS to Schectman established as a reliable playmaker, who scored an average of ten points per game. He made ​​his points at that time mainly with a now archaic layup, where the ball was released not with one hand over your head, but two hands at chest level, and with the also obsolete in modern basketball stand throw.

After the end of World War II he was engaged by the New York Knicks of the professional league BAA ( a forerunner of today's NBA). On November 1, 1946, the BAA opened the game with New York Knicks - Toronto Huskies: Schectman scored the first basket of the game and thus the first basket in the history of BAA and its successor, the NBA. By the way, almost all of his teammates ( Sonny Hertzberg, Stan Stutz, Hank Rosenstein, Ralph Kaplowitz, Jake Weber, and Leo Gottlieb) also New York Jews. Schectman scored in his only season BAA 8.1 points and 2.0 assists per game. He was with 109 assists, the third-best assist provider of BAA season 1946/47.

After his Knicks - year Schectman went back to the competition league ABL and led the Paterson Crescents in ABL finals. In 1950 he ended his professional career.

Schectman is a member of the National Jewish Hall of Fame.