Men's Basketball Team 1935-36 - Hall of Fame - LIU Brooklyn
Men's Basketball Team 1935-36
Induction Class of 2009
Men's Basketball
The 1935-36 men’s basketball team was the first of Clair Bee’s undefeated teams, posting a 25-0 record. The Blackbirds were unquestionably one of the nation’s top teams that year with just three games being decided by fewer than 10 points.
The lineup featured Jules Bender, Ben Kramer and Irv Torgoff, who each earned the Haggerty Award as the top player in the metropolitan area in 1936, 1937 and 1939, respectively. Another member, Marius Russo, later pitched for the 1941 world champion New York Yankees.
As the most dominant team in the nation that year, LIU was the favorite to represent the United States in the first Olympics basketball tournament in Berlin in 1936. However, in a move that stunned the sports world, the Blackbirds – a team made up of both Jewish and non-Jewish players – decided to boycott the games because of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party’s anti-Jewish policies at the time.
The was also inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame for its decision to boycott the 1936 Olympics.
Return to List