Mickey Fisher (basketball)

Morris Meyer "Mickey" Fisher (1904/1905 – April 15, 1963) was an American basketball coach.[1][2] Fisher was the basketball coach of the Boys High School Kangaroos in Brooklyn for 23 years and of the Israel national basketball team preparing it for the 1960 Summer Olympics, and was the Brandeis University acting athletic director.

Mickey Fisher
Fisher (first row, on the right), with the Israeli national basketball team, 1960
Personal information
Born1904/1905
Brooklyn, New York
DiedApril 15, 1963 (aged 58)
Brooklyn, New York
NationalityAmerican
Listed height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Career information
High schoolBoys High School
College

The New York Post described him as "The incomparable Mickey Fisher."[3] Newsday and The Jewish Post described Fisher as "legendary."[4][5] The New York Times called him "the most successful high school basketball coach" in New York City.[6]

Biography

Fisher was a native of Brooklyn, New York, lived in West Newton, Massachusetts, and was Jewish.[5][1] He was 5' 8" (1.73 m) tall.[6] He attended Boy's High School in Brooklyn, was on its soccer team in 1921, and graduated in 1922.[7]

He graduated from St. Johns University ('28 L) with two law degrees, and from New York University with a Master of Arts degree.[7][1] In World War II, he entered the US Army as a private, and rose to captain.[1] He and his wife, Hermine, had a son, Philip.[1][8] He practiced law briefly.[1]

Fisher was the basketball coach of the Boys High School Kangaroos in Brooklyn for 23 years in the 1940s, 1950s, and into the 1960s.[9][10][5][1] Five of the teams he coached won the New York City Public School Athletic League basketball championship, four of them in the six years from 1957 to 1962.[1] In one stretch his teams won 60 games, and lost 2.[1][6][11] Among those players he coached were future NBA players Sihugo Green (#1 pick in the 1956 NBA draft), Lenny Wilkens (Hall of Famer), and Connie Hawkins (Hall of Famer), as well as future Major League Baseball All Star player Tommy Davis (two-time NL batting champion).[1][12] At the same time, Fisher was known for guiding and developing his players, taking interest in their schoolwork, home lives, and friends.[6][13]

He took a one-year leave of absence in 1960, as he was sent to Israel by the US State Department to train the Israel national basketball team and to coach it in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.[5][3][1]

In 1962, Fisher became the Brandeis University acting athletic airector.[14][1][15] In April 1963 he died at 58 years of age in Brooklyn Jewish Hospital of a heart attack.[3][1]

In 1994 he was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.[16]

References
  1. "MICKEY FISHER, Brooklyn Coach; Sports Director, Formerly of Boys High, Dies at 58". The New York Times. April 17, 1963. p. 41.
  2. "COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, Middlesex Probate Court", The Newton Graphic, May 1963.
  3. Vecsey, Peter (March 14, 2010). "Oh, Boys, was this a classic matchup". The New York Post.
  4. King-Cohen, Sylvia E.; Watkins, Grace (June 8, 2001). "Winning All in Family for Stuyvesant's Fisher". Newsday.
  5. Schulte, Mark (May 25, 2016). "Bernie, Barney, And Other Brooklyn Jewish Old-Timers". The Jewish Press.
  6. Robert M. Lipsyte (December 8, 1959). "Basketball Only Part of Coaching; Fisher Guides Boys High Athletes Off Court Also". The New York Times.
  7. William J. Flynn (March 13, 1956). "High School Sports Notes; Games Between Boys and Jefferson Fives Often as Close as Coaches' Friendship". The New York Times.
  8. Robert M. Lipsyte (March 19, 1960). "It's a Small Point; Wife of Boys' Coach Errs in Cable". The New York Times.
  9. "A roundup of the sports information of the week". Sports Illustrated. April 29, 1963.
  10. Gerald Eskenazi (March 18, 1964). "Boys High Takes Title in a Turbulent Setting; Fans Toss Bottles as Franklin Drops 70-59 P.S.A.L. Final Police Quell Crowd at Garden -- Eastern District Wins, 73-68". The New York Times.
  11. Robert M. Lipsyte (December 13, 1960). "3 Cheerless Leaders; Basketball Coaches Find Stars Gone at Boys High, Columbus and Wingate". The New York Times.
  12. Howard M. Tuckner (March 17, 1959). "On the Boys at Boys; Coach Calls Quintet Finest in 24 Years at School but Says City Has Seen Better". The New York Times.
  13. Myrna and Harvey Fromer (1993). It Happened in Brooklyn, SUNY Press, ISBN 1438427662.
  14. Rosa, Francis (August 18, 1962). "Record or Not, Wills Deserves MVP--Mauch". The Boston Globe.
  15. "1963-1964; Brandeis B-Ball: Glory Days?". brandeis.edu.
  16. "McGuire Picks Up a New York Honor," The New York Times, June 26, 1994, p. 14.
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