Jewish Sports Hall of Fame honors Long Island University basketball team which boycotted 1936 Berlin Olympics

Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, NFL trainer Ed Block, NFL linebacker Andre Tippett, track star Gary Gubner, and baseball executive Marvin Miller also inducted.

By ALLISON HOFFMAN, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT IN NEW YORK
Published: APRIL 27, 2009 20:12
Berlin Olympics 1936 248.88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Berlin Olympics 1936 248.88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
In the spring of 1936, the Long Island University basketball team went 25-0 - a big deal for any college team, but an even bigger deal that year because the eight players were shoo-ins to represent the United States in the first-ever Olympic basketball tournament that summer. But the Olympic Games were scheduled to be held in Berlin, so the team's young players - including boys named Kramer and Schwarz - voted to boycott the event, passing on their chances for gold in order to protest Adolf Hitler's policies against Jews. On Sunday, the eight LIU players were honored in a ceremony at the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Commack, Long Island, not far from where they once played. Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, NFL trainer Ed Block, NFL linebacker Andre Tippett, track star Gary Gubner, and baseball executive Marvin Miller were also inducted, along with sportswriter Dick Schaap and ESPN sports anchor Linda Cohn. Former New York Giants general manager Ernie Acorsi was also given a special award. The story of the LIU team was lost, even to the players' own children, until an LIU history professor saw a passing reference to the team's vote at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.