Sporting Heroes: No. 53 - Pini Gershon

By ALLON SINAI
When Pini Gershon was young he only wanted to be a basketball player. He achieved his dream, but at the age of just 24 his career was cut short by injury while he was playing at Maccabi Tel Aviv South. Over the coming years the young prodigy took his basketball knowledge to a new level when he began his coaching career. After coaching at teams including Hapoel Holon and Hapoel Tel Aviv, Gershon finally realized what he thought was his dream by leading Hapoel Galil Elyon to the 1993 league title. It was the only time since 1969 that any team other than Maccabi Tel Aviv had won the league and prompted massive celebrations in the North and around the country. Gershon had been seen as an anti-Maccabi character, but in 1998 he changed tack and became the coach of the crisis-hit Maccabi. Under his control Tel Aviv won the 2001, 2004 and 2005 European titles. In the summer of 2006 he moved to coach at Greek side Olympiacos but has recently left and is currently the coach of the Bulgarian national team.