James Earl Boatwright (; December 10, 1951 – February 11, 2013) was an American-Israeli professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player,

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, and schoolteacher. He won two

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

championships with

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

, in 1977 and 1981, while reaching the

EuroLeague Final The EuroLeague Finals are the championship finals of the EuroLeague competition. The EuroLeague is the highest level tier, and most important professional club basketball competition in Europe. Real Madrid have won the European championship o ...

another time in 1980. In the 1977 final, he led all scorers with 26 points.

Amateur career

Boatwright graduated from Minico High School in

Rupert, Idaho Rupert is the county seat and largest city of Minidoka County, Idaho, United States. It is part of the Burley, Idaho, Burley Burley micropolitan area, Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 6,082 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...

, in 1970, where he lettered in basketball, track and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

. He led the Spartans to back-to-back state championship games in 1969 and 1970. As a junior, he averaged 37 points per game during the state tournament. He still holds the record for most free throws taken and made. Boatwright is the second-leading Minico scorer, all time. Having earned a slew of All-State and All-American honors, Boatwright received a scholarship to play at

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

. He was the leading scorer in both his junior and senior seasons at Logan, and was named Utah State's top athlete in 1974, the same year in which he graduated with a degree in political science.

Professional career

Boatwright played for

of the

Israeli Basketball Super League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

, from 1974 to 1982. He began playing only in

, until 1976, when he also started playing in the Israeli League. Maccabi won the EuroLeague championship in 1977, and Boatwright was the team's leading scorer. He

converted to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( or ) is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. "Thus, by convertin ...

from Christianity in 1975, and became an Israeli citizen.

National team career

Boatwright was selected as a member of the Israeli Olympic basketball team for the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics. While playing for Maccabi, Boatwright had acquired Israeli citizenship. He was consequently able to participate in the EuroBasket 1981, as a member of the senior Israeli national team. At EuroBasket 1981, he averaged 9.6 points a game, and helped Israel finish in sixth place.

Post playing career

In 1983, Boatwright began teaching and coaching at Star Valley,

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

. He guided his team to the state championship, and was named Wyoming's "Coach of the Year." He later taught at elementary and secondary schools in Wyoming, Arizona, and California. In addition, Boatwright, a father of four, and married to Jennifer Magrane Boatwright, ran Snowline Basketball Camp across the Western US for 24 years. In 2003, Boatwright became an assistant boys' basketball coach and history teacher at Wood River High School of

Hailey, Idaho Hailey is a city in and the county seat of Blaine County, in the Wood River Valley of the central part of the U.S. state of Idaho. The population was 7,960 at the 2010 census, up from 6,200 in 2000.liver cancer Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...

Ketchum, Idaho Ketchum is a city in Blaine County, Idaho, United States. Located in the central part of the state, the population was 3,555 at the 2020 census, up from 2,689 in 2010. Located in the Wood River Valley, Ketchum is adjacent to Sun Valley and ...

References

External links

FIBA Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boatwright, Jim 1951 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century Israeli sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in Israel American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Idaho Basketball players from Idaho Centers (basketball) Converts to Judaism High school basketball coaches in Idaho High school basketball coaches in Wyoming Israeli men's basketball players Jewish American basketball players Jews from Idaho Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players Naturalized citizens of Israel People from Rupert, Idaho Power forwards Schoolteachers from Wyoming Small forwards Sportspeople from Twin Falls, Idaho Utah State Aggies men's basketball coaches Utah State Aggies men's basketball players