Ralph Kaplowitz (May 18, 1919 – February 2, 2009) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. Kaplowitz played in the first two seasons of the

Basketball Association of America The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA absorbed most of National Basketball League (NBL) and rebranded as the National Ba ...

(BAA), now known as the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA), and was, at the time of his death, the oldest living person to have played for the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associa ...

Background

Kaplowitz attended

DeWitt Clinton High School , motto_translation = Without Work Nothing Is Accomplished , image = DeWitt Clinton High School front entrance IMG 7441 HLG.jpg , seal_image = File:Clinton News.JPG , seal_size = 124px , ...

and led his team to a PSAL championship. After graduating from Clinton, he attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

. He joined NYU's varsity team as a sophomore in 1939–40, was the team's second-leading scorer with 183 points, and was named to the '' Collier's Magazine'' All-America first team. In his junior year, Kaplowitz did lead NYU in scoring, and to a winning record of 13-6. At the start of his senior year he was named team captain, but was drafted into the U.S. Army as an aviation cadet. After his basketball career, Ralph went on to thrive in other athletics. He is noted as winning multiple club championships at Old Westbury Golf and Country Club.

Professional career

Philadelphia Sphas (1945–1946)

After the end of World War II, Kaplowitz was released from the Army, and he returned to NYU to finish his degree in education. After that, he signed with the Philadelphia Sphas (South Philadelphia Hebrew Association) of the American Basketball League, and averaged 10.6 points per game in the latter end of the 1945–46 season, facing the Baltimore Bullets in the championship round, but losing.

New York Knicks (1946–1947)

In August 1946, Kaplowitz received a telegram from the

owner

Ned Irish Edward S. Irish (May 6, 1905 – January 21, 1982) was an American basketball promoter and one of the key figures in popularizing professional basketball. He was the founder and president of the New York Knicks from 1946 to 1974. He was enshrined in ...

which read "Interested in having you play with New York professional basketball team next season. Please telephone me." Kaplowitz did join the Knicks, signing a one-year contract for $6,500. On November 1, 1946 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

, Canada, the 27-year-old Kaplowitz appeared in the starting line-up of the very first game of NBA/BAA history, alongside fellow Knicks

Ossie Schectman Oscar Benjamin "Ossie" Schectman (March 30, 1919 – July 30, 2013) was an American professional basketball player. He is credited with having scored the first basket in the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which would later become the Na ...

, Sonny Hertzberg, Jake Weber, and Leo Gottlieb. Together, they beat the

Toronto Huskies The Toronto Huskies were a team in the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which was a forerunner of the National Basketball Association (NBA), during the 1946–47 season. They were based in Toronto. The team compiled a 22–38 win–loss r ...

68-66. Kaplowitz and his teammates, many of them

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

s, recall an increased level of anti-Semitic heckling by fans at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsyl ...

as the season progressed. Halfway through the season, on January 16, 1947, the Knicks sold Kaplowitz to the

Philadelphia Warriors The history of the Golden State Warriors began in Philadelphia in 1946. In 1962, the franchise was relocated to San Francisco, California and became known as the San Francisco Warriors until 1971, when its name was changed to the current Golden St ...

,"Ralph Kaplowitz Stats"
Basketball Reference. Accessed on June 26, 2017. which were then coached and owned by Eddie Gottlieb. In a 1997 interview of the team, Hertzberg said that by the end of the 1946–47 season, he was only Jewish player left on the Knicks' roster, but even he was traded during the league's first off-season break.

Philadelphia Warriors (1947–1948)

Kaplowitz played the second half of the 1946–47 season for the Warriors, who faced Kaplowitz' former team, the Knicks, in the playoffs, and swept that series to advance to the Finals. Then, they beat

Max Zaslofsky Max "Slats" Zaslofsky (December 7, 1925 – October 15, 1985) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He was first-team All- NBA in the league's first four seasons. In the 1947–48 BAA season, at 21 years of age, he led the BAA ...

and the Chicago Stags (4-1 series) to claim the first BAA championship. In the 1947–48 season, the Warriors advanced to the Finals again, but Kaplowitz was once again beaten by Baltimore, in the Bullets' first season as a BAA team. After losing this series, Kaplowitz retired from the BAA after only two seasons, returning once again to the ABL, where he would play two seasons for the

Hartford Hurricanes The Hartford Hurricanes were an American basketball team based in Hartford, Connecticut that was a member of the American Basketball League. The team was previously known as the Elizabeth Braves The Elizabeth Braves were an American basketball ...

and one for the

Bridgeport Roesslers The Bridgeport Newfield Steelers were an American basketball team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a populatio ...

BAA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

Mallozzi, Vincent M. "Ralph Kaplowitz, 89, Dies; Played in Knicks' First Game," ''The New York Times'', Sunday, February 15, 2009.
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaplowitz, Ralph 1919 births 2009 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball players from New York City DeWitt Clinton High School alumni Jewish American sportspeople Jewish men's basketball players New York Knicks players NYU Violets men's basketball players Philadelphia Sphas players Philadelphia Warriors players Shooting guards Sportspeople from the Bronx 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews