Amid all the pressing matters of the day, here’s one you may not have considered: Did basketball give more to the Jews, or did the Jews give more to basketball?
That’s the question at the core of “The First Basket,” David Vyorst’s decidedly selective, yet altogether winning look at the popular indoor team sport. A graceful blend of personal oral history and broader social history, the fast-moving 86-minute film nonetheless doesn’t have a lot of crossover appeal beyond its obvious audience — basketball junkies and New York expatriates.
“The First Basket” screens May 9 and 10 at the Roxie Theater.
Vyorst begins his labor of love with snatches of interviews with lively octogenarians at the South Florida Basketball Fraternity’s annual luncheon, portending a self-indulgent nostalgia trip. But he quickly transitions to the Lower East Side, and the tidal wave of Jewish immigration before and after the turn of the 20th century.
Organized sports barely existed in the old country, and what athletic activity there was certainly didn’t merit a section in the newspaper. Not so in America, where baseball, football and boxing were central topics of conversation and enthralled boys of all nationalities.
It isn’t news that children of immigrants are eager to assimilate, and have an easier time than their parents. One of the documentary’s revelations is that the Lower East Side settlement houses, important neighborhood institutions that provided (among other things) English-language classes and social activities, also taught and promoted the fledgling game of basketball.
Boys learned the values of teamwork, strategy and loyalty, with the side benefit that they laid claim to an activity their parents deemed a trivial waste of time. Unlike boxing, basketball didn’t represent a potential ticket to big money and a life beyond the neighborhood.
One exception was 5-foot-4 Barney Sedran (shortened from Sedransky), a settlement league standout who went on to star at City College of New York and enjoyed a long career as a barnstorming player and coach beginning in 1911. Sedran is the smallest player in the Basketball Hall of Fame, a distinction he’ll likely retain for posterity.
Curiously, “The First Basket” doesn’t cite the relative appeals of boxing and basketball for boys at the time. Jewish boxers enjoyed a great deal of success, but kids without the size or strength to make it in the ring — the majority, certainly — could potentially still excel on the court (outside of the center position), keeping in mind that the offensive arsenal in those days consisted of two-handed set shots, lay-ups and free throws.
At the same time that basketball provided Jewish boys with exercise, self-confidence and lessons in cooperation and communication, Jewish pioneers contributed their creativity and initiative to the fledgling game. “The First Basket” salutes innovator Nat Holman, who began his career as a player on the NewYork Celtics and coached outstanding CCNY teams for years, and features several clips from a charmingly gruff interview with another coaching legend, “Red” Auerbach.
Other Jewish legends receiving an affectionate high-five are Dolph Schayes, Eddie Gottlieb, Ossie Scheckman and “Red” Holzman. Even retired ref Norm Druckman gets some screen time, while NBA commissioner David Stern unexpectedly reveals a beating human heart behind the button-down corporate façade he presents in public.
It should be noted that the documentary rarely and barely gets out of New York City, making brief forays to Philadelphia, Boston (the scene of Auerbach’s triumphs with the latter-day Celtics) and Chicago (where Abe Saperstein launched the Harlem Globetrotters).
When Vyorst does hit the road, for a late-in-the-game trip to revisit Tal Brody and Maccabi Tel Aviv’s first European championship, it’s an exciting sequence but risks making the film feel like a Jewish basketballers’ greatest-hits album.
The minor miracle of “The First Basket” is that it largely avoids stepping out of bounds into hagiography or self-congratulation even as it single-mindedly follows the thread of Jewish players and coaches through the decades.
Lovingly researched and detailed with newspaper clippings and fascinating footage of the pre–shot clock, short-shorts era, the film is a considerable contribution to the history of Jewish athletes in America.
“The First Basket” screens 2 p.m. May 9 and 10 at the Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., S.F. Information: (415) 863-1087 or www.roxie.com.