It’s a sad day in the basketball world. Tamir Goodman, the high school senior who swept the nation ten years ago after being dubbed the “Jewish Jordan” has retired, according to Yahoo! Sports.
Goodman became a celebrity overnight after averaging 35 ppg at Talmudic Academy of Baltimore. He was offered a scholarship to play basketball at the University of Maryland. Goodman played every game wearing a kippah and did not plan on playing games on Shabbat. He was even featured on the front page of Sports Illustrated.
Then it went downhill from there. Goodman, once thought to be one of the best high school players in the country, turned out to be a little over hyped. He ended up playing basketball at Towson, where he stopped after two seasons, after putting up very mediocre numbers.
After leaving the team, Goodman made aliyah, where he signed a contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv and was put on loan to play for Giv’at Shmuel. Goodman eventually joined the Israeli Army, where he suffered a knee injury.
Since then, Tamir has tried making comebacks with teams in the United States and Israel. But today, he decided it was time to call it quits, at the age of 27.
Now, Tamir, a father of three, will work for Maccabi Haifa’s new charity group and will travel around raising money for poor kids to go see basketball games in Israel.
kippah
Pronounced: KEE-pah or kee-PAH, Origin: Hebrew, a small hat or head covering that Orthodox Jewish men wear every day, and that other Jews wear when studying, praying or entering a sacred space. Also known as a yarmulke.
