Tanhum Cohen-Mintz

Tanhum Cohen-Mintz (also "Tanchum or Tani" and "Cohen-Minz"; October 8, 1939 – October 11, 2014) was an Israeli basketball player. He was 6' 8" tall, and played center.

Early life

Cohen-Mintz, who was Jewish, was born in Riga, Latvia.

Basketball career

Cohen-Mintz started his sporting career in tennis, following the footsteps of his mother, Edith Cohen-Mintz, who was Israel's women's tennis champion for several years in the 1950s. He himself was Israel's junior tennis champion. He was viewed on the tennis court by legendary basketball coach Yehoshua Rozin, who was impressed by his height and athletic abilities. Rozin convinced Cohen-Mintz to convert to basketball.

He played for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

He also played for and was captain of the Israel national basketball team, playing for it 89 times from 1958–71, during which time he scored 1,076 points. He was a starting-five member of the 1964 and 1965 European All-Star Team.

In 1961, he was selected as Israel's Sportsman of the Year. In 1998, Ma'ariv named him one of the five best basketball players in Israel's history.

His son, Uri Cohen-Mintz, is also a former basketball player and had also played for Israel's national team.

Hall of Fame

According to some sources, Tanhum Cohen Mintz is a member of the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1992, but his name appears neither in the list of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees nor in the list of the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees.

Death

Cohen-Mintz died October 11, 2014, at the age of 75, of cancer.