HASKELL
COHEN
Sport: Official/Media
Inducted: 1991
Country: United States
Born: March 12, 1914, in Worcester, Massachusetts
Died: June 28, 2000
Haskell Cohen was public relations director of the National
Basketball Association
from 1950 to 1969. He created the first NBA East-West All
Star
Game and structured the first NBA college draft.
Cohen was a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame Board
of Trustees,
a member of the United States Olympic Basketball Committee,
and a
member of the Amateur Basketball Association USA, representing
the National
Jewish Welfare Board.
He was president of the United States Committee Sports
For Israel
(Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel) from 1961 to 1969 and was
a principal
member of that organization at its very beginning. From
1981 to 1989, Cohen
was the first chairman of the International Jewish Sports
Hall of Fame
Selection Committee.
Cohen is the first non-Israeli to receive the Israel Olympic
Medal and
has been U.S. chairman of the Hapoel Games in Israel.
AYeshiva student and Boston University journalism graduate,
Cohen
held the post of sports editor for the Jewish Telegraph
Agency for 17 years.
As a longtime contributing editor to America’s Parade
Sunday newspaper
magazine supplement, he originated the National Association
of College
Basketball Coaches All-America Team and the High School
All-America
Team. |