Tal Brody At 1997 Maccabiah Games Editorial Image

Israeli basketball legend Tal Brody and wife Tirtza Brody check out the program of the 15th Maccabiah Games the Jewish Olympics at Ramat Gan, Israel, on July 14, 1997. A New Jersey native, Brody was an All-American at the University of Illinois in the early and mid-1960s, and a high NBA draft pick, but was convinced by Moshe Dayan and others to elect to play for an Israeli pro team instead, Maccabi Tel Aviv. He changed the face of Israeli basketball and led the Israelis to their first European championships in 1977. Some moments after this joyful photo was taken, word leaked out that a footbridge leading to the stadium collapsed and four Australian athletes plunged into the Yarkon River, a highly polluted, toxic river. Although several survived the fall, they later died from ingesting the poisonous water.