EDITOR"S NOTE- Spencer Dalzell was the leading scorer for the Red Hook boys basketball team this season. Back during the 1978 season, Spencer's uncle, Jon Dalzell, helped lead coach Rod Chando to his first ever league crown. Dalzell went on to star at Eastern New Mexico before going to Israel to play professional basketball. This a story about Jon Dalzell from the Northern Dutchess Sports archives.At one time or another , we all practiced signing our autograph so that when we were famous celebrities in the future, we’d be able to satisfy the constant demand from our legion of fans. Of course, for most of us, it is a total waste of time, ink and paper.
Former Red Hook High School basketball standout Jon Dalzell knows all to well the trappings that come with success as he has parlayed his deadly shooting touch and love for the game into a 15 year career in the Israeli Professional Basketball League where he has become one of the league’s most beloved stars.
Not only is he revered by the fans, but he is one of the circuit’s all time playing greats. One of the league’s all time three point shooters, Dalzell is the fifth all time leading scorer for American born players who have competed in the league. Overall he is the league’s 25th all time leading scorer with more than 4100 points in 257 games for a 15.9 point career scoring average. In Israel, league games are played once a week so they carry much more signifigance because the season is shorter.
“ Everybody here knows me since they started televising the games regularly on television so I can hardly walk down the street without being recognized,” said Dalzell in a telephone interview. “When I first came here basketball was a minor sport but now the Israeli people have really developed a passion for the game. It’s replaced soccer because it is more exciting and fast paced.”
It wasn’t always that way according to Dalzell who states that the game has progressed tremendously since he began his career there in 1983 after a solid career at Eastern New Mexico University. He earned the hustle awards in both his junior and senior seasons and averaged 16 ppg. in his senior year.
Any illusions Dalzell may have had of a career in the National Basketball Association were quickly wiped away after spending time at a San Antonio Spurs invitation only tryout camp.
“ I saw what it was all about and realized that it wasn’t for me,” said Dalzell. “ It’s just a different level completely. The size,strength and quickness of an NBA guard is incredible. European basketball is perfect for my style. It’s not any less physical but the players are smaller and many teams play zone.”
Dalzell’s older brother George had played on many American All Star teams during his college career and forged a friendship with former Villanova All-American Fran O’ Hanlon ,who was coaching overseas. The elder Dalzell told his friend that if an opening ever became available that his brother would jump at the opportunity for a tryout.
“ Nothing ever happened for the longest time and then one night I got a call in the wee hours of the morning from George telling me to get a passport because I was headed to Israel,” remembers Dalzell of his lucky break. “ I worked out with the team for a week and after doing real well in the tryout they signed me to a contract and here I am all these years later.”
He spent one year in the Israeli military which enabled him to gain Israeli citizenship. He says he did it because of the circumstances that were going on in his life at the time and remembers sensing that it was the right thing to do. Once he became a nationalized citizen it also enabled Dalzell to have more flexibility with regard to his pro career since each team is only able to have to non-citizens on their rosters.
Many ex -NBA stars such as Fred Roberts, Billy Thompson,Purvis Short and Eanis Whately litter the Israeli rosters along with other ex- Division One college stand outs who did not catch on in the NBA. The game is tailor made for shooters which has helped make Dalzell one of it’s most enduring stars. His appearance on magazine covers,his playing longevity and his unique look help him stand out. He is blonde haired,blue eyed Craig Ehlo lookalike whose squeaky clean reputation and image as a family man have made him beloved by his many faithful fans.
Dalzell met his wife Maya nine years ago in a restaurant where she was a student working as a waitress and recalls his first thoughts.
“ She was so pretty and I knew from the moment that I first saw her that I was in trouble,” he remembers with a chuckle. “ The best thing about it was that she didn’t know a thing about basketball and didn’t even know who I was.”
“ I’ve started to watch alot more games at home since we had our daughter because it’s so nerve wracking watching the games that I feel I can be more anonymous watching them at home,” says Dalzell’s wife Maya who notes that their daughter Nathalie will kiss the television screen when daddy is on t.v. “ When I go to games in person, everyone knows I’m his wife and it can get pretty heated at the arenas.”
The fans in Israel follow basketball with the same fervor that is normally reserved for soccer. Games against national rival Maccabi Tel Aviv, who Dalzell calls the ‘Boston Celtics of Israeli basketball’ have resulted in some memorable confrontations with Dalzell’s Hapoel Jerusalem having upset the favored Maccabi team many times in the Israeli Championships in huge upsets.
As intense as these storied match ups have been, Dalzell says one particular European Cup game in war torn Yugoslavia back in 1985 really stands out as one of his most vivid memories from his playing days in Europe.
The game was in front of a raucous crowd and the intensity nearly spilled into the crowd as the fans, at times, became so involved in the action that Dalzell and his teammates were genuinely fearing for their lives.
The game went into overtime where the Israeli team finally came away with a frantic last second victory. The game’s outcome gave the team even more reason for concern as the loss eliminated Yugoslavia from the European Cup. Police escorts out of frenzied arenas is something that happens quite often in these types of games with so much national pride on the line. But this time it was eerily different.
Dalzell and his teammates had a brief celebration and then grabbed their gym bags for a quick getaway.
“ There were 5,000 fans sitting there dead silent after having made so much noise just seconds before that and nobody had left which had us thinking that they might attack us,” he remembers without a hint of exaggeration. “ The moment we got to half court they all rose in unison and began clapping wildly to show how much they appreciated the type of game they had just witnessed.”
“ I found the country, the players and people of Yugoslavia to be so beautiful that it is painfully sad to see what’s happened to it,” continued Dalzell.
As far as life in Israel, Dalzell says that people have a misconception that the country is a place of constant violence because of what they see on CNN.
“ It’s unfortunate that it is portrayed that way because it is a beautiful country and most people live under good conditions,” said Dalzell. “ Random acts of violence have increased lately which makes things seem worse than they are. I love living here. I would have never imagined 13 years ago that I would feel this happy living in Europe but it’s real comfortable here.”
That’s a stark contrast to when he first began playing in the country and found that he missed alot of things about home. There were no U.S. sports on television and he missed all the familiar types of American foods.
“ Now we have cable and I watch more college and pro basketball than I did when I was in the states,” he says. “ The people here have really adopted college basketball.”
“ Now that we have all the fast food restaurants like we have in the states I’m all set,” he laughed.
Following a nasty contract dispute with management last year, Dalzell has elected to sign on with the Israeli Professional League Second Division. He says he did it for two reasons. He gets to be a player/coach and gets to spend more time with his family. It also comes with an added attraction.
Because of his notorious history of conditioning that has allowed Dalzell to play every season without injury, he has been hired by the Israeli government to teach fitness and to lecture to kids in the schools.
“ They send me to alot of schools that are geared toward kids who are specially gifted in basketball,” said Dalzell. “ They grab the kids early and make it more like a job which takes all the fun out of it. These kids mainly want to play so they can make alot of money someday. I want them to love the game like I did when I was a kid.”
Indeed you could find Dalzell running up and down the Red Hook Rec Park courts at all hours of the day or night shooting shot after shot, taking dribble after dribble, with a basketball and his pet dog as constant companions during this ritual.
“ It doesn’t surprise me that Jon had the type of success he has had because he was so dedicated,” remembers Dalzell’s high school mentor and current Red Hook coach Rod Chando. “ He was the original gym rat who was hard nosed, aggressive and was a leader because of his style of play.”
Dalzell helped lead his team to Chando’s first league title back in 1978 and it’s those friendships that he forged along the way in high school and growing up in Red Hook that he misses most of all about being in Israel.
“ I really miss my family and friends but I’m also very happy here,” says Dalzell who is hoping to return to the states for his 20th high school reunion this summer. “ Playing professional basketball has allowed me to live a comfortable lifestyle but anybody who knows me knows that I’d play this game for nothing.”
Top Photo- (l-R) Rich Dalzell, Spencer Dalzell and Jon Dalzell at a Red Hook game earlier this season.
Bottom Photos- (L-R) Jon Dalzell circa 1978 and taking a few shots in his old high school gym circa 2010
