The veteran sports journalist Raphael Naa passed away today (Saturday) after several weeks in the hospital.
He was 79 years old when he died.
Neah served as deputy editor of the sports section of Yedioth Ahronoth, but was mainly associated with Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball coverage, a position he performed for five consecutive decades.
Naa was supposed to retire at the beginning of the previous decade, but remained in his position for several more years until he left the active coverage of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
In recent years, he wrote a weekly column for the YNET website with commentary on Maccabi Tel Aviv and memories of his rich history as a journalist who covered the Yellows.
His last column was published at the beginning of December, when until that time he was still frequenting the Yad Eliyahu press stand.
Decades of covering Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Raphael Naa with Shimon Mizrahi in 2010 (Photo: Walla! System, Kobi Eliyahu)
Naa covered dozens of major sports events in "Yediot Ahronoth", with the first major event being the Olympic Games in Munich 1972, a day he defined as "the worst day in my 50 years of journalistic coverage".
He covered the victories of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the European Cups, and the Israeli Olympic athletes in the various Olympics.
Throughout the years he was considered very close to the leaders of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
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