For Israelis born in the current millennium, who live in the age of multi-channel and social networks where heroes pop up for a moment and disappear as they came, it is difficult to explain what Mickey Berkowitz symbolizes. Mickey could only grow up in a young country looking for achievements. And not only in sports - in everything. There's a reason he's almost the age of the country.
On February 17, he will celebrate his 70th birthday, just before the country celebrates its 76th birthday and on the same day as one, Michael Jordan, 61. Nine years difference. Who said that numbers on jerseys are trivial?
As always, Mickey looks great for his age. The well-known cliché that romances don't bald holds true for him too, and with zero percent fat, he continues his regular morning walks with Tal Brody, who just turned 80, or with his sports rival from the 70s and 80s, the legendary Steve Kaplan, star of Hapoel Ramat Gan.
They cover ten miles every morning, whatever the weather, if necessary, even runners ("only when it rains"), and talk mostly about what happened ("Steve asks why I couldn't give him a championship, to have one on his resume. He still doesn't forgive me").
Just a network. Celebrating a championship, photo: Moshe Shai
He claims he doesn't feel age, but his old friends are disappearing, his body looks great but responds more slowly, and like many of his peers, memories are deeply rooted in the distant past and less in the recent one. This mind-body game, certainly for athletes, always remains elusive. The long-awaited synergy towards old age does not always occur.
But if there's one thing that doesn't change, it's the unimaginable admiration he receives. Love without age. When you walk with him on the street, time seems to stop. Some ask for congratulations, others come up and say, "Thank you for the most beautiful moments of my life."
"It's endless love, but I think I've earned it honestly," smiles the man who has become a rare consensus, one that even various Hapoel fans can shake his hand to applaud, and not just because he played a few games in the red uniform. It seems that in a moment he will put on the number 9 jersey again, and that television will return to the days when on Thursday everyone saw only one thing.
And perhaps that's what Berkowitz evokes in so many – the nostalgia for the days that will never return. And again, sorry for the cliché for the second time: not only in sports - in everything. Berkowitz, in the eyes of many, is Maccabi and Israel who will no longer return.
"Basketball has completely changed"
It should be remembered that M.I.K.I. Berkowitz was part of one of the greatest skits of the Pale Tracker, and was the greatest Israeli in Europe in an era when the United States was closed to Europeans. Just as he couldn't walk around Tel Aviv, he couldn't walk around Madrid or Milan. All over Europe, the retirement game was celebrated with him - with a retirement song performed by Haim Moshe - and the approaching round birthday is also attracting interest from colleagues across the continent.
Are you ready for the 70th anniversary?
"That's what you have to ask mine. I don't deal with it at all. I'm not concerned with my age, maybe just the benefits it brings. I am a grandfather who spends a lot of time with my grandchildren, including those of my daughter, Adi, who are in Los Angeles. After the holidays, we get on a plane and go visit them. They call me 'Grandpa Kiki.'
"With my grandchildren in the United States, I try to play basketball, but they're only interested in soccer. They went to the United States to play soccer. Mickey Berkowitz's grandchildren are good at football. But I put a basket in the yard so that when I get there we can play."
European Cup for Tel Aviv. With Tal Brody, Photo: Yaakov Saar/GPO
Your kids were promising basketball players, but the comparison to Dad was impossible. Maybe from your grandchildren you see someone who looks like you?
"First of all, I think my kids had pretty good careers. Both Roy and Niv did nice things in basketball, but as they always said, 'Can you be better than Dad? Is there such a thing?'
"If I look at the grandchildren, I think 14-year-old Ariel is a great talent, who reminds me and can make a way. He plays for Maccabi with the number 9 jersey, and I know that creates expectations. I nurture him and work with him, telling him that he needs to give less and throw more. Because in the end, you remember the one who scores."
If he really becomes a player, what are his chances of getting minutes in today's foreign-packed Maccabi Tel Aviv, or in Israeli basketball in general, which doesn't exactly promote the local basketball player?
"True, basketball has completely changed, not only among Israelis. We also see what happened to the game in Europe and the United States, and how many Europeans are entering the NBA. They say: Why aren't more Berkovitches growing? They don't grow because they aren't grown. There is certainly a child who could be the next Berkowitz, but we need to help him be discovered. Locate it and invest in it, so that it does not disappear.
"My grandson Ariel (14) is a talent that reminds me. He plays for Maccabi with jersey number 9. I nurture him, tell him he needs to give less and throw more. In the end, you remember who scores. When I play against my grandson, I will never let him win. What will it give him?"
"Everything has changed, even in terms of loyalty to the team. Look even at the foreigners. Every foreigner who gives a good season leaves Maccabi without a problem. People don't realize that what happened won't be. Obviously it's not the same Maccabi, everything has changed. Maccabi of yesteryear was built first and foremost around Israelis. Tal Brody said: 'I'm from New Jersey and he's from Kfar Saba.'"
A step and a half to Europe. Against Real Madrid, photo: Yaakov Saar/GPO
You have an open section left with Maccabi. You wanted to get a role there, but you weren't offered and you didn't push yourself. However, you are still identified with the club and the team.
"I wanted to be at Maccabi, for sure. I think I had something to contribute, and even today, as a professional, I have something to contribute to Maccabi Tel Aviv, but do I have to chase them? Should Mickey Berkowitz chase them? They had their own considerations, and they made their choices. People in Israel and Europe ask me why I'm not at Maccabi, and I answer – ask them, not me. But don't even sound like I'm angry. This is the club, these are the decisions, but Maccabi will always remain my friends and I will always want their success."
There is a problem in Israel with saying goodbye to the stars, and Maccabi has not been spared either.
"For me, I always felt like I belonged to Maccabi Tel Aviv, even when I played for other teams. When I come to games, Maccabi always takes care of the ticket, and the crowd still asks me to come up and give a few minutes.
"I wanted to continue contributing to Maccabi, but should Mickey Berkowitz go after them? They had the considerations and they made their choices, but don't sound like I'm angry. This is the club, these are the decisions, and at Maccabi they will always remain my friends and I want them to succeed."
"Even when I had offers to move to the NBA or other teams in Europe, in the end I always chose Maccabi. Those were different times, but I don't regret it. Besides, do you think Shimon Mizrahi would let me leave for the NBA or another team? After all, in real time he told me that he wasn't releasing me to any group. I was very angry with him, but the decision not to move to any other team at my peak was first and foremost mine. I wanted to go to war against them and was offended, but in the end I knew I was staying in Israel."
"Friends for life". Maccabi championship celebration, photo: Moshe Shai
Don't you regret not playing in the NBA? When you see Omri Caspi and Dani Avdiya, don't you say, "I could have been the first one there"?
"In my heart I know I've been there. I passed all the tests, but I chose Israel, I chose Maccabi. I knew that in the NBA I would be another good player, but here and in Europe I would be the best player.
"It reminds me of what Joshua Rozin said to my mother: 'If he's an engineer, he'll be a good engineer, but there's a chance that if he plays basketball, he'll be the best.' I don't regret for a moment that I returned to Israel. Even when I see the basketball players who did get there, I tell myself without offending anyone that I could have been the top European there. I point to my heart, because that's where I know I was at the best level. Just like I spent behind my back in Europe, it was the same in NBA training camp."
Do you still watch basketball?
"Of course, going to the games and following Israelis all over the world. I also play basketball, and when I play against my grandson, for example, I would never let him win. No way. Why should I let him win? What will it give him?"
Another trophy in the closet. With President Chaim Herzog at the cup final, 80s, photo: Moshe Shai
"Work ethic - from dad"
A few years ago, just before he retired, Mickey left all his businesses, from the insurance business to various investments, but he does not get bored for a moment.
He is the presenter of "Mediterranean Towers", which on October 17 at Sportek in Tel Aviv will hold for the fourth time the "Golden Championship" - the largest and only sporting event of its kind in Israel for senior citizens, which will be open to the general public over the age of 65. Alongside Miki, the athletes chosen to lead the "Golden Championship" are Tal Brody and Linoy Ashram.
"For me, seniors are the best age," he clarifies, "and I'm really excited to take part in the Golden Age Championship. I think I have a lot to contribute, and I see how the audience at this age gets excited when they meet with me, for example when I come to lecture them. By the way, not only in Israel, but also in the world. I explain to them what it takes to be a winner, that it's not a matter of age, it's a matter of attitude."
Your father died at the age of 67, younger than you today. It must be sitting in your head.
"At my age, I think a lot about my parents, Lazar and Shoshana. My father passed away in 1993 and my mother in 2012, at the age of 84.
"I was an only child, because that's how it was customary. I always asked, 'Why don't I have more siblings?' My parents gave me everything, even in the material sense. Mom and Dad worked hard so I wouldn't miss anything. They couldn't buy me even the simplest scooter, but in terms of the really important things in life, they gave me everything I needed. My work ethic, which everyone always talked about, is from my parents, who always got up for work early and worked at what was needed, without complaint. These are things they imparted to me. Mom made sure to give my father and I the envelope we needed.
"They gave me everything." ParentsLazar and Shoshana z"l, photo: from the private album
"When my father collapsed, I was in training and they called me to come quickly. I flew to the store in Dizengoff and saw Chevra Kadisha who had come before me and were standing nearby. Unfortunately, my father died of cardiac arrest. I dined with my mother every day for eight years in a nursing home in Ramat Hasharon. I asked her, 'Mom, why do you always look towards the front door?' and she replied, 'I'm waiting for you.' When she passed away, the director of the nursing home called me and said, 'I know you have a lot of trophies, I want to give you another trophy, for being an exemplary son.'
"My farewell game in 1995 was on the date Dad died," Mickey's eyes fill with tears. "I was told he was looking down on me. I think about him a lot even during this period of my life, I never stopped thinking."
For many people, the fact that Mickey Berkowitz is almost 70 says something about them, too.
"When Citizen No. 9 reaches that age, it probably means something to a lot of people, because they grew up with me. But let them calm down - I'm not going anywhere. People ask me to bless them, and if they feel better afterwards, the doctor calls and says it's because of me. Families call me to talk to the father of the family because he is on his deathbed.
"I think a lot about my parents. I was an only child, because that's how it was customary. Dad worked hard so I wouldn't miss anything. Even though they didn't have the money to buy me the simplest scooter, in terms of the really important things, they gave me what I needed."
"I wake up every morning and think about the next thing. I have a lot of ideas that I'm trying to come true. I know age brings challenges and difficulties, but I don't let that stop me as long as I'm able, and right now I feel great physically. I see the friends around me - like Olsi who lost a leg, and we make sure to go visit him at every opportunity and spend a lot of time together.
"Maccabi back then is friends for life. The fact is that we are together to this day. I have a lot of friends not from basketball, but my friends from basketball are different, and first of all Moti, who is like a brother to me."
"Like a brother to me." With Moti Aroesti and the children, photo: Moshe Shai
"Between Sport and Life"
When Mickey has trouble remembering something, he calls Shelly, the woman he's been with for decades and who also looks, probably unsurprisingly, younger than her age. The story of their acquaintance was told tirelessly - after all, she didn't know who he was at all, and that's probably what worked there and still works today.
On his phone, she appears as "mine is mine," and when she joins the interview they hold hands like a young couple, and he again mentions the fact that he is Romanian and that "that's how we are, gentlemen."
Before we turn to her with one question, she is quick to clarify: "I haven't been interviewed in my whole life, and I won't start now, and I certainly won't tell him what my plans are for my 70th birthday. First of all we have the long ride for Adi, but I don't go crazy on flights, because everything is in my head. He, on the other hand, complains a lot before and during the flight. What will help me complain?"
Like a young couple. With his wife, Shelly, photo: from the private album
Mickey, I can't talk to you without talking about the situation in the country. You don't speak out much on the subject.
"All my life I've run away from politics. I wouldn't talk about it. I had an audience on the right and an audience on the left, and I always preferred to keep my opinions to myself. This is also why I will never be seen at demonstrations by either side. I don't need them to say afterwards, 'Mickey Berkowitz supports it, Mickey Berkowitz supports it.'
"I can only say one thing, which I am sure is common to all my contemporaries: the unity of the people was our secret. Maccabi's successes were also related to the fact that an entire nation stood behind us, that we knew who we were playing for. The feeling is that we are on the way to losing it, and that was the secret of our main strength as a country.
"There are a lot of things from sports that can be projected onto real life. Unity and teamwork are a good example. I really hope that people understand how important this issue of togetherness is, and it's something I wish for the people and the State of Israel, which I love so much."
Mickey in numbers
Appearances for the Israel national team - 164
Team points - 2,842
Achievements in the Israeli national team - gold medal at the Asian Championship (1974, in Iran), silver medal at the European Championship (1979, top scorer and player of the tournament)
Israeli League matches (including playoffs) - 551 (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Maccabi Rishon LeZion, Hapoel Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv)
Points in the Israeli league - 9,866 (2nd all-time)
Israeli Championships - 16
State Cups - 13
UEFA Club European Cup (2): 1977, 1981
European Club Cup runners-up (4): 1980, 1982, 1987, 1988
FIFA Club Intercontinental Cup: 1 (1981)
In 1991, he was named to the list of the 50 greatest players of FIBA in Europe, and in 2017 to the FIBA Hall of Fame
"The Third Age at the Spearhead"
Mediterranean Towers is leading for the fourth time the "Golden Championship" - the largest and only sporting event of its kind in Israel for senior citizens. The championship will take place on October 17 at Sportek in Tel Aviv, and will be open to the general public over the age of 65. The athletes who will lead it are Mickey Berkowitz, Tal Brody and Linoy Ashram, and the participants will compete in a wide variety of heats, from running, long jump and iron ball throw, through swimming and triathlon to digital sports games.
Brody, Ashram and Berkowitz, Photo: Gilad Kavlarchik
According to Doron Arnon, CEO of Mediterranean Towers, "As part of the Mediterranean Towers chain's agenda of 'lead, discover and experience', we initiated the 'Golden Championship' and turned it into an Israeli tradition, in which the elderly are at the forefront of sports. This year we expect higher enrollment and demand than in previous years, as this is an active, vibrant and leading population than ever."
shishabat@israelhayom.co.il
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