Mickey Fisher

Morris Meyer "Mickey" Fisher (1904/1905 – April 15, 1963) was an American basketball coach. Fisher was the basketball coach of the Boys High School Kangaroos in Brooklyn for 23 years and of the Israel national basketball team preparing it for the 1960 Summer Olympics, and was the Brandeis University acting athletic director.

The New York Post described him as "The incomparable Mickey Fisher." Newsday and The Jewish Post described Fisher as "legendary." The New York Times called him "the most successful high school basketball coach" in New York City.

Biography

Fisher was a native of Brooklyn, New York, lived in West Newton, Massachusetts, and was Jewish.

He graduated from St. Johns University ('28 L) with two law degrees, and from New York University with a Master of Arts degree. He practiced law briefly. Among those players he coached were future NBA players Sihugo Green (#1 pick in the 1956 NBA draft), Lenny Wilkens (Hall of Famer), and Connie Hawkins (Hall of Famer), as well as future Major League Baseball All Star player Tommy Davis (two-time NL batting champion). At the same time, Fisher was known for guiding and developing his players, taking interest in their schoolwork, home lives, and friends.

He took a one-year leave of absence in 1960, as he was sent to Israel by the US State Department to train the Israel national basketball team and to coach it in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. In April 1963 he died at 58 years of age in Brooklyn Jewish Hospital of a heart attack.