Tamir Goodman, once known as “the Jewish Jordan,” will resume his basketball career in Israel’s top professional league.
Goodman, 26, signed with the Maccabi Haifa Heat of the Premier League, the team announced Monday. The 6-foot-3 guard, an Orthodox Jew who was living in his native Baltimore, signed after a two-day tryout at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
He gained national fame when Sports Illustrated tabbed him the “Jewish Jordan” based on his 35.4 points per game average playing for the Talmudical Academy of Greater Baltimore, an Orthodox all-male yeshiva, during his junior year in 1998-99.
Goodman was offered a scholarship to the University of Maryland, but ultimately attended a less prominent university in Maryland, Towson State, where he had an unremarkable career.
Still, Goodman signed with Israel’s most illustrious team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, and played five seasons in Israel for four different teams. He reached the Israeli Cup finals and, in 2003, the Premier League semifinals with Maccabi Givat Shmuel.
“I look forward to helping the Haifa Heat as much as possible, both on and off the court,” Goodman said in a news release from the team.
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