David Zinkoff of Philadelphia, Pa., renowned the world over as the leading sports public address announcer, who was here for the Maccabiah Games, dedicated a basketball court on the roof of the Jaffa community center, during the last day of the Games, last Thursday.
Zinkoff, whose mellifluous voice has been heard by millions of people on radio and TV, donated the court to the undernourished youngsters of Sephardic families after learning of the plight of the kids who attend the Jewish Community Center (JCC). The center’s principal Rabbi David Protovitz, of Brooklyn, N.Y., advised the Zink, as he is affectionately known, that the JCC needed another basketball court for the youngsters and Zinkoff came up with the necessary funding.
At the dedication, Vice Mayor Yitzhak Caspi of Tel Aviv spoke laudingly of the Zink’s gift and Zinkoff responded by stating: “This is the proudest moment of my life. I hope the youngsters will enjoy the court and some of you will grow up to be basketball stars. Above all, I trust and hope you will grow up to be good and decent Jews.”
Zinkoff, for many years was the voice of the Philadelphia Sphas in the old American Basketball League and in recent years has served in the same capacity for the Philadelphia 76’ers of the National Basketball Association. On their international tours, which took them all over the world for many years, Zinkoff did the announcing for the incomparable Harlem Globe Trotters. He was commended for his mike techniques by Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev who attended the Globe Trotters exhibitions in Moscow and heard the Zink perform.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
