Though his playing career came to an end at age 27, it’s not even close to game over for Tamir Goodman
Photos: Elchanan Kotler, Personal archives
He was the talk of the town, the hope of his coach, and ranked the 25th best high school player in the US. At 6 foot 3, the gangly redheaded kid from Baltimore brought a golden reputation — he’d averaged more than 35 points per game in 11th grade — to his new career in college basketball.
But Tamir Goodman brought something else to the court: a staunch resolve that his identity as a Torah-observant Jew would always come first. Years later, forced by injuries to retire after a career that never had a chance to fulfill the breathless expectations of sportscasters across America, it’s not even close to game over for Tamir — today a coach, motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and inventor. Because all this time, his eye was on a different prize.
Tamir learned a valuable lesson from high school coach Harold Katz: “Don’t do anything to embarrass your Creator”
Tamir Goodman became a nationally recognized figure in 1999, when he was dubbed “the Jewish Jordan” — a reference to greatest-of-all-time basketball player Michael Jordan — by Sports Illustrated, the king of all sports magazines. When SI crowned a skinny 17-year-old from Baltimore — and did we mention Orthodox Jew? — as a “Jordan,” the world sat up and took notice.
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