SPORTS

A globe-trotter for nearly four decades

Coaching legend now leads Kennedy girls’ basketball squad

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The same man who coached the Maccabi Tel Aviv professional basketball team to a Euroleague Championship in 1981 is now coaching the girls’ varsity basketball team at Kennedy High School in Bellmore.

Rudy D’Amico had quite a storied basketball career before his current gig coaching the Cougars. A native of Queens, D’Amico grew up playing basketball and baseball on playgrounds. His skills earned him a scholarship to Seattle University, where his future career plans became clear.

“I wanted to be a phys. ed. teacher,” D’Amico said. “And, of course, basketball coaching appealed to me almost from the beginning when I got out of college.” In 1967, D’Amico got his chance at both. As an assistant professor of physical education at Brooklyn College, D’Amico also became head coach of the basketball team. Little did he know at the time but his coaching career would lead him to Spain, Puerto Rico, France, Sweden, Italy and Israel. His global tour began in 1975 and only ended in 2013.

The proudest moment of his career came in the spring of 1981 as head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv, which, under a one-year deal, D’Amico led to a Euroleague Championship. The professional squad is now known as Maccabi Electra.

“I knew it was a one-year deal,” said D’Amico. “But I also knew in that one year I was coaching one of the elite teams in Europe, so I went there with open eyes and had a wonderful experience, coached very good players, and we won the European championship.”

After his championship run, D’Amico spent more than a decade coaching for different teams in Lega Basket, the Italian professional league, and stayed in Europe in a new career as an NBA basketball scout.

During the mid-1990s, D’Amico started scouting for the Cleveland Cavaliers while continuing to coach in Italy. D’Amico stayed with Cleveland for 11 years, traveling throughout Europe to scout players 18 to 21 years old.

After his tenure with the Cavaliers, D’Amico did a brief stint as a European scout for the Toronto Raptors and then five years with the Orlando Magic.

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