Streusand, Ira

According to the encyclopedia of JEWS in sports, Streusand was responsible for the professional rule which forced each player to shoot his own foul shots. Considered one of the greatest players to come out of the Lower East Side, Streusand was an outstanding player at City College of New York before playing professionally in the 1910s. He is a member of the CCNY Athletic Hall of Fame.

Birth and Death Dates:
b. March 10, 1890 - d. June 3, 1964

Career Highlights:
Streusand, the son of a rabbi who felt athletics were a waste of time, grew up on the Lower East Side of New York. He began playing basketball in 1901 at the age of 11, when he walked by the Clark Settlement House and was asked by the director to join the basketball team. A few years later as a teenager, Streusand played at the University Settlement with other future greats Barney Sedran, Marty Friedman, Harry Brill, and Lou Sugarman. The team, nicknamed the Busy Izzies," won the Inter-Settlement title as midgets (under 106 pounds) and Streusand credited Harry Baum with teaching them how to play. Ira explained that, "...as kids, we were all physicaly inferior. We were really midgets; hardly weighed anything at all. But Baum taught us teamwork and a new brand of ball and we ran everyone ragged."

Streusand attended Townsend Harris High School in New York City and then enrolled in City College of New York (CCNY) in 1907. Two days after entering college as a freshman, he played for the varsity basketball team and scored 22 of CCNY's 28 points in a victory over Army, 28-23. Although City College lost their next game against Fordham 22-13, they won their final three games to finish the season 8-1. In 1908, Streusand was named Helms All-America as City outscored their opponents 398-196 and had a record of 9-2. Ira then captained the CCNY team to a 8-3 record in 1909.

After leaving CCNY, Ira entered NYU Law School and turned professional, but also played at NYU since eligibility rules were different. He said of the early days of professional basketball: "Pro basketball in those early days was the hardest physical game imaginable. We played in cages - courts that were completely enclosed - first with chicken wire and then with rope netting. The chicken wire was eight feet high and the ball was always in play...and if pro basketball was rough so was college ball for a Jewish youngster. I ran into anti-Semitism everywhere, from my first collegiate game until I retired from basketball. I don't know how many times I heard, 'Get the little sheenie.'"

In 1911-12, Ira played in the Hudson River League for Newburg and led the league in scoring with a remarkable 12.7 points per game (253 points) -- this at a time when many teams scored only 20 points a game! He was later AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) basketball commissioner in the 1930s.

Origin:
Austria

Career Dates:
Streusand played at CCNY, 1907-1909, and played for NYU in 1909. He played for many independent professional teams from 1909-1913.

Physical description:
5'6 1/2", 120 pounds

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