Al Seiden

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Al Seiden

| height_ft = 5

| height_in = 10

| weight_lb = 170

| birth_date = {{birth date|1937|5|1}}

| birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2008|05|03|1937|05|01}}

| death_place =

| highschool = Jamaica (Queens, New York)

| college = St. John's (1956–1959)

| draft_year = 1959

| draft_round = 2

| draft_pick = 14

| draft_team = St. Louis Hawks

| career_start =

| career_end =

| career_position = Point guard

| career_number = 33

| years1 = 1961–1962

| team1 = Pittsburgh Rens

| highlights =

Consensus second-team All-American (1959)
Haggerty Award (1959)

}}

Alan Seiden (May 1, 1937 – May 3, 2008) was an American collegiate and professional basketball player. He led St. John's University to the 1959 National Invitation Tournament title and later played professionally with the Pittsburgh Rens of the American Basketball League. Seiden was so highly respected by his peers that it took the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame only five years to induct him (1995).

Seiden was a New York City schoolboy star at Jamaica High School, leading his team to the PSAL title in 1955 as a senior.[http://www.jewsinsports.org/profile.asp?sport=basketball&ID=238 Jews in Sports] He chose to stay close to home for college, playing for Hall of Fame coach Joe Lapchick at St. John's University. Seiden became a star at St. John's, leading the Redmen to two straight National Invitation Tournaments in 1958 and 1959. Seiden averaged 20.4 and 21.9 points per game as a junior and senior and ended his Redmen career with 1,374 points. He served as team captain both seasons[http://www.redstormsports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/stjo-great-names.html St. John's Centennial site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140825214613/http://www.redstormsports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/stjo-great-names.html |date=2014-08-25 }} Accessed September 23, 2010

He won a gold medal in basketball with Team USA in the 1957 Maccabiah Games, and was the top scorer in the tournament.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sGo8AQAAIAAJ&dq=al+%22axelrod%22+%22maccabiah%22&pg=RA53-PT1 | title=Israel Digest: A Bi-weekly Summary of News from Israel | year=1955 | publisher=Israel Office of Information. }}{{cite web | url=http://digitalmemory.stjohns.edu/digital/collection/redmanews/id/49/ | title=Page 1 }}

In 1959, Seiden led the Redmen to the NIT title as the unseeded 17–9 squad upset the field to win a tournament that was then seen as prestigious as the NCAA tournament. Seiden capped his senior season by being named a consensus second team All-American and won the Haggerty Award as the top player in the New York City metro area.{{cite book |last=Alfieri |first=Gus |year=2006 |title=Lapchick |publisher=Lyons Press |isbn=1-59228-869-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lapchicklifeofle0000alfi }}

After his college career ended, Seiden was drafted in the second round of the 1959 NBA draft by the St. Louis Hawks. He failed to make the roster, and played for the next few years in the Eastern Professional Basketball League and in 1961 with the Pittsburgh Rens of the American Basketball League.{{cite news |title= A Fallen Star of the City Game|author= George Vecsey|newspaper= The New York Times|date= May 6, 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/sports/ncaabasketball/06vecsey.html |access-date=September 23, 2010}} He would also play semi-professionally and in the summer, notably playing with indicted CCNY point-shaving scandal players Eddie Gard and Jack Molinas, the latter of whom would also be involved with the 1961 NCAA University Division men's basketball gambling scandal as well.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/sports/ncaabasketball/06vecsey.html | title=A Fallen Star of the City Game | work=The New York Times | date=May 6, 2008 | last1=Vecsey | first1=George }}

Seiden died on May 3, 2008, of complications from stroke.{{cite news |title= Alan Seiden, a Key to a St. John's N.I.T. Title, Is Dead at 71 |author= Richard Goldstein|newspaper= The New York Times|date= May 5, 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/sports/ncaabasketball/05seiden.html |access-date=September 23, 2010}}

In March 2011, he was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.{{cite news|url=http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/other/article378065.ece |title=Mesler inducted into Jewish shrine |work=The Buffalo News |date= March 27, 2011|access-date=March 28, 2011}}