Ivan Leshinsky

{{short description|Israeli basketball player (born 1947)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Ivan Leshinsky
אייבן לישינסקי

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| position = Power forward / center

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 7

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| league = Israeli Basketball Premier League

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1947|2|5}}

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

| nationality = American / Israeli

| high_school = Midwood (Brooklyn, New York)

| college = LIU Brooklyn (1964–1968)

| draft_year = 1968

| draft_round = 10

| draft_pick = 130

| draft_team = Boston Celtics

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Ivan Leshinsky ({{Langx|he|אייבן לישינסקי}}; born February 5, 1947) is an American-Israeli former basketball player.{{Cite web|url=http://basket.co.il/player.asp?PlayerId=3658|title=מנהלת ליגת העל בכדורסל | כדורסל ישראלי | עונת 1968-69 | הפועל תל אביב | אייבן לישינסקי|website=basket.co.il}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/mar/1968/06/23/01/article/162|title=⁨הגיעו העולים־כדורסלנים מארה'בלישינםקיוזולוט ⁩ | ⁨מעריב⁩ | 23 יוני 1968 | אוסף העיתונות | הספרייה הלאומית|website=www.nli.org.il|date=June 23, 1968}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/mar/1970/03/08/01/article/131|title=⁨לישינסקי שוקל אפשרות לחזור בקרוב לארה"ב ⁩ | ⁨מעריב⁩ | 8 מרץ 1970 | אוסף העיתונות | הספרייה הלאומית|date=March 8, 1970|website=www.nli.org.il}} He played the forward and center positions.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/ivan-leshinsky-1.html|title=Ivan Leshinsky College Stats|website=College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thedraftreview.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=57&Itemid=342&limitstart=72|title=1968 NBA Draft|website=The Draft Review}} He played three seasons in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, and competed for the Israeli national basketball team.

Biography

Leshinsky was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is {{convert|6|ft|7|in|cm|abbr=on}} tall. He later lived in Annapolis, Maryland, starting in 1974, with his wife, Babette, and their son Eric, and after a number of years the family moved to Baltimore, Maryland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32693439/the-baltimore-sun/|title=Leshinksy Named Key cage coach|work= The Baltimore Sun|date=May 27, 1990|pages=240}}{{Cite web|url=https://issuu.com/urbanitemagazine/docs/march2008_issue|title=Wired, but not Quite Connected|date=March 2008 |website= Urbanite }}

Leshinsky grew up in Brooklyn living on Avenue J and Ocean Avenue, and attended P.S. 193.Argyle Art Rhine (September 2019). [http://www.westmidwood.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/West-Midwood-News-September-2019.pdf "Midwood Basketball, 1962, Part 2: The Greatest Basketball Game of All"], West Midwood News. He then attended Midwood High School ('63) in Brooklyn, where he played center for the basketball team.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/midwoodargus19630308_202001|title=Middies Top Generals|work=Midwood Argus|date=March 8, 1963}}

He attended Long Island University from 1963 to 1968. Leshinsky played for the LIU Blackbirds in 1967–68.{{Cite web|url=http://liupostpioneer.com/are-the-liu-sharks-in-fresh-waters/|title=Are the LIU Sharks in Fresh Waters? |work= The Pioneer|author= Jada Butler & Shannon Miller|date=June 28, 2019}} He played in the 1968 National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Leshinsky was selected by the Boston Celtics in the tenth round (130th pick overall) of 1968 NBA draft.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m99DCaqGoQ8C&dq=basketball+college+%22Ivan+Leshinsky%22&pg=PA131|title=The Basketball Draft Fact Book: A History of Professional Basketball's College Drafts|first=Robert D.|last=Bradley|date= 2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810890695}} He chose instead to go to Israel to play basketball.{{Cite web|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1991-01-13-9113000406-story.html|title=AT KEY SCHOOL, BASKETBALL AN AFTERTHOUGHT|first=Lem|last=Satterfield|website=The Baltimore Sun|date=January 13, 1991}}

He played three seasons in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, all for Hapoel Tel Aviv, from 1968 to 1971.

Leshinsky also played for the Israeli national basketball team.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/p/rpp//q//pid/64001/_//players.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211226180234/https://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/p/rpp//q//pid/64001/_//players.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 26, 2021|title= Ivan LISHINNSKY (ISR) |website=archive.fiba.com}} He competed in the 1969 FIBA European Championship for Men, averaging 14.7 points per game, and at the 1970 Asian Games, at which he won a silver medal with Team Israel.

He later studied at The George Washington University, earning an M.Ed., with a Special Education major.{{Cite web|url=https://alumnius.net/the_george_washingto-8069-346#id21487829|title=Ivan Leshinsky; The George Washington University, Washington D.C. Metro Area|website=Alumni US}}

Starting in 1974 Leshinsky began to work at, and in 1980 became the executive director of, the Chesapeake Foundation for Human Development in Baltimore, which operates programs for youths who are disadvantaged.

In 1990 Leshinsky was named the head basketball coach at the Key School in Annapolis.

References