Mark Turenshine
American-Israeli basketball player (1944–2016)
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Mark Turenshine (also spelled "Torenshine"; Hebrew: מרק טורנשיין; December 20, 1944 – February 26, 2016) was an American-Israeli basketball player. He played for Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Israel Basketball Premier League from 1969 to 1977, and for the Israeli national basketball team.
(Brooklyn, New York)
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 20, 1944 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | February 26, 2016 (aged 71) |
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Sheepshead Bay (Brooklyn, New York) |
| College | St. Francis Brooklyn (1963–1966) |
| NBA draft | 1966: undrafted |
| Career history | |
| ?–? | Hapoel Tel Aviv |
Biography
Turenshine was born in Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish family.[1][2] He was 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m).[3][4] He was later a resident of Canoga Park, California. [1]
He attended and played basketball at Sheepshead Bay High School ('62).[5] It inducted Turenshine into the Sheepshead Bay High School Hall of Fame in 2012.[1][6]
Turenshine then attended St. Francis College, and played basketball for the St. Francis Terriers.[7] In college he had a .558 per cent field goal percentage, including a .741 field goal percentage in the 1964–65 season.[7] He was voted into the St. Francis College Hall of Fame in 2000. In 1966-67 he was voted New York City Amateur Athlete of the Year for basketball by the Downtown Athletic Club.[5]
He played in the 1966 Pan American Maccabiah Games in Brazil, at which Team USA won a gold medal.[8][9] He played with, among others, Barry Leibowitz and future NBA players Dave Newmark and Rick Weitzman.[9][10]
In 1968, Turenshine made aliyah.[1] He joined the Israeli professional basketball team Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Israel Basketball Premier League, playing for it from 1969 to 1977.[11][12]
Turenshine also played for the Israeli national basketball team in the 1969 European Championship for Men, 1970 Asian Olympics (winning a silver medal), 1971 European Championship for Men, and 1972 Pre-Olympic Basketball Tournament.[13]
He later returned to the United States and became a businessman. He rose to the position of general manager of the personal emergency services company Life Alert, where he worked for 35 years.[1]
Turenshine died in 2016 and was buried at Mount Sinai, Simi Valley, California.[1]