Hapoel Holon B.C.

Hapoel Holon B.C.
Leagues	Israeli Premier League Champions League
Founded	1947; 75 years ago (1947)
History	Hapoel Holon B.C. (1947–present)
Arena	Holon Toto Hall
Capacity	5,500
Location	Holon, Israel
Team colors	Purple and Yellow
CEO	Roy Dvora
President	Eitan Lanciano
Head coach	Guy Goodes
Team captain	Guy Pnini
Ownership	Shlomo Issac
Championships	1 Israeli Championship 2 Israeli State Cup 1 Balkan League
Website	hapoel-holon.co.il
Home Away

Hapoel Holon Basketball Club is a professional basketball club that is based in Holon, Israel. Holon plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, which is the top level division of Israeli pro club basketball. The club won their first Israeli Basketball Premier League national championship in 2008, after beating the perennial league champions Maccabi Tel Aviv in the competition's Final Four.

History[]

The club was founded in 1947.^[1][2][3] It was one of the founding clubs of the top division in 1954, finishing second in their first season.

Holon returned to the top division at the end of the 2006–07 season after playing for 7 years in the second and third divisions. They finished the 2007–08 regular season at the top of the table. They reached the Playoff Final, where they defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 73–72 to claim their first championship, with Malik Dixon scoring the winning shot two seconds prior to the end of the game.^[4] P. J. Tucker won the MVP title.^[5] It was the first time Maccabi Tel Aviv had failed to win the championship in 14 years.^[6]

The club has reached the final of the State Cup six times, but did not pick up their first prize in that competition until 2009, when Brian Tolbert hit a three-pointer as time expired to give them a 69–68 win over Maccabi Haifa in that year's final.^[7][4]

On January 16, 2010, the club celebrated its 1,000th game in the Ligat HaAl. In the 2009–10 season, the club was under scrutiny after failing to pay the balance of the prior year's staff and players throughout the end of the season.

In 2018, Holon won its second State Cup after beating Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Final, behind MVP Glen Rice Jr.^[8][4]

Arena[]

Holon Toto Hall, home arena of the club

Between the years 1953–2015, Hapoel Holon played its home games in the May 1 hall in Holon, Also known as the "tin hall" due to its being made of tin-like irons. It was inaugurated on the 5th Independence Day of the State of Israel, in 1953, in a game against Hapoel Tel Aviv, in which Hapoel Holon won 41:38. The hall was the first in the country to have lighting installed that made it possible to play in the dark.

Due to its low capacity of 2,800 seats, the tin hall was deemed unfit for hosting Israeli basketball premiere league games.

In 2012, A construction began of a new Hall in Park Peres - the Holon Toto Hall, named after Ofer Eshed, an iconic Hapoel Holon player in the past.

Since its completion in 2015, Hapoel Holon plays its home games at in the 5,500 seat Holon Toto Hall.^[5]

Honours[]

Guni Israeli

Roi Huber

Total titles: 3

Domestic[]

• Israeli Championships
  • Winners (1): 2007–08
  • Runners-up (3): 1954, 1955, 2018
  • semi-finals (9): 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1995, 1999, 2008, 2012, 2018
• State Cup
  • Winners (2): 2009, 2018
  • Runners-up (5): 1959, 1961, 1986, 1991, 1995
• League Cup
  • Runner-up (2): 2011, 2020

European[]

• Basketball Champions League

• Final 8 (1): 2020–21

• FIBA Europe Cup

• Semifinalist (1): 2018–19

• Balkan League
  • Winners (1): 2020–21

Season by season[]

Colors and mascot[]

The team's colors are yellow and purple after a Jewish American fan of the Los Angeles Lakers donated uniforms in the colors of his favorite club. Before that, the team played in red and white uniforms, like almost every 'Hapoel' team.

For many years Holon's mascot was a tiger. It appeared on the team's logo for many years and in the 1990s the team's logo read 'Hapoel Tigers Holon'. After the team won the 2007–08 National League championship, and upgraded to the first division, the old symbol was changed and redesigned, keeping Holon's symbol, the tiger.

Players[]

Current roster[]

Hapoel Holon roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age C 0 Zack, Steve 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 29 – (1992-12-10)10 December 1992 PG 1 Ragland, Joe 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) 32 – (1989-11-11)11 November 1989 G 3 Smith, Adam 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 29 – (1992-11-08)8 November 1992 SF 4 Johnson, Chris 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 31 – (1990-04-29)29 April 1990 PF 5 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 18 – (2003-11-05)5 November 2003 SG 8 Bourdillon, Frédéric 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 30 – (1991-05-16)16 May 1991 F 9 Menco, Rafi 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 27 – (1994-03-05)5 March 1994 F 10 Pnini, Guy (C) 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 38 – (1983-09-04)4 September 1983 PF 12 Kyser, Michale 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 30 – (1991-11-26)26 November 1991 PF 20 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 25 – (1996-06-20)20 June 1996 G 21 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 19 – (2002-07-13)13 July 2002 SG 24 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 22 – (2000-01-25)25 January 2000 SG 25 McGee, Tyrus 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 30 – (1991-03-14)14 March 1991 PG 44 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) 26 – (1995-07-25)25 July 1995 SG 55 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 19 – (2002-07-27)27 July 2002	Head coach Vacant Assistant coach(es) Amit Sherf Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: January 28, 2022

Depth chart[]

Notable players[]

A Hapoel Holon home game

Shlomi Harush

Holon's best homegrown player was Ofer Eshed who played for the club between 1957 and 1972. He is the all-time points leader in the team, with 7,495 points.

Israel Elimelech (nicknamed – The King) is considered to be the club's biggest symbol. He played in Holon during two decades, and led the team to many successful seasons in the Premier League. He played on the legendary home-grown team of Holon in the 1980s, with Niv Boogin (Doctor Boogin), Motti Daniel, Avi Maor, and the Israeli-American player Mike Carter (The Crazy – Meshugah), who was known for driving the fans crazy. Other notable players were: Tzahi Peled, Danny Hadar, Rami Zeig, and from very early days and the contingent of ex Egyptian players: Marcel Hefetz.

The team's 2 titles were won by 2 winning baskets, scored by the 2007–08 PG Malik Dixon, and 2008–09 SG Brian Tolbert. Dixon scored a two-pointer 2 seconds before the end of the championship match against Maccabi Tel-Aviv, leaving Maccabi a 2-second possession which they failed to score in. Tolbert scored a three-point buzzer-beater in the cup final, after he got the ball from an inbound pass by Deron Washington.

Over the years the club has signed several former NBA players, including P. J. Tucker, Ken Bannister, Clarence Kea, Cliff Pondexter, Albert King, Richard Dumas, and Dominic McGuire. John Thomas, who played in the 2009–10 season, is also a former NBA player, with a history in five teams, including the New Jersey Nets and Atlanta Hawks.

• Ofer Yaakobi
• Chaim Zlotikman

References[]

External links[]

• Official website (in Hebrew)
• Holoniafans – The Official fansite (in Hebrew)
• Fansite – The Kometz From Gate 3 (in Hebrew)