Aulcie Perry
Encyclopedia
Aulcie Perry (born July 3, 1950) is a retired American
-Israeli basketball
player. He led Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. to two European championships
during his nine seasons with the team. In 1987, Perry was convicted of drug-smuggling.
, New Jersey
, U.S.
He attended West Side High School
there. He graduated from Bethune-Cookman University in Florida
. He played basketball in high school and at college.
was signed to the Virginia Squires
of the American Basketball Association
in 1974. Perry was cut from the team during the 1974–75 season, however, and spent the balance of the season with the Allentown Jets
of the Eastern Professional Basketball League (the predecessor to the Continental Basketball Association
). The following season he was signed by the New York Knicks
, but he never played for the team. Released by the Knicks, Perry returned to the Jets.
During the summer of 1976, Perry was spotted by a scout
for Maccabi Tel Aviv while playing at the Rucker courts
in Harlem
. Maccabi Tel Aviv signed Perry for US$
6,000 a month, a small sum by American standards but one of the highest salaries in the European league in which Israel competed. The other players on the team responded to his leadership and the team had what Sports Illustrated
writer Alexander Wolff
described as "the most extraordinary season in its remarkable history" and what Perry called "the best nine months of [his] life". In 1977 Perry led the team to its first European Cup championship, a prize they took again four years later. Perry played a total of nine seasons with Maccabi Tel Aviv, during which the team won six Israel Cups and was league champions seven times.
Perry became a celebrity in Israel. He was congratulated by Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin
and Menachem Begin
, who said he helped bring "honor to the people of Israel". He began dating Israeli model
Tami Ben Ami, and the couple were the darlings of the press. Everywhere Perry went he was besieged by fans seeking his autograph. His name became a generic phrase for a tall person; one Israeli might remark to another that her child had grown into a real Aulcie Perry, and a children's song by Arik Einstein
included the lyrics "If only I were tall like Aulcie Perry".
After the 1977–78 season, Perry converted to Judaism
. He adopted the Hebrew
name Elisha ben Avraham . Shortly thereafter, Perry became an Israeli citizen.
. The team told reporters that he was sick with the flu
, but in fact a worsening drug problem had kept him from the game. In March 1983, Perry was arrested and charged with buying heroin; he pleaded guilty and was given a fine of $150,000 and a suspended sentence
.
Perry and his cousin, Kenneth Johnson, were detained in September 1985 when they flew from Amsterdam
to New York
. Johnson was arrested when customs
officials found that the portable stereo he was carrying contained 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg) of 89 percent pure heroin with an estimated street value of $1.8 million. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
spent the next several months accumulating evidence against Perry, who they suspected was involved with the drug smuggling. In January 1986, a warrant
was issued for his arrest. After nine months of fighting extradition
, Perry returned to New York for trial.
At the trial, prosecutors portrayed Perry as the mastermind behind the smuggling scheme. Johnson had never been abroad before, but Perry was an experienced traveler. Perry had paid for airline tickets in cash, and he was seen traveling with a bagful of cash. Finally, a flight attendant recognized him from the airplane, where Perry had been holding the portable stereo.
In February 1987, Perry was convicted of conspiracy to import heroin, importation of heroin, and possession of heroin with intent to distribute. Two months later he was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was released in January 1992.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-Israeli basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player. He led Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. to two European championships
Fiba European Champions Cup and Euroleague history
-FIBA Champions Cup for men's clubs-origins and early history :L'Equipe is widely credited for birthing the idea of European club competition, first and foremost in European football . Basketball was soon to latch onto the quickly successful idea and the idea was discussed by FIBA during the 1957...
during his nine seasons with the team. In 1987, Perry was convicted of drug-smuggling.
Early life
Perry was born in NewarkNewark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
He attended West Side High School
West Side High School (New Jersey)
West Side High School is a four-year public high school in Newark, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as part of the Newark Public Schools....
there. He graduated from Bethune-Cookman University in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. He played basketball in high school and at college.
Basketball career
The 6 foot 10 inch, 215 pound (2.1 m, 98 kg) centerCenter (basketball)
The center, colloquially known as the five or the post, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is normally the tallest player on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well...
was signed to the Virginia Squires
Virginia Squires
The Virginia Squires were a basketball franchise in the former American Basketball Association from 1970 until just before the ABA-NBA merger in 1976.-In Oakland :...
of the American Basketball Association
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
in 1974. Perry was cut from the team during the 1974–75 season, however, and spent the balance of the season with the Allentown Jets
Allentown Jets
The Allentown Jets were a minor league basketball team that played in the Eastern Professional Basketball League from 1958 to 1981. The team was one of the most dominant franchises in CBA/Eastern League history, winning eight playoff championships and twelve division titles.Originally formed in...
of the Eastern Professional Basketball League (the predecessor to the Continental Basketball Association
Continental Basketball Association
The Continental Basketball Association was a professional men's basketball league in the United States, which has been on hiatus since the 2009 season.- History :...
). The following season he was signed by the New York Knicks
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
, but he never played for the team. Released by the Knicks, Perry returned to the Jets.
During the summer of 1976, Perry was spotted by a scout
Scout (sport)
In professional sports, scouts are trained talent evaluators who travel extensively for the purposes of watching athletes play their chosen sports and determining whether their set of skills and talents represent what is needed by the scout's organization...
for Maccabi Tel Aviv while playing at the Rucker courts
Rucker Park
Rucker Park is a basketball court in the Harlem neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located at 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard across the street from the former Polo Grounds site...
in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
. Maccabi Tel Aviv signed Perry for US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
6,000 a month, a small sum by American standards but one of the highest salaries in the European league in which Israel competed. The other players on the team responded to his leadership and the team had what Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
writer Alexander Wolff
Alexander Wolff
Alexander Wolff is a writer for Sports Illustrated and former owner of the Vermont Frost Heaves of the Premier Basketball League .He has written several books about basketball, among them Big Game, Small World , a look at basketball around the world...
described as "the most extraordinary season in its remarkable history" and what Perry called "the best nine months of [his] life". In 1977 Perry led the team to its first European Cup championship, a prize they took again four years later. Perry played a total of nine seasons with Maccabi Tel Aviv, during which the team won six Israel Cups and was league champions seven times.
Perry became a celebrity in Israel. He was congratulated by Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....
and Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin
' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
, who said he helped bring "honor to the people of Israel". He began dating Israeli model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
Tami Ben Ami, and the couple were the darlings of the press. Everywhere Perry went he was besieged by fans seeking his autograph. His name became a generic phrase for a tall person; one Israeli might remark to another that her child had grown into a real Aulcie Perry, and a children's song by Arik Einstein
Arik Einstein
Arik Einstein is an Israeli singer-songwriter.Einstein was a vocalist for Batzal Yarok , Shleeshiyat Gesher Hayarkon and Hahalonot Hagvohim . His collaboration with Shalom Hanoch and the Churchills planted the seeds for the first Israeli rock albums...
included the lyrics "If only I were tall like Aulcie Perry".
After the 1977–78 season, Perry converted to Judaism
Conversion to Judaism
Conversion to Judaism is a formal act undertaken by a non-Jewish person who wishes to be recognised as a full member of the Jewish community. A Jewish conversion is both a religious act and an expression of association with the Jewish people...
. He adopted the Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
name Elisha ben Avraham . Shortly thereafter, Perry became an Israeli citizen.
Drug problems
In December 1982, Perry missed a game against Real Madrid BaloncestoReal Madrid Baloncesto
Real Madrid Baloncesto is a Spanish professional basketball team founded in 1932 as a division of the Real Madrid club. They play in the Asociación de Clubes de Baloncesto ....
. The team told reporters that he was sick with the flu
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
, but in fact a worsening drug problem had kept him from the game. In March 1983, Perry was arrested and charged with buying heroin; he pleaded guilty and was given a fine of $150,000 and a suspended sentence
Suspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...
.
Perry and his cousin, Kenneth Johnson, were detained in September 1985 when they flew from Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Johnson was arrested when customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
officials found that the portable stereo he was carrying contained 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg) of 89 percent pure heroin with an estimated street value of $1.8 million. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
spent the next several months accumulating evidence against Perry, who they suspected was involved with the drug smuggling. In January 1986, a warrant
Warrant (law)
Most often, the term warrant refers to a specific type of authorization; a writ issued by a competent officer, usually a judge or magistrate, which permits an otherwise illegal act that would violate individual rights and affords the person executing the writ protection from damages if the act is...
was issued for his arrest. After nine months of fighting extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
, Perry returned to New York for trial.
At the trial, prosecutors portrayed Perry as the mastermind behind the smuggling scheme. Johnson had never been abroad before, but Perry was an experienced traveler. Perry had paid for airline tickets in cash, and he was seen traveling with a bagful of cash. Finally, a flight attendant recognized him from the airplane, where Perry had been holding the portable stereo.
In February 1987, Perry was convicted of conspiracy to import heroin, importation of heroin, and possession of heroin with intent to distribute. Two months later he was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was released in January 1992.
After prison
After his release from prison, Perry returned to Israel, where he manages a Burger Ranch restaurant. He sponsors a basketball camp for children in Israel. Perry also coaches one of Maccabi Tel Aviv's youth teams.External links
- Basketball for Stars, Perry's basketball camp