Funeral services are scheduled for tomorrow for Maurice Podoloff, the former commissioner of the National Basketball Association, who died here Sunday night at a rest home. He was 95 years old.
Born in Russia in 1890, Podoloff came to the United States as a child, later attending Yale Law School from where he graduated in 1915. In 1926, Podoloff, along with his brother and father, built an arena here and placed a team in the Canadian-American Hockey League.
He held various posts in the Canadian-American Hockey League, finally becoming its president in 1936. He was later named president of the American Hockey League which was formed through the merger of the Canadian-American Hockey League and the International League. He served as president of the American Hockey League until 1952.
In 1946, Podoloff was elected president of the Basketball Association of America. He became commissioner of the National Basketball Association in 1951 after the BAA merged with the National Basketball League. Podoloff, who was fluent in Yiddish, retired from his NBA post in 1963.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
