By Andrew Coen
Hertzberg, a captain of the Knickerbockers in 1946-47, the first season of the Basketball Association of America, now known as the National Basketball Association, led his home-city team to a 33-27 record and a playoff appearance.
Hertzberg also played for the Washington Capitols and Boston Celtics before retiring from the NBA in 1951, after 293 career games. Upon his retirement, he moved to the Five Towns, worked as a scout and assistant coach for the Knicks and eventually became a TV analyst for NBC and WPIX.
Hertzberg, a member of Congregation Sons of Israel in Woodmere for 55 years as well as the Inwood Country Club, was managing director of Bear Stearns Inc., a leading New York brokerage firm, in his post-NBA life, and counseled fellow professional basketball players on investing once they retired.
"As captain and high scorer for the original New York Knicks and later the Boston Celtics, Sonny Hertzberg was a sports hero for millions of Americans," said Rabbi Bruce Ginsburg, spiritual leader of Congregation Sons of Israel. "More than that, he was a special source of pride for Jews, who saw him as a symbol of our coming of age in the post-war era. Most importantly, he was a genuine, warm, fun-loving family man and trusted neighbor and friend."
"He was in the true sense of the word a gentleman," said Saul Teplitz, Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Sons of Israel, who was spiritual leader of the conservative Woodmere synagogue for 28 years while Hertzberg was a member there. "He was a warm human being."
Hertzberg grew up in Brooklyn and was an all-city star at Samuel J. Tilden High School. He played for City College of New York, a college basketball power at the time, in the early 1940s. Before joining the Knicks, he played semi-pro ball in New York in the American Basketball League.
The 6-foot-tall, 175-pound Hertzberg, who finished seventh in the NBA in free-throw percentage and 10th in assists per game in 1950-51, his final season, is a member of the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame, the Old-Timers Basketball Hall of Fame, the City College Hall of Fame and the National Jewish-American Hall of Fame. Known as an effective two-handed shooter, scored he 2,563 points in his five-year NBA career.
Hertzberg is survived by a daughter, Lois Nevitt; a son, Howard; a son-in-law, Bob Nevitt; a daughter-in-law, Leslie; and six grandchildren, Alyse, David, Lindsey, Jerry, Dana and Nikki.
Funeral services were held at Boulevard-Riverside Chapels in Hewlett.
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