St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Hy Gotkin Inducted Into National Jewish Sports Hall Of Fame
6/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
June 9, 2008
QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's legend Hy Gotkin, a recently-announced All-Century team member from the 1940s, joined a group of eight distinguished people from the world of sports as the 2008 class was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday. The 16th annual induction ceremony was held at the Suffolk Jewish Community Center in Commack, N.Y.
Gotkin, who passed away in 2004, will be honored among the 50 members of St. John's All-Century team at Tuesday night's 100 Years of Basketball Banquet at the New York Athletic Club in Manhattan. Gotkin played during the "Classic Times" of St. John's Basketball, an era that spans from 1940-73.
Gotkin's class of 2008 National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees also included: sports media personalities Sam Rosen and Tony Kornheiser; Olympic swimmer Lenny Krayzelburg; Olympic gymnast Kerri Strug; Olympic fencing champion Daniel Bukantz; football Hall of Famer Ron Mix; University of Tennessee men's basketball head coach Bruce Pearl.
The little man of St. John's "Mutt and Jeff" combination with 6-9 Harry Boykoff in the early 1940s, the 5-8 Gotkin was often scurrying down the court looking for methods to thwart the opposition. That was mostly setting up plays, especially to Boykoff, who was the first tall tower in New York basketball. The "Mutt and Jeff" nickname stemmed from the popular comic strip.
Gotkin led the 1943 and 1944 Redmen teams to the NIT title, the only member of St. John's first two NIT championship teams. As a sophomore in 1943, it was Gotkin's one-handed shot at the buzzer that downed Rice, 51-49, in the first round of the NIT Tournament. Gotkin ran the point for the Redmen during the 1944 season, keying the squad to its second-consecutive championship while Boykoff and Hall of Famer Dick McGuire were away from the team in military service surrounding World War II.
A steady scorer across his three-year career, Gotkin averaged 8.3 points per game as a sophomore, 8.9 as a junior and 8.0 as a senior.
Gotkin went on to serve as an administrator in the Brooklyn school system for many years.
