Maurice Podoloff

Maurice Podoloff (Ukrainian: Моріс Подолоф; August 18, 1890 – November 24, 1985) was a United States lawyer and basketball and ice hockey administrator. He served as the president of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1946–1949, and the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1949–1963.

Podoloff was born to a Jewish family somewhere in Ukraine, on or about August 18, 1890. Doubt remains about birthplace and birthday; some talks about Elizabethgrad, but he himself said he didn't know exactly: I guess they didn't keep records in Russia in those days, he said. I was born on either Aug. 18 or Aug. 31, and it was somewhere in Ukraine, possibly near Odessa. In young boyhood his family emigrated to the United States, where he graduated from Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Connecticut in 1909, and then from Yale University in New Haven with a law degree in 1915.

In 1926 Podoloff opened the New Haven Arena on Grove Street in downtown New Haven with his father and two brothers. The Arena held over 4,000 people and hosted ice hockey, concerts, and circus events before it was demolished in 1974.

A distinguished lawyer, he was of impeccable character and was instrumental in the development and success of professional basketball. On June 6, 1946, already serving as president of the American Hockey League, he was appointed president of the newly formed Basketball Association of America (BAA), becoming the first person to lead two professional leagues simultaneously.

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