Aulcie Perry

Aulcie Perry was born in 1950 in Newark

Perry was born in Newark, New Jersey, on July 3, 1950, the middle child of 3 in a Baptist Christian family. He grew up in a neighborhood with crime and violence and played basketball from childhood. He attended West Side High School in Newark.

He studied at Bethune-Cookman in Florida and played college basketball there. The Boston Celtics picked him in the 1974 NBA draft. He played briefly for the Virginia Squires and then won 2 EBA titles with the Allentown Jets.

In 1976 he joined Maccabi Tel Aviv and became its center. The team won the European Champions Cup in 1977 and again in 1981. He converted to Judaism, took the name Elisha ben Avraham and became an Israeli citizen.

In 1983 he was charged with buying heroin, pleaded guilty and received a fine and a suspended sentence. In 1987 a New York court convicted him of heroin smuggling offenses and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

He was released in January 1992 and returned to Israel, where he managed a Burger Ranch restaurant. He sponsors a basketball camp for children and coaches a Maccabi Tel Aviv youth team.