David Schweitzer

David Schweitzer was born in 1925 in Tel Aviv

David Schweitzer was born in Tel Aviv in 1925. His father, Aryeh Schweitzer, came to the country in the Second Aliyah and was active in Mapai.

He began as a basketball player with Hapoel Tel Aviv and also played football with Hapoel HaTzafon Tel Aviv. During the War of Independence he joined the IDF and was wounded. He then left basketball and played as a right back for Hapoel Tel Aviv until 1955.

He played 6 games for the Israel national team between 1949 and 1954. At Hapoel Haifa he coached the youth team and later the senior team, and he studied coaching in Cologne, Germany. He then served as player-coach of Hapoel Kiryat Haim.

As a coach he won league titles with Hapoel Ramat Gan, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Netanya. He was the first coach to win the title with both Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv. He led Israel to the 1974 Asian Games final and the 1976 Olympic quarterfinals, and his son said he also worked for the Mossad and Shin Bet in the 1970s.

He won the State Cup with Beitar Jerusalem in 1985 and coached Maccabi Jaffa in 1992. He died in 1997.