Pini Gershon

Pini Gershon was born in 1951 in Tel Aviv

Pinhas Yair Gershon was born in Tel Aviv in 1951 and grew up in the south of the city. His mother was a Moroccan Jew and his father a Bulgarian Jew. His father left the family when he was 1 year old, and the family lived in poverty with an abusive stepfather.

He played basketball for Maccabi South Tel Aviv, a sister club of Maccabi Tel Aviv, in its youth and senior teams. An injury ended his playing career in 1974. He then coached Israeli clubs, winning the league title with Hapoel Galil Elyon in 1993 and the State Cup with Hapoel Jerusalem in 1996.

He became head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv at the end of 1998. With assistant David Blatt, he reached the 2000 EuroLeague final and won the 2001 FIBA SuproLeague. After a 2 season break, he returned and won the EuroLeague in 2004 and 2005, and was named EuroLeague Coach of the Year in 2005.

In 2006 he moved to Olympiacos in Greece, and he also coached the Bulgarian national team, leading it to qualify for EuroBasket 2009. He returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2008 and left in 2010. In 2001 he was accused of racism over remarks in a lecture, which he said were a joke.

He has close ties with the Chabad movement. He later joined the management of Hapoel Holon in 2011 and resigned in 2013.