Mike Eilenberg’s life is full of luck — some good, some bad

August 5, 2024 Andy Furman

Mike Eilenberg. Photo courtesy of Tammara Eilenberg

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Call it fate. Perhaps destiny. Or just luck.

Maybe all three – but perhaps Mike Eilenberg was meant to move to “Sin City.”

“I’ve been [in Las Vegas] 40 years,” the 79-year-old former New Utrecht High School basketball star told the Brooklyn Eagle. “I always rolled the dice, when I played and coached.”

He sure did. After a career which saw him place on the All-Brooklyn Second Team as a Utrecht senior, he was ready for the bright lights. So, he thought.

“I remember my very first game as a sophomore at Utrecht,” he said. “It was against Erasmus Hall, and they had Billly Cunningham, who later starred at North Carolina and in the NBA.”

The 6-4 sophomore – Eilenberg – scored 20 in that game. But there was only one problem.

“I was 6-4 when I was 13 years old,” he said. “And I never grew another inch. In fact,” he recalled, “Programs listed me at 6-6. They figured I had to have grown.”

It was not easy playing center at 6-4 in the Brooklyn Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL).
As for college, Mike Eilenberg needed more luck than skill.

“We were playing James Madison in our last game of the season for the Division championship,” he remembered like it was yesterday. “And we lost in overtime.”

Luck? Try this.

That Madison High team boasted Joel Hoffman and Bruce Kaplan as their stars —but Roy Rubin, the then LIU basketball coach was in the stands and offered Eilenberg a scholarship after the game.

As a freshman, the kid from 67th Street and 18th Avenue averaged 20 points-per-game and 15 rebounds – freshmen did not play on the varsity back then.
But then it was luck – bad luck – that entered the picture.

“I was injured most of my sophomore and junior years,” he said, “But in my senior year I started four or five games, got about 20-a-game, and….”

Guess what?

Injuries again.

“I was kneed in my thigh, buy a teammate, and couldn’t run much,” he said.
Yes, it is about time for some good luck.

“After graduation (Coach) Rubin called me and asked if I was in shape and if I wanted to play for the USA Maccabiah Team in ’69,” Eilenberg said. He did – and won a silver medal.

Asked if he still has it, he said: “I just gave it to my grandson this past summer. He’s a big sports fan.”

New Utrecht High School was a big part of Eilenberg’s life – a three-year basketball starter – so it was no surprise he returned as an assistant to then Head Coach Jack Gordon.

“I was Jack’s assistant for about five years,” he said. “And then I stopped and got out of it.”

This time, it was just plain hard luck.

“Jack (Gordon) announced his retirement at a Utrecht assembly in ’72,” Eilenberg said, “And to my surprise, at that announcement he said I would be his successor. I was thrilled.”

But not for long. Eilenberg claims the Physical Education Department Chairman told him he would not be getting the head coaching job, because, he cited, “Anyone with seniority over you can get it.”

That was the Board of Education ruling back then. Gordon, to his credit, kept on coaching several more seasons, but Eilenberg stopped. “There was no way I’d get the head coaching position,” he reasoned.

He remained a teacher at Utrecht until 1975 – and then moved to Sarah J. Hale High School – once an all-female school – now a comprehensive high school. “They needed male physical education teachers,” he said. “The freshmen class had boys; all the gym classes were co-ed.”

But perhaps the biggest stroke of luck came in 1970 – during the height of The Vietnam war.

“I was 25 ½,” he said. “The country did away with the draft exemptions, and went to a lottery system by date of birth. I was called for my physical.”

Talk about luck – get this.

“It was a Sunday, and I was playing basketball at the Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst (JCH, 7802 Bay Parkway) Senior League. I broke my ankle. Went to a hospital and had a cast put on it.”

Two days later he went for his Army physical. “The Army doctors cut the cast off to make sure my ankle was truly broke; and they gave me a six-moth deferment.”

Luck.

In 1982 Mike Eilenberg took that luck to Las Vegas. He started as a dealer, then moved to supervisor, and manager in dice.

He has been in the casino industry for over 40 years.

Don’t bet against him.

Andy Furman is a Fox sports radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected]; Twitter: @AndyFurmanFSR.