Jerry Nemer

Jerome "Jerry" Nemer (January 7, 1912 – December 7, 1980) was an American basketball player at the University of Southern California (USC) who became the first Jew to captain a major athletic team at the school.^[1] Nemer had enrolled at USC in the fall of 1929 to play for the basketball and baseball teams, but Sam Barry, who coached both sports, felt that the basketball team needed more help, so Nemer quit baseball to focus on basketball.^[2]

College

Nemer earned three varsity letters while playing with the basketball team from 1930–31 through 1932–33. In 1930–31, his sophomore year, he averaged 7.8 points per game in league play, which was the 10th highest average in the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC).^[1] As a junior the following year, Nemer averaged 12.0 points per game and was named to the PCC South Division First Team as well as USC's most valuable player.^[1] Nemer had a breakout senior season in 1932–33. He guided the Trojans to an overall record of 18–5 (10–1 in conference) as they won the PCC South Division title.^[1] They lost to Oregon, the winners of the North Division, in a best-of-three championship series to decide the conference's outright winner.^[1] Although he averaged only 9.0 points per game, Nemer was voted as a consensus NCAA All-American.^[3]

Later life

After college, Nemer played basketball in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) for the Firestone Non-Skids for several years.^[1] He became an AAU basketball referee in 1942, and then in 1948 he formed a law firm with Irwin Buchalter and Murray Fields called Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger.^[1][4] Nemer worked as a lawyer in Los Angeles for the rest of his life. Nemer died in December 1980, and to commemorate his life, USC created the Jerome Nemer Lecture Series.^[1] The series was created to explore Jewish thinkers' contributions to Western life.^[1]

References