The 1947 B’nai Brith Basketball team became known in Ottawa and Canada as the only Ottawa team to reach a Canadian basketball final.

In 1947, the team was coached by  Coach Rube Molot and managed by John Greenberg. The team was made up of Boris Blacher, Henry Feller, Ralph Saslove, Elliott Levitan, Abe Moison, Morley Goldfield, Irv Shapero, Gord Viner, Joe Bodnoff, Norm Torontow, and Bill Segal. 

The team didn’t have a designated court to play on and the beloved Chapel Street JCC wouldn’t be built for another few years. As a result, practices were often held late at night when they could get access to the court at the YMCA gym on the corner of Laurier and Metcalfe, sometimes playing as late as 10pm.

In 1947, they were playing in a 10-team league where they weren’t playing very well. To everyone's surprise, in their last league game they won, bringing them fourth in the league and qualified them for the playoffs. From here, they only went up. They won the city final against the Tech Grads, and won a home-and-home series against Cornwall and then against the Montreal Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA). The Peterborough team came to Ottawa for two games and B’nai Brith beat them in that series as well. This meant that the team had made it to the finals in New Brunswick. 

The finals posed a problem for the team; they had a limited budget which meant they would need to take the train and be away from home for anywhere from 10 days to two weeks. Coach Rube Molot told the team “we can’t do the impossible. We’ll just have to excuse anyone doesn’t make the trip and do the best we can.” Despite the worry, the entire team made the trip, including fan and supporter Sol Ages. The team made their way to Moncton, NB and beat the Catholic Youth Movement team, earning themselves a spot on the National Final. 

The team then moved on to New Waterford for the championship series. They were beaten by 17 points in the first game and then won their final game by 15 points. Unfortunately, it was not enough to win the championship. Despite the fact that they did not win, the boys came back proud and became known as the only Ottawa team to reach a Canadian basketball final.