Mel Hirsch

Mel Hirsch
	Hirsch in 1945
Personal information
Born	July 31, 1921
Died	December 1968 (aged 47)
Nationality	American
Listed height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Listed weight	165 lb (75 kg)
Career information
College	Brooklyn (1939–1943)
Playing career	1946–1947
Position	Point guard
Number	3
Career history
1946–1947	Boston Celtics
	Stats at NBA.com
	Stats at Basketball Reference

Melvin M. Hirsch (July 31, 1921 – December 1968) was an American professional basketball player.^[1]^[2] He played for the Boston Celtics of the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which would later become the National Basketball Association (NBA), for 13 games in the 1946–47 season. At 5 feet 6 inches tall, he was the shortest player in NBA history until Muggsy Bogues more than 40 years later. He is the third shortest NBA player of all time, after Bogues and Earl Boykins.

A stand-out player at Brooklyn College, Hirsch graduated in 1943 and served in the US Army Air Corps as a Navigator on C-47 aircraft in the 13th Troop Carrier Squadron in the South Pacific. He played on the squadron's officer's basketball team.^[3]

Hirsch died in December 1968, aged 47, from leukemia.

BAA career statistics

Year	Team	GP	FG%	FT%	APG	PPG
1946–47	Boston	13	.200	.500	.8	1.5
Career		13	.200	.500	.8	1.5

^ "Mel Hirsch Stats". Basketball Reference. Accessed on June 16, 2017.
^ Grasso, John; Bradley, Robert; Hoover, Bill; Bender, David; Lawler, Frank (June 27, 2012). "Known deceased basketball individuals". APBR.org. The Association for Professional Basketball Research. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
^ "The Thirsty 13th," by Seth Washburne, published 2011.