The Unsolved Mystery of John Brisker's Disappearance: What Happened to the Former ABA Player?
The Unsolved Mystery of John Brisker's Disappearance:...
By Oliver Wiener July 29, 2024 06:26
John Brisker was born in Detroit, Michigan, on June 15, 1947. The main thing that can be gleaned from Brisker's youth in the Hamtramck neighborhood is that he was an unabashed kid. He went to the University of Toledo on a full basketball scholarship and played tuba in the marching band.
Brisker began his basketball career in 1969 with the Pittsburgh Pipers of the American Basketball Association (ABA). Brisker made two ABA All-Star teams and was a member of the 1968 Pipers team that won an ABA championship.
Brisker later signed with the Seattle SuperSonics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1972, following a short month-long stint with the Pittsburgh Condors. In Seattle, he was also a star on the court. He averaged over 26 points per game and scored near or at fifty on many occasions. However, his combative attitude and confrontations with coach Bill Russell increased frustrations, resulting in Brisker spending more time sitting on the bench.
Brisker's NBA career had ended in 1975 when the SuperSonics declined to re-sign him and accused him of being disruptive in practice while failing, in coach Bill Russell's opinion, to fit into Seattle's team concept. From there, Brisker went on to play for the Cherry Hill Rookies of the Eastern Basketball Association (EBA) before truly falling into obscurity.
Brisker's Disappearance
The last communication anyone has ever had with the former basketball player occurred on April 11, 1978, when John Brisker called a friend in Seattle. His disappearance is covered with almost as much nihility. He was thought to have gone to Uganda, where he reportedly had some business dealings and even a meeting with the despot Idi Amin. Nevertheless, other accounts of what Brisker did in the jungles and behind enemy lines in Africa still need to be discovered.
The FBI also joined the hunt for Brisker, but evidence wasn't made available to them. State Department officials were unable to confirm that Brisker had ever visited Africa, making an already mysterious case even more befuddling.
Theories and Investigations
Without hard information, myriad theories and rumors about Brisker vanishing have surfaced throughout the years.
The theory with the most staying power is that Brisker was executed at the behest of Idi Amin, Uganda's despotic leader. Amin, the "Butcher of Uganda," had killed some 300,000 people during his rule, and it has been suggested that Brisker may have somehow gotten on Amin's nerves by killing or imprisoning him. But that theory met with plenty of skepticism, as there was no tangible link between Brisker's vanishing and Amin or the Ugandan government.
The FBI and numerous private investigators were never able to solve the mystery of Brisker's disappearance. Brisker was officially declared dead by the King County Medical Examiner in 1985 so that his estate could be settled.
Impact and legacy
The disappearance of John Brisker has subsequently become one of the most compelling and interesting tales in basketball history. Brisker's final act remains one of professional basketball's most prominent mysteries. The problem for Brisker's family and acquaintances was that they never received the requisite answers. Michelle Brisker, John's wife, petitioned for a divorce from her husband in 1977, claiming that she'd been beaten throughout much of their time together. Afterward, no one close to Brisker ever heard from him again. As a result, his loved ones and close associates had to continue to speculate and undergo mental pain.
Brisker's dissension into myth has taken on a bitter irony over the closing of the century, shortly after he murdered the ABA. Brisker's disappearance inspired many speculative books and books about him, including Detroit Mercy, a novel by Gare Joyce that imagines the final days of Brisker's life. Although the case is now long overdue, the facts remain unproved, and the backstories stay secret, adding little value to all those who knew him in his own right and potential to those who merely know him about him.
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