Tom Mooradian on ‘Love, Basketball, and KGB’ in Watertown

WATERTOWN, Mass.—On Mon., April 4, Tom Mooradian, author and legendary basketball player in Soviet Armenia, will speak about “The Repatriate: Love, Basketball, and the KGB” at the dinner meeting of the St. James Armenian Church Men’s Club.

Born into the blue-collar immigrant community of southwest Detroit in 1928, Mooradian graduated from Southwestern High School in 1947 with high academic honors and offers of athletic scholarships. He joined a repatriation group of 150 other Armenians at the young age of 19 and went to Soviet Armenia, unknowingly renouncing his American citizenship. He eventually graduated from the Institute of Physical Culture and Sports with a bachelor’s degree, coached junior basketball teams, and became a legendary basketball player for Soviet Armenia. He crossed paths with many Americans, including Roy Essoyan, foreign correspondent assigned to Moscow, Eleanor Roosevelt , and the Harlem Globetrotters. After spending 13 years trying to return to his homeland, he was granted an exit visa by the Soviet government. He subsequently attended and graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich., with a major in journalism, and worked for Detroit suburban newspapers until his retirement in 2003.