Sidney “Sonny” Hertzberg, who died Monday at 82, was captain of the original New York Knickerbockers of the fledgling Basketball Association of America, predecessor to the NBA.

After leading the Knicks in scoring with 515 points in 59 games in 1946, the team’s maiden season, Hertzberg was hired away by the Washington Capitals. He played there under the legendary Red Auerbach for two seasons, then played two additional seasons for the Celtics.

In the 1950-51 season, he led the league in scoring. He retired following the 1951-52 season after grooming his successor, Bob Cousy.

Hertzberg’s wife was pregnant, and he needed a more reliable income. He joined her father’s optical firm as an optician.

“Everybody in my day had an off-season job or sideline because we knew we’d have to go out and make a living sooner or later, and probably sooner,” Hertzberg told the Wall Street Journal in 2001. “That doesn’t occur to a lot of players today.”

A native of Brooklyn, Hertzberg was an all-city player at Samuel J. Tilden High School before starring at City College. CCNY’s coach, Nat Holman, called him “one of the five best players” he had ever coached. Hertzberg led the Beavers to two National Invitational Tournament appearances.

After graduating, Hertzberg played semi-pro basketball in the American Basketball League for several years, for such New York teams as the Jewels, the Americans, and the Gothams. “You might be playing for one team in one league one night, another team another night, and a third team in a different league the next night,” he told the Orange County Register in 1997.

That changed with the launch of the BAA. Few took the Knicks seriously at first; basketball at the time was primarily a college sport, and the Knicks established their credibility in scrimmages with college teams.

Many of the players were alumni of local colleges, and with players with names like Kaplowitz, Hertzberg, Schectman, Rosenstein, and Gottlieb, the Knicks gained a reputation among fans as a Jewish team. The team trained initially on outdoor courts at a Catskills resort, the Nevele.

A crowd of more than 17,000 turned out for the team’s home opener at Madison Square Garden against the Chicago Stags on November 11, 1946. Hertzberg scored a team-high 19 points in a game that ended regulation with a desperate one-handed toss by a former Long Island University star, Ossie Schechtman, which tied the score, 64-64. The Knicks lost in overtime. The one-handed shot was unusual in an era when Hertzberg, like most players, used a two-handed set shot, no jumping.

Hertzberg, who stayed abreast of the game and could often be found at Knicks games, thought the old style of play was in some ways more artful. “Players today get to the basket better than we did, but we took better care of the ball. I think we moved it better, too,” he said. “It wasn’t uncommon for everyone on the team to handle the ball before a shot was taken. Today, there’s one or two touches, and up it goes.”

Play could be physically demanding. “You always had someone holding you or slowing you up with a fist in your chest,” Hertzberg said. Also, the facilities left much to be desired.

During the 1946-47 league playoffs, “Cleveland’s floor wasn’t the best to play on. There were nails and splinters and whatnot. I ripped my leg up, and somebody else got cut,” Hertzberg told the official historian of the Knicks, Dennis D’Agostino. “Every call went to Cleveland … we went into the locker room and we were hosed. We were waiting for words of wisdom from the coach, and the first thing Neil [Cohalan] said to us was, ‘Fellows, I hope there’s beer on the train.’ That was very important to him. So that gives you an idea.”

After the 1951-52 season, Hertzberg returned to the Knicks as a scout while joining the family optical business. He later worked as an analyst for WPIX and NBC television broadcasts. He eventually took a job with Bear Sterns, where he rose to the position of managing director, retiring in 2003. As a sideline, he offered financial advice to NBA players.

“They make enormous money, but they spend big, too,” he told the Journal. “If anything, I think they’re more fearful about their futures than we were.”

Sidney Hertzberg

Born July 29, 1922, in Brooklyn; died July 25 at his home in Woodmere, Long Island, of heart failure; survived by his wife, Irene; daughter, Lois Nevitt; son, Howard Hertzberg, and four grandchildren.