A 6' 0" guard/forward, Tanenbaum played college basketball at New York University, where he was a two-time All-American and two-time Haggerty Award winner.[1] He also won the 1947 Bar Kochba Award, which honored him as the best Jewish American athlete. He left NYU as the school's all-time leading scorer, with 992 points.[2]
Sid Tanenbaum played two seasons (1947–49) in the Basketball Association of America as a member of the New York Knicks and Baltimore Bullets. He scored 633 points in 70 games and tallied 162 assists.[3] After his basketball career, he lived in Woodmere, NY with his wife Barbara and sons Steven and Michael. Sid owned a machine shop specializing in metal spinning (a lost art requiring unique skills) in Far Rockaway, Queens.[4]
Tanenbaum died on September 4, 1986, aged 60, after being stabbed to death by a local woman in his shop.[4] Police described Tanenbaum as "something of a benefactor in his neighborhood" who often gave money to people living in the streets. According to reports, he was stabbed because he decided to stop lending money to his attacker after assisting her many times in the past.[5]