JERUSALEM — Every time Tal Brody crossed the Lower Trenton Bridge over the Delaware River as a child, he saw the sign that reads "Trenton Makes, The World Takes."

Brody may be living proof of the slogan, having left New Jersey's capital, his native city, to become Israel's most famous basketball star. After a career that included leading Israel to a shocking victory over a Russian team to win the 1977 European championships, Brody became an activist helping children at risk.

Now he has set his sights on a new challenge.

Brody wants to become the first Jersey native elected to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, since Newark-born Marcia Freedman, who served from 1973 to 1977. He announced this week that he is seriously considering running for the Knesset with Likud at the request of the party's chairman, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Since retiring from basketball in the late '70s, Brody has volunteered with many charities and spoken around the world on behalf of Israel's Foreign Ministry and American-Jewish organizations. He chairs the Spirit of Israel, an Israeli organization that helps children at risk. Other issues he is involved with include improving Israel's image abroad and encouraging aliya.

Last year, Brody took a group of basketball players from Nahariya who had endured the Second Lebanon War to New Jersey. When they played a game at Princeton University, Brody received a surprise visit from his Trenton Central High School basketball coach Fred Price (Brody's team when he was a senior in 1961 had a 24-0 record, winning the NJ high school championship).

Two years ago, Brody helped three high school students who had been evacuated from the former Gush Katif bloc of settlements in the Gaza Strip to a program in New Jersey. The Israeli youngsters studied and played basketball at the Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School in South River.

Brody acted as a matchmaker, setting up children who lacked homes with the school. After Brody watched the Gush Katif high school basketball championship on television the day before the evacuation was due to begin, he called the Gush Katif coach and offered to give some of the players a new start.

"People can see from my track record that I am able to do a lot of things that others can't do, because I have been able to take advantage of my name," Brody said.

Brody, 63, said the time is right for him to shift careers after many years running a firm that manages employment benefits programs for companies. He said serving in the Knesset was a good way to spend the third phase of his life after basketball and business.

"I met with Bibi [Netanyahu] and he wants people who haven't been involved in politics, who can contribute from different fields. I am happy that he turned to me. It's something I hadn't considered. I am considering it because I could contribute on important topics I have been involved with for many years."

The Likud's division of immigrants from English-speaking countries had been looking for a candidate to run for Knesset.

"It's very important that Anglos are represented," Brody said. "Our numbers in Israel have increased recently thanks to organizations like the Jewish Agency, Nefesh B'Nefesh, and birthright israel."

Asked if he had ever thought about becoming an Israeli politician when he was growing up in New Jersey, Brody said, "When I came out of Trenton Central High School, I told the yearbook that I wanted to become a pro basketball player or an FBI agent."

Brody starred for the University of Illinois. In 1965, he was drafted by the Baltimore Bullets in the NBA draft but decided to return to Illinois for his master's degree. He had come to Israel for the first time as a member of the American delegation to the 1965 Maccabiah games.

Five years and many victories later, Brody made aliya. A guard, he led his Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team to 10 championships in the Israeli basketball league.

But he is best known for a win in the European Cup basketball semifinals against the Russian Red Army team CSKA Moscow in 1977 that, in his famous words, "put Israel on the map."

Brody was awarded the Israel Prize, the Jewish state's top civilian award, in 1979. In 1996, he joined Likud, voting for Netanyahu in the June 12 party primary. Netanyahu promised that more candidates would soon join the Likud from business, academia, and the Israeli army.

"Bringing in big names like Tal Brody is our ammunition for victory," Likud Knesset Member Yisrael Katz said. "And having Brody in our faction will also help our faction's basketball team."