Joey Richman was all of 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighed around 150 pounds soaking wet, and would go unnoticed on a present-day basketball court.

But when Richman died Dec. 2 at age 93, those who came to bid farewell at Paperman & Sons knew they were saying goodbye to a man widely considered the best Canadian Jewish amateur athlete who ever lived.

Hard-muscled, trim and active in sports and athletics until almost the last decade of his life, when illness and Alzheimer’s disease began to limit him, the diminutive Richman, in his prime and even in his senior years, came to personify the potential of the amateur athlete, Jewish or otherwise.

Sportswriters thought of him as “the greatest all-round sports competitor Canada ever produced,” a 1978 profile in The CJN said.

“He played professional football for nine years, including for the [Montreal] Alouettes, won a Grey Cup for Toronto, coached in the Olympics,” his son Mark said at the funeral.

“He coached at the Y for the Canadian basketball championships in the 1950s, ran track, played baseball, played and coached at the Maccabiah Games, which he devoted a lot of time and effort to, then later in life became one of the top seniors tennis players in the world, just to mention some of his accomplishments. There are many, many more.”

In fact, Richman’s death seemed like the end of an era when the YM-YWHA – during its “Golden Age” decades ago – served as the training ground for some of the best Canadian Jewish athletes of the day, especially in the wrestling ring and on the basketball court.

Richman was the youngest of eight children who grew up in what was to be Mordecai Richler territory in the St. Urbain Street area.

During the Great Depression, Richman discovered, in the gritty street where he sometimes had to fend off unsavoury types, that he was a born athlete.

“I was faster and better than anyone else,” he told The CJN in the profile. “My whole life was running, jumping, fighting – and I could beat everyone. It was speed, speed, hustle, hustle. I was a very disciplined kid.”

So it began. Richman played hockey and soccer and then basketball at the Davis Y on Mount Royal Avenue. He went on to take a provincial Golden Gloves title in boxing, made a pro-quality football team on a bet in the late 1930s, and continued to play football after joining the RCAF during World War II, helping his RCAF squad win the 1942 Grey Cup.

Richman then started to compete in track and field, where he again won many events.

In 1946, after being chosen as outstanding athlete in the province, Richman decided to open a sporting goods store. It was successful, but was eventually destroyed in a fire that also consumed his medals, clippings, scrapbooks and trophies.

“There was my whole life – and suddenly they were gone,” he told The CJN.

In the late 1950s, he became the first person to sell  Adidas athletic foorwear in Canada and was extremely successful at it.

Richman’s interest then began to turn more toward coaching. He coached the Canadian women’s track team at the Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952, and  the Y senior basketball team from 1950 to 1957, winning the national title twice.

The Y and the Maccabi movement became the greatest labours of love in Richman’s life. From 1950 on, he was the prime mover behind Canadian participation at the nascent Maccabiah Games, coaching basketball and track teams and captaining several teams to Israel.

In his 60s, Richman began to get serious about tennis, winning a number of master’s titles until about 15 years ago.

Mark said that despite his dedication to sports, his father was a kind, devoted father and family man, once driving all night from Chicago to see his son play a football game.

But his father preferred amateur sports to the professional kind any time.

“The only time I was pro and got paid was between 1946 and 1948, when I played football for the Alouettes,” Richman said in 1978, adding words that still seem relevant today.

“Most kids are in there playing for fame and money,” he said. “I don’t envy these kids today. It’s different. They don’t play like I did. They just don’t have the spirit, the love of play anymore.

“People tell me, ‘Joey, you were born 30 years too soon.’

“I say, ‘No sir, I was born in the right time. When it was fun.’”

Richman is survived by his wife, Roslyn Shizgal, son Mark and sister Mattie. He was predeceased by his son Steven eight months ago.