On Nov. 1, 1946, in the opening game of the fledgling Basketball Association of America, Ossie Schectman scored the first basket for the New York Knickerbockers against the Toronto Huskies. Schectman and his teammates — including Sonny Hertzberg, Stan Stutz, Hank Rosenstein, Ralph Kaplowitz, Jake Weber, and Leo “Ace” Gottlieb — won that inaugural game 68-66 and finished the season with a 33-27 record. Two years later, the BAA morphed into the NBA — National Basketball Association.

Sixty years later, a new documentary is set to premiere, paying homage to the contributions of Schectman and other Jewish players during the infancy of professional basketball.

David Vyorst, executive producer and creator of The First Basket, is busy putting the finishing touches on the project, which takes an in-depth look at the relationship between the game invented by James Maismith in 1891 and New York City’s Jewish population in the early 20th century.

As these second-generation immigrant Jews became enmeshed in American culture, they sought to win acceptance within the larger community through sports. Basketball, with its simple requirements of space and equipment, was a natural fit in the crowded neighborhoods of Manhattan.

The First Basket also examines the social factors that led urban Jewish youths to basketball and their notable success in the game from the 1920s through the early ’50s; anti-Semitism and Jewish stereotypes in the face of Jewish success in basketball from the 1920s through the early ’50s; the declining presence of Jews in professional basketball since the early 1950s; and the City College of New York point shaving scandals of 1951 that almost killed the game.

The film is narrated by actor and NY native Peter Riegert, who confessed to being more of a baseball fan but was intrigued by the impact of Jews in basketball.

“Before I became an actor I used to work on the Lower East Side at University Settlement House, and kind of knew about the historical Jewish contribution to basketball,” he said in an NJJN interview. “I think one of the players in the documentary came from that settlement house. So that was an interest to me, just in terms of my own involvement in that part of the city where basketball had an impact.”

Riegert, who has appeared in dozens of movies and television programs, including HBO’s The Sopranos, has been working on his own projects in recent years, including the award-winning feature film King of the Corner, which he directed, cowrote, and starred in. Riegert pressed the flesh to publicize the movie, so he knows the difficulties of turning one’s cinematic dreams into reality, as Vyorst is trying to do with The First Basket. “I was happy to help someone in a situation like this,” Riegert said. Enjoying the topic just made it easier. “I had a ball doing it,” Riegert said, no pun intended.

Riegert was Vyorst’s first choice to narrate the 90-minute film. “I’ve always been a big fan of his,” said Vyorst in an interview from his Washington, DC, office. “This is a guy who knew John Belushi and knows Tony Soprano. And he’s Jewish!”

Vyorst conceived of the idea for The First Basket 10 years ago after hearing a radio interview about the 1946 Knicks, “a bunch of old Jewish guys in Florida. When I heard that interview, I knew I had a story.” Five years later, “in between jobs,” Vyorst starting working on the project in earnest, writing, interviewing, and — of course — seeking funding.

“Early on we got a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which set us off on solid footing, and then a few initial supporters came through.” Vyorst, who grew up in Great Neck, NY, “as an avid Knicks fan,” said he’s “still seeking finishing funds.”

For more information on the documentary, visit the Web site.