American-Israeli Brad Leaf played for 12 years for Hapoel Galil Elyon. He won the
Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP award in 1989–90. In 1992–93 the club, then coached by
Pini Gershon, became the first club based outside
Tel Aviv to win the
Israeli Championship, ending
Maccabi Tel Aviv's 23-year winning streak. They also won the
State Cup twice, in 1988 and 1992. Between 1990 and 2008, several of the Israel's most successful basketball players came through the club, including
Nadav Henefeld,
Oded Kattash,
Doron Sheffer,
Gur Shelef,
Lior Eliyahu, and
Sharon Sasson, earning the team the nickname "
the Israeli basketball college". In 2021, the club was promoted from the
Israeli National League to the
Israeli Basketball Premier League for the first time since the merger. ==Honors==