In 1951, Cohen joined the NBA as the league's publicity director. He teamed up with NBA President
Maurice Podoloff, forming a two-man office. At that time, the basketball world had just been stunned by the
college basketball point-shaving scandal. Cohen came up with an idea of hosting an
All-Star Game featuring the league's best player, similar to the
Major League Baseball's
All-Star Game. He believed that such showcase would regain fans' interest in basketball. The game became a success, drawing a crowd of 10,094, much higher than that season's average attendance of 3,500. Since then, the All-Star Game became an annual mid-season tradition in the NBA. Before joining the NBA, Cohen was a writer for the
Pittsburgh Courier and also a scout for the
Duquesne Dukes. While scouting for Duquesne, he discovered Fletcher Jones. Jones became a professional basketball player before becoming a medical doctor. He later teamed up with Cohen, NBA player
Jack Twyman and hotel owner Milton Kutsher in 1958 to create the
Maurice Stokes charity game. The game was intended to raise money for Stokes, who had just suffered
encephalopathy, a brain injury that damaged his motor control center. That game became an annual tradition to raise money for other former players in financial need. The Maurice Stokes games were held at
Kutsher's Hotel in
Monticello, New York, or at their camp, the
Kutsher's Sports Academy. In 1948, Cohen founded the United States Committee Sports for Israel. The committee sponsored American participation in the
Maccabiah Games in
Israel, an Olympic-style competition for Jewish athletes. He later became the president of the committee from 1961 to 1969. In 1981, he became the first chairman of
International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee. He held the position until 1989 and in 1991 he received the
Hall of Fame Pillar of Achievement, an honor given to a person who have made significant contributions to sports. He was a longtime contributing editor to
Parade, an American national Sunday newspaper magazine. He originated its high school all-American teams in football and basketball. He was also the sports editor for the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency for 17 years. He was also a member of the
Basketball Hall of Fame Board of Trustees, a member of the
United States Olympic Basketball Committee, and a member of the Amateur Basketball Association USA. ==Personal life==