Travis Warech ’13 was a dominant force for the Ithaca College men’s basketball team in the early 2010’s, but Warech has ascended where many Division III athletes never have the pleasure of reaching. Warech has gone on to play professional basketball for 10 years and as he enters into another season in Israel, it is clear he has made his mark on the basketball world. 

Warech has been playing basketball his whole life. It has always been his passion and he knew it was something he wanted to pursue into the professional level, even if it meant taking the difficult route out of Division lll. Alongside him was his younger brother Zach Warech ’23, who also played Bombers’ basketball. 

Travis, who is now 32, said one of his biggest influences on him was his father.

“My dad stuck a basketball in me and my brother’s hands as early as we were in diapers,” Warech said. 

Originally, Warech was a part of Division II program St. Michael’s for his first three years of college before transferring to Ithaca. While at St. Michael’s, Warech flourished as a player, eclipsing 1,002 points and being named to the 2009–10 NE-10 All-Rookie Team. Warech was one of six players to leave that program in a two-year span.

“I was just kind of looking for a place to land and enjoy the game again,” Warech said. “At the time Sean Rossi — he and I played together in high school — I knew he was on the Division III path at Ithaca. So when I wanted to transfer he was the first person I called and I was on a plane to Ithaca the next day.”

It was a no-brainer once he visited the Ithaca campus that the Bombers were the team for him and that the college was where he belonged. He became close with all of his fellow teammates and coaches. This connection was seen through when during the 2012–13 season Warech was able to lead the team to a 21–9 record that included an Empire 8 Championship and a trip to the NCAA Sectionals.  

Warech has been playing professional basketball for the past 10 years, ever since he graduated college, and he is now going on to year 11. Warech has had the opportunity to play in Germany and Israel, where he has been for the past six years. 

Jon Tanous, the assistant coach for Ithaca men’s basketball from 2011–2015, said that Warech has always had deep motivation and that it showed from an early stage in his career.

“Travis was a professional person long before he was a professional basketball player,” Tanous said. “It was easy to see his determination to reach his goals.”

Right out of college, Warech signed with an agency, Scorers 1st Sportsmanagement. After not being signed by an American team in the summer 2013, Warech made the tough decision to attempt to make it in European basketball and by October 2013, he had his first season in Germany with the OeTTINGER Rockets of the German Pro-A league. 

During Warech’s first season, he averaged an impressive 10.4 points per game to go along with 5.6 rebounds per game through 25 contests. Following his first season, Warech would move to MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg of the EasyCredit BBL, Germany’s top division of professional basketball. 

“I had my first job in Germany and my second in Israel,” Warech said. “I went in with low to no expectations. I started on a two-week tryout, so it was not even a full contract yet. I did my thing, I played super well and I lived in a brewery, which was our sponsor.” 

The sponsor of the OeTTINGER Rockets allowed some of the new players to live in the brewery until they could afford their own place. An odd situation, but a situation that highlights the struggles in entering German basketball. The average salary in Pro-A at the time of Warech entering the league was about $36,000 per year. After Warech officially made the team, he was able to move into an apartment and play in Germany for the next four years.

In 2017, after playing for four different German squads in both the German Pro-A League and Easy Credit BBL, Warech played in the Maccabiah Games, a tournament in Israel that consists of 43 sports and over 10,000 Jewish athletes from around the world. Warech played with another Ithaca alum, Marc Chasin ’18, both representing Team USA in the games. 

Warech won gold that summer and had coaches offering him a spot on their teams to play in Israel, which he did, signing with Maccabi Ashdod of the Israel Winner League in 2017. 

“I tried out for a year and never looked back,” Warech said. “I have been there for six years.”

Warech has proven himself in Israel and has found near-equal success in his time spent there. Warech has played for four different teams in Israel, with his best season coming in 2020 for Hapoel Beer Sheva, where Warech averaged 10.2 points per game and three rebounds per game. 

Basketball has made a tremendous impact on Warech’s life. It has given him opportunities to travel to different countries, experience new things, fight through the trials of hard nosed European style basketball and also continue playing the game he loves. 

He has also had so many supporters along the way, but there was one that stood out —  his younger brother Zach Warech. The two brothers are 10 years apart but are still close to this day. 

Zach grew up in a household engulfed in basketball and for good reason. The Warech bloodline runs deep with basketball, starting with Travis and Zach’s father, Gary, who played basketball at New York University. Growing up constantly surrounded by the game, Zach would attend all of the clinics and clubs his dad would run and go to every single one of Travis’s games. 

Zach explained how his visit to Ithaca College made him decide to choose there to play college basketball.

“The visit is what made me choose to go there. Honestly, I didn’t really want to go.” Zach said. “I did not want to follow my brother, but my dad actually made me visit and I ended up really liking the school, the coaches, and got to hangout with my future teammates and I really liked them. That is what got me there.” 

Now, Zach has accepted a position to be an assistant college basketball coach and a coach of a developmental team at Drew University.

Both brothers have taken their basketball careers outside of college to expand their love and devotion to the game of basketball. While Zach will begin his career coaching the game he loves, Travis will be continuing his career in Israel, while also taking care of his family. 

“It is no surprise of their successes on and off the court,” Tanous said. “They are just great people before they are great anything else. That is the best thing I can say. They are special people that’s for sure.”