Following the 1972 Olympics, a sportswriter referred to Mark Spitz, winner of seven gold medals, as "the first great Jewish athlete." He couldn't have been more wrong. As Jewish Sports Legends shows, Jews have excelled at athletics for centuries. This handsome volume illuminates the lives and unforgettable accomplishments of Jews in virtually every major sport played worldwide. Baseball stars Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg, basketball's Red Auerbach and Dolph Schayes, and football's Sid Luckman and Marv Levy are only a few outstanding examples. Did you know that-
- A Jewish woman, New York stenographer Charlotte Epstein, is "the mother of American women's swimming?"
- An ordained cantor, Ike Berger of the United States, once held twenty-three world and Olympic weightlifting records?
- Jewish, Lithuanian-born Senda Berenson introduced women's basketball to America?
- The NFL's New York Giants bought the entire 1928 Detroit Wolverine football team in order to acquire the contract of its All-Pro quarterback, Benny Friedman?
- Jewish Olympic champions Agnes Keleti (gymnastics), Maria Gorokhovskaya (gymnastics), Dara Torres (swimming), and Irena Kirszenstein-Szewinska (track and field) have won a combined total of 33 Olympic medals?
- South African rugby star Okey Geffin learned to play the game while a prisoner in a World War II German POW camp?
- An eighteenth-century prizefighter, Daniel Mendoza of Great Britain, was the first of more than thirty Jewish boxers to be crowned world champion?
Containing hundreds of photographs, Jewish Sports Legends introduces the famous, and not-so-famous Jewish sports greats throughout history. Also featuring great coaches, officials, journalists, and other significant contributors to the thrilling world of sports, it is a fabulous gift for all serious sports fans.
