The Year in Jewish Sports
High Sports Dollar Fails to Lure
Jewish Lads to Athletic Fame
By HASKELL COHEN
(Ctopywright, 1949. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
There have been many better
sports years than the past one
so far as Jewish athletes and
their performances are con-
cerned. One certainly would not
call the recently Completed, year
a lush one for athletes of Jew-
ish origin.
Evidently the general high
economic level - obtained by the
country as a whole has left its
mark on would-be-athletes. Jew-
ish baseball players of note or
pm-football stars were in the
minority. T h e comparatively
high sports dollar seemingly held
little attraction for Jewish boys
who prefer the stability and
safety of professional and busi-
ness pursuits.
Basketball must be counted
upon for the best report. In the
college field Nat Holman led his
City College team to the Metro-
politan Invitational Tournament.
Among the pros Lester Harrison
steered his Rochester Royals to
a sectional BAA title. Eddie
Gottlieb had _ fair success with
his Philly Warriors in the same
loop, while Abe Sa-perstein made
basketball financial hiStory with
his Harlem Globetrotters. Ber-
nie Saracheck, coach of Yeshiva
College, was called in by the
Scranton management in the
American League to supply a
strong team for league compe-
tition.
, Individual stars among the
college boys included Irwin
Dambrot. Hilty Shapiro and
Mickey Wittlin of City College,
six-foot nine inch Norman Glick
of Loyola of Los Angeles, Joel
Kaufman of N.Y.U., Lou Lipman
of L.I.U. and Nelson Bobb of
Temple. The money stars in-
cluded Max Zaslofsky of Chi-
cago, Bill Holzman of Rochester,
and Jerry Fleishman of Phila-
delphia..
On the baseball front Sid Gor-
don's bat spoke often and loudly
for the New York Gidnts in a
losing pennant cause. Sid finally
entered the big money class
coming the first high salaried
Jewish player since Hank Green-
berg retired. Hank - continued to
learn the business side of the
game as vice-president of the
Cleveland Indians, Hal Satzman,
a graduate of the. University of
Oregon, loomed as the best
future bet for big league star-
dom.
Promising Detroit Hurler
Saul ROgovin, a Detroit chat-
tel at Buffalo, appears to be an-
other future big league hurler
in the making. The lower minor
leagues are studded with Jewish
players but with - the possible
exception of Al Rosen and Cal
Abrams, Cleveland and Brook-
lyn farmhands, do not offer
early big time player material.
Football : usually a very fertile
field, offered the feats of veter-
an Sid Luckman, who still leads
the Chicago Bears' T formation.
Sid figures to follow into retire-
ment Biggie Goldberg who drop-
ped from the player ranks of the
potent Chi Cardinals. Goldberg
continues with the Cards as
backfield coach and scout. Dan
Dworsky of Michigan was the
pick of collegiate centers last
fall,
Boxing has deteriorated as a
popular sport in general. During
the past year Mike Jacobs was
retired as the world's premier
promoter and with his departure
went all hope of an immediate
renaissance of the boxing game.
Harry Markson was installed as
Madison Square Garden's boxing
brain.
Herbie Kronowitz figures to be
the best boy in the middleweight
class with a few uninspiring
wins during the past campaign.
All other classes were utterly de-
void of big time fighting calibre.
Fight managers continue to
scour gymnasiums in search of
Jewish boxers but to no avail.
Mondschein Still on Top
In track and field Irving
Mondschein continued to hold
sway as one of the nations pre-
mier decathlon men and high
jump arti3s. Irving finally fin-
ished at NYC and signed to
coach ihre: sports at all-Negro
Lincoln University. Ira Kaplan,
a teammate of Mondschein's at
NYU, came along rapidly as a
sprinter until -at the end of the
indoor season he was recognized
as a tough man to beat in the
shorter sprints. He still has
eligibility left and bids fair to
become the nation's top collegi-
race purses. Trainer Hirsh
Jacobs remained among the
oremost horse trainers in the
game and brought through
numerous winners.
Wrestling, which received a
pleasant stimulant with the ad-
vent of television, flourishes
over the East again with such
men as Harry Finklestein, Herb
Freeman, Phil Gruber, and Ace
Freeman the faVorites of the
crowd. In and around Chicago,
Tuffy Silverstein and Max Sha-
piro are the darlings who drew
the throngs to the box office this
past season.
Lone Pro Golfer
Herman Barron continues as
the sole top Jewish pro grolfer
and during . the year took top
honors in several tournaments
in addition to finishing high
among the game's earners. In
tennis nobody has appeared to
challenge for Davis Cup honors
although Seymour Greenberg,
Sid Savitt, Sid Schwartz, and 38—THE JEWISH NEWS
Vic Seixas won sufficient tour-
Friday, September 23, 1949
naments to merit consideration
for Davis Cup representation.
The Apaches of Paris were - so
As the new year dawns one named by newspaper men about
thing is certain. There is little 1903.
likelihood that Jewish athletes
will have as poor a season as the
last one. Sports programs are
blooming through the enterprise
Holiday Greetings
of the JWB and Israel is under-
taking a strenuous program. Nat
Holman made a trip to the new
land to encourage basketball
promotion and will f oll ow
through by sending coaches and
equipment there.
Norman Cottler & Son
• *
13310 DEXTER
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ate man in the short runs. Vic .4111111111111111111111111111=111111•11111111•111111 ■
Frank of Yale was just about
the best of all college discus
throwers and added the shot put
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Robert Seligman, a Brooklyn
boy who wended his way south-
ward to North Carolina, estab-
lished records among the south-
Makers of the famous
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Among the horse race people
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