enish Sports Scene: Some Brilliant Moments, But Generally on Decline
(Copyright, iutiu, el eFillSt1
Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
BY HAROLD U. RIBALOW
Since last year's survey of the
Jewish sports scene, a handful
of Jews have done remarkably
well, while, in the main, there
also has been a decline of Jewish
participation in sporting en-
deavors. This is not a para-
doxical statement, but can be
,
Dome out in the paragrapns
ahead.
For example, as we run down
the list of Jewish athletes in
one game after another, we dis-
cover fewer and fewer names
• • • but, at the same time, those
who have done well, have been
brilliant.
As an instance, there was
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Larry Sherry, the right-
handed pitcher for the Los
Angeles Dodgers. In 1959, he
was just another name on the
roster for most of the year.
We all remember how excep-
tional he was in the World
Series that year. Thus, he
entered the 1960 season as
one of the big baseball per-
sonalities. Articles were writ-
ten about him in all the sports
journals and in many of the
slick mass magazines. He said
he wanted to be a starting
pitcher, even though he won
his fame in relief. During the
1960 season, he was an in-
and-outer. He couldn't win
frequently enough as a start-
er. He did pretty well in re-
lief, then he was hurt, and
then he came back again.
Yes, he is a regular with the
Dodgers, but not the over-
whelming star he had been
in 1959. That's how baseball
is.
His brother Norman, formerly
the third-string catcher for the
Dodgers, fought his way into a
better post on the club and
caught more frequently. He, too,
became a regular—on a team
which scarcely resembled the
world champions of 1959. And
Sandy Koufax, the fast-balling
left-hander, was like the little
girl in the nursery rhyme.
Wh was
but whe he
, very g
id.
was bad he was
And so, except for the gem
stars of the game—the usials
the Williams, the DiM gios-
there is no true sis ncy.
is de-
Harold Sey
seball's
finitive histo
es that i
ea
days, the
tantial number
d
In the '30s
J
•re
s, there also
'ish
f excellent
ning,
like Hank
lay
•rd-on,
nberg, Sid
an
troub and -ed Sing-
it
in the ' , for some
11.
and the so-
ason or other
1 looking for
c logists are
al the caus , there has been
a noticeab decline of Jewish
the national game.
players
urse, there always is
O
We had an Al Rosen,
h
ne of the very best of them
all, but now the Jewish stars
come one at a time.
Boxing also lacks the big
Jewish names of the past. Al-
phonse Halimi, the Algerian-
Jewish featherweight titleholder
of a year ago, was beaten twice
by Jose Beccera and he now is
in retirement. Except for wel-
terweight Ronnie Cohen, who
is now fighting his way to the
top rank (and isn't there yet
due to the minor league oppo-
sition he has faced), there are
no Jewish fighters around.
Again, it is a matter of eco-
nomies. Jews are refusing to.
earn a living by fighting with
gloves. As Jews climb up the
economic ladder, they shun box-
ing. It is bad- for the game,.
perhaps, but not bad for those
who stay away from it.
But more puzzling is the
absence of Jews in basketball.
Once more, the only player of
importance is Dolph Schayes
of the Syracuse Nationals.
Schayes. seems to be able to
go on forever. There are no
other Jewish players to join
himintheprofessional
league. This past year, I at-
tended many college games,
a few professional games and
a brilliant All-Star exhibition.
Practically all the athletes
come from colleges — and
Jews do attend institutions
of higher learning. Yet even
here, there are no Jews.
There are a great many Ne-
gro hoop stars—and they are
excellent players. But where
there once were literally scores
and scores of outstanding Jew-
ish basketball players, you just
don't see any in the game today.
Is it a de-emphasis of sports?
A notable illustration of this
trend—among Jews — is Bran-
deis University's decision to
drop football as a major inter-
collegiate sport. When Brandeis
first came into the sports scene,
it went all out in many games.
The school hired Benny Fried-
man, who had been a Michigan
star and a professional football
star and a notable coach. Top
athletes were noticed to enter
Brandeis. Schedules were ambi-
tious. And, at the beginning,
Brandeis did splendidly. Now,
however, the story is that there
aren't enough alumni to sup-
port a team, or those that do
exist, are unwilling to give their
money for a ranking club. One
result was that Brandeis com-
menced to lose more games than
it won. This is even worse than
having no team at all. End re-
sult: no team at all.
In horse racing there was one
moment of brilliance for Jew-
ish followers of the Sport of
Kings. Hirsch Jacobs, a New
Yorker born and bred, became
the first horse trainer to saddle
more than 3,000 winners. Horse
racing is not a "Jewish" game,
but it is interesting that one
of the greatest trainers in the
world—a man who has taken so-
called mediocre horses — and
has to his credit more winners
than trainers with the best race
horses in the world, is a Jew.
It was a remarkable year in
chess because there was a
championship held in Moscow,
between Mikhail Botvinnik, the
world champion, at 46 the title-
holder for 12 years, and Mikhail
Tal, at 23, the youngest chal-
lenger in the history of the
game. Although Bobby Fischer
of the United States, at 16 had
won most of the chess notices in
the world, Tal was the young
man who took the title, not
Fischer. Tal upset Botvinnik in
a match which was one of the
most fascinating in the long
history of the game. In 21
games, Botvinnik won twice. In
Tal's brilliant performance, the
Soviet Union found a new and
attractive hero.
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