I SPORTS I
Determined Veingrad
Regains Packer Job
HARLAN ABBEY
Special to The Jewish News
year ago, Alan Vein-
grad thought his pro
football career was
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62
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1989
over.
The Green Bay Packers' of-
fensive tackle had
umbearable pain in his hip.
The team sent him to five or-
thopedic physicians who told
him, "You have a condition
similar to tennis elbow; rest,
it'll go away."
"But it didn't go away," said
the 6-foot-5, 277-pound
athlete. "I thought this might
be the end of football." The
packers left him unprotected
in the draft.
"I went to three other doc-
tors in Miami, my off-season
home," he said, "and they said
an operation could cure it —
and it did."
Veingrad came to camp in-
August, impressed new head
coach Lindy Infante and his
staff and regained the star-
ting position he last held in
1987 — despite the fact that
right offensive tackle is the
position expected to be played
by million-dollar rookie Tony
Mandarich, the ex-Michigan
Stater who was the first
player taken in the 1988 col-
lege draft.
"I'm playing most of the
game; Tony comes in during
short yardage and goal line
plays," Veingrad said. There
also has been talk of swit-
ching - the rich rookie to
defense.
"Every day," Veingrad
stated, "I just prepare for the
next week's opponent. I don't
concern myself with whether
he or I will start or if one of
us will get switched to
another position."
"He's doing a fine job.
That's why Mandarich is on
the bench," said Shirley
Leonard of the Packers' public
relations office.
The Packers lost to the
Detroit Lions, 31-22, in the
Silverdome last Sunday.
Veingrad was not drafted
after his senior year at East
Texas State, and was cut after
tryouts with Tampa Bay and
Houston before being claimed
by the Pack a year later.
He said that, in college, a
player with above-average
size and agility often gets by
on natural ability, with
technique less emphasized.
He gives much credit for his
NFL success to Jerry Wamp-
fler, the Pack's offensive line
coach in 1986 and 1987.
"Now," he continued, "I'm
much more a student of the
Alan Veingrad:
Just prepares.
game. I take film home every
night; I study the moves of
the defensive players I'll be
matched against. At this
level, so much of it is mental!'
Veingrad, a New Jersey
native, has a degree in
physical education.
Though his best friends on
the Packers are Rich Moran
and Billy Ard, "I was even
more friendly with Brent
Novoselsky, who is Jewish
and was trying to make our
team as a tight end.
"I'm glad he was picked up
by Minnesota. When we
played them, I wished him a
Happy New Year after the
game was over. He's a good
athlete and a good guy."
Veingrad has made many
friends in the small
(140-family) Jewish communi-
ty in Green Bay. He attended
temple Yom Kippur services
and broke fast with the fami-
ly of Lou Weinstein, a
businessman who is the
team's volunteer 30-second
clock operator on game days.
"But there aren't any single
Jewish girls in Green Bay," he
emphasized, "and it's pretty
hard meeting any when we
play out of town." ❑
Runners Jingle
For Arthritis Fund
Runners will don holiday
costumes and jingle bells in
the second annual "Max &
Erma's Jingle Bell Run for
Arthritis."
The 5K run and one-mile
walk will begin at 9:30 a.m.
Dec. 3 at Hunters Square in
Farmington Hills.
All proceeds will benefit the
Arthritis Foundation, Metro
Detroit Branch. For informa-
tion, call Barbara Waters at
350-3030.