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 50%-70% OFF ALL NAME BRANDS • Vertical Blinds • Levolor Blinds • Pleated Shades • Wood Blinds 21728 W. Eleven Mile Rd. Harvard Row Mall Southfield, MI 48076 Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10-5 Free Professional Measure at No Obligation Free in Home Design Consulting 352-8622 New Rochester Hills 651-5009 Jewish Community Center of Metroplitan Detroit IT'S UNDER WRAPS ONLY '36 FOR A 30 Day Trial J.C.C. Men's Health Club Membership • Must be purchased during December 1989 • Must be paid in full For more information contact the Membership Department 661-1000 ext. 265 or 266 • No permanent locker • Limited memberships Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354-6060 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.