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58

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1989

ld stereotypes about
Jews avoiding con-
tact sports meant
little in the large Jewish
community of Skokie, Ill.,
where Brent Novoselsky
grew up.
The second-year pro
gridder, who bounced
around the National Foot-
ball League's NFC Central
Division before finding a
home this season as a tight
end with the now-division-
leading Minnesota Vikings,
said many Jews played foot-
ball and other sports back in
Skokie.
"Everybody that I hung
around with was an athlete
of some sort" during high
school, he said. "We all were
on the baseball team and the
football team." Some even
played college ball, he said,
"but they only played for
about a year in college, then
they studied."
Novoselsky studied, too —
he earned a business degree
from the University of Penn-
sylvania's prestigious Whar-
ton School of Business in
four years - but he also was
a three-year starter for the
Quakers, who won Ivy-.
League titles two of those
years.
What set him apart, he
felt, was his perserverance.
"When I stuck with it" after
high school, "I think people
were surprised. I think peo-
ple were surprised to know
that I was Jewish, just
because of how well I did.
"But going out and doing,
that wasn't a big deal. I
think sticking with it all
these years" was more im-
portant, Novoselsky said.
Ignored in the NFL draft
following his 1988 gradua-
tion, the 6-foot-2 1/2-inch, 242-
pound Novoselsky signed as
a free agent with his
hometown Bears. Released
during training camp, he
was called back to replace
the injured Cap Boso.
However, the Bears left him
unprotected this spring and
he signed with Green Bay,
only to be cut again during
training camp.
Two weeks later, he found
himself with the Vikings,
who employed him as the
Bears did — in two-tight-end
situations and on special
teams. Novoselsky met the
challenge, catching his first
NFL pass on Oct. 8 against

Brent Novoselsky:
Business as usual.

Detroit's Lions and turning
it into a touchdown.
Novoselsky has at least
five special teams tackles
and two pass receptions, the
latter for six yards in the
Vikings' Nov. 26 loss to
Green Bay.
"It felt great," Novoselsky
said of his touchdown, "but
it really was pretty much
business as usual because it
was only in the second
quarter and I just knew I
had more to do."
After the game, he allowed
himself to enjoy the
touchdown. "It's just in-
describable. It's something
you dream about your whole
life. And to have it come true
is just a great feeling."
The big trade that brought
star running back Herschel
Walker to Minnesota from
Dallas expanded
Novoselsky's role because of
the tight end's blocking
assignments. "They've
utilized me in the field and
I'm happy as can be about
that," he said.
Although he's back-up to
the Vikings' Steve Jordan,
"Just being here is
something that means the
most," he said. "Whatever
you can do to stay in the
NFL is key. I'm just glad to
be here and do whatever I
can do to help the team."
Besides, Novoselsky said, he
is learning a lot by simply
watching Jordan, who's "one
of the best in the game."
Novoselsky believes the
Vikings "can definitely go
all the way. It's just going to
be a question of everybody
staying healthy and just do-
ing their jobs."
One of a handful of Jewish
pro gridders in the NFL this
year — Packer offensive
tackle Alan Veingrad is the
only other in the NFC Cen-
tral —Novoselsky said he
hasn't encountered any pre-
judice in the league.

Some are surprised when
they learn he's Jewish, "But
I don't think that's anything
I can't do away with once I
meet them and they get to
know me as an individual."
The athlete, whose formal
religious training included
Hebrew school from
kindergarten through bar
mitzvah, attends services
when he can. He lives in
Chicago in the off-season,
does some work with B'nai
B'rith there and next June
will marry Andrea Komin-
sky, whom he has known
since high school at Niles
North.
Back then, the Skokie na-
tive preferred baseball to
football. A catcher who
batted cleanup in baseball,
Novoselsky was an all-
conference football player as
a tight end-defensive end-
outside linebacker, but Il-
linois and Michigan only in-
vited him to try out.
Novoselsky picked the Ivy
League and Wharton over
the Big Ten, becoming all-
Ivy League as a junior and
second team all-Ivy as a
senior. His junior year saw
him catch 18 passes for 337
yards, including three grabs
for touchdowns against
Navy.
As a senior, he caught 15
passes for 174 yards.
It was in his junior year
that Novoselsky thought he
might be able to play pro
ball, "But it was more of a
dream."
Now he's living the dream
and appreciating every
minute of it. "You have to,"
he said. "You never know
what's going to happen
tomorrow." ❑

Jewish War Vets'
Bowling Results

December 6, 1989

High Games

David Margolis
233
Lawrence Garfinkle . . . .225
Marc Siegler
223
Marvin Rosen
222
Bernard Harwood
212

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