Nat Holman, president of the United States Committee Sports for Israel, announced that the national USCSFI board of directors for the second consecutive year has selected 11 individuals to be inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, located in the Wingate Institute of Physical Education in Netanya, Israel.
Heading the individuals named is the late Eddie Gottlieb, one of the founders of the National Basketball Association and a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Also named from the sport of basketball is Harry Litwack, the long-time Temple University coach and also a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Al Rosen and Barney Dreyfuss from major league baseball also have been elected to the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Rosen, most recently the president of the New York Yankees, won fame, as a player with the Cleveland Indians, when in 1953 he became the first player in major league history to be unanimously selected for the Most Valuable player Award. Dreyfuss was the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1900 to 1932. As an innovator during professional baseball’s formative years, he originated the World Series when he challenged Boston to a past-season series in 1903.
Representing football among the 11 inductees are Ron Mix and Marshall Goldberg. Mix, the outstanding offensive lineman for the San Diego Chargers of the American Football League, was recently inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, while Goldberg was an All-American halfback at the University of Pittsburgh in 1937 and 1938.
Lillian Copeland, the 1932 Olympic Gold Medalist in the discuss, Lon Meyers, acclaimed as the greatest runner of the 19th Century, and Isaac Berger, who won a Gold Medal in weightlifting in the 1956 Olympics representing the United States, also were named to the Jewish Hall of Fame.
Rounding out the selectees are Mel Allen, the long-time voice of the New York Yankees and one of the most popular sportscasters in the last 30. years, and Gretal Bergman (Mrs. Bruna Lambert), who, despite breaking the Olympic women’s high jump mark in a pre-Olympic competition in 1936, was told that she was being dropped from the German Olympic team because she did not qualify to represent the Third Reich.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
