• Allie Sherman was a Jewish football player (quarterback, running back, defensive back) and coach who played for six seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. He went on to coach in Canada and with the New York Giants. He eventually worked as a broadcaster. He was voted NFL coach of the year in 1961 and 1962 and led the team to 3 Eastern Conference titles.
• Sid Luckman played for the Chicago Bears from 1939-1950 and won 4 NFL Championships during the 40’s. Some called Luckman the ‘greatest long rang passer of his time.’

More Recent Jewish Football Players Include:

Jacob Gurvis, Times of Israel

• A.J. Dillon (Formerly of the Packers!!!), Now Eagles. Dillon spoke at BBYO IC last year and shared his experience of being a Jew of color. He used to miss Hebrew school for football practice. Guess it worked out for him. Check out this story about him.
• Jake Curhan is an offensive tackle for the Seattle Seahawks. He grew up attending Jewish summer camp and has the nickname ‘Bear Jew’ because of his time playing with the UC Berkeley Golden Bears.
• Greg Joseph is a kicker for the Minnesota Vikings. He was born in South Africa and attended Jewish day school. He is said to become involved in Jewish communities wherever he lives.

Jewish Football Owners:
(This is where there is really an impact!) 10 of the 32 owners/VP’s are Jewish!

Eddie Samuels, Who’s in the Owner’s Box

• Mark Davis (Raiders)
• Robert Kraft (Patriots) Very public about his Judaism, established the Stand up to Hate blue square initiative.
• Howie Roseman (Eagles) [Executive VP]
• Josh Harris (Washington Commanders). Harris was quoted as saying that buying his hometown NFL team was ‘b’sheret’.
• Arthur M. Blank (Falcons)
• Glazer Family (Buccaneers)
• Jim Irsay (Colts) *this one is an interesting story as he had no idea he was Jewish until high school when a classmate told him he knew his relatives in Skokie,IL.
• Jeffrey Lurie (Eagles)
• Stephen Ross (Dolphins)
• Steve Tisch (Giants)

In case you wanted to know how American Football got its start…

Pro Football Hall of Fame, “November 12th Birth of Pro Football”

• The sport of American Football developed in the mid to late 1800’s. It stemmed from the mash up of soccer and rugby. In 1869 Rutgers and Princeton played the first college football game.
• In the 1880’s, Walter Camp from Yale, offered new rules that transformed rugby into what we now know as American Football.
• In 1892, William (Pudge) Heffelfinger, an AAA player was paid $500 to play the game – in a match between the Alleghany Athletic Association and Pittsburgh Athletic Club. This first documented paid player gave rise to pro football.