More on Benny Friedman

From Nextbook.org, this interview with Murray Greenberg, author of the new biography, Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football.

Some excerpts:

Was Friedman part of a large Jewish contingent in football or an anomaly?

It’s sort of both. The distinction lies in college versus the pros. There were a fair number of Jewish college football players in Friedman’s day, sometimes three or four on a team at a time when each roster had about 20 or 30 players. At Michigan, he had a couple of Jewish teammates. On the other hand, very few college players ended up turning pro because professional football in those days was a struggling enterprise. The money just wasn’t there to make a career.

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What did Benny Friedman represent to his own community?

In the 1920s, Jewish immigrants and children of immigrants—and, in particular, males—were looking for ways to become part of mainstream American culture. One way to do this was through sports and, of all the sports, with the possible exception of boxing, football may have offered the best opportunity for that. Football was a rough sport. Football was a way that a young Jewish guy could say, “I’m tough, I’m athletic. I’m not that old stereotype of the academically and intellectually inclined Jew.”

Freidman was proud of his heritage. Having said that, he preferred being thought of as a great football player who happened to be a Jew, rather than being thought of as a great Jewish football player. I don’t think that he was primarily motivated by, or concerned with, being a role model to the Jewish community. He didn’t set out to become that. But I don’t think he shied away from the fact that he was considered a hero in the community.

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In the book, you point out that Friedman played at the University of Michigan while Henry Ford was promoting anti-Semitism in nearby Dearborn. How did the anti-Semitism of the day affect colleges and college football?

The Jewish college football players of Friedman’s time walked an interesting tightrope. On the one hand, if they were good enough, they were welcomed onto the teams. On the other hand, they knew that schools had Jewish quotas and that, if they weren’t football players, they wouldn’t be welcome.

Friedman felt very strongly that George Little, his first head coach at Michigan, was anti-Semitic. He gave Benny such a difficult time, almost daring him to quit the sport, that Benny was on the verge of transferring from Michigan. Thankfully, the next coach, Fielding Yost, recognized Benny’s skills and enabled him to become the star attraction.

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Kaplan’s Korner on Jews and Sports © 2008 New Jersey Jewish News

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