From the baseball diamond to the soccer pitch, from Vancouver to Paris, 2024 was a historic 12 months for Jews in sports activities.
Jewish athletes distinguished themselves throughout occasions, venues and tiers of competitors — from the Olympics to the main leagues to school ball. This 12 months additionally noticed notable sports activities moments off the sector, be they within the entrance workplace or throughout the business breaks.
Among the 12 months’s high moments featured acquainted stars within the Jewish sports activities world, like ace pitcher Max Fried, Olympian Jessica Fox and New England Patriots proprietor Robert Kraft. Followers additionally met some up-and-coming Jewish athletes, like school soccer participant Sam Salz, or watched acquainted faces like BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff and USC basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb attain new heights.
Listed here are our high Jewish sports activities moments of 2024, offered chronologically — together with two on the identical day!
The struggle towards antisemitism will get the highlight in a Tremendous Bowl advert
As greater than 100 million individuals tuned in to observe Tremendous Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11, they noticed what’s believed to be the first-ever Tremendous Bowl advert targeted on antisemitism.
The New England Patriots weren’t within the large sport, however their proprietor, Robert Kraft, paid an estimated $7 million for the 30-second spot by his charity, the Basis to Fight Antisemitism. The advert featured Clarence B. Jones, the previous lawyer and advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. who drafted King’s well-known 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech. It drew blended opinions.
The advert was considered one of a sequence by FCAS, which is understood for its “#StandUpToJewishHate” marketing campaign, that sought to advertise the struggle towards antisemitism by connecting it to different types of discrimination.
The group positioned quite a lot of TV advertisements throughout fashionable televised occasions this 12 months, together with one spot depicting a real-life synagogue bomb menace, which aired throughout the Oscars. One other, about antisemitism at campus protests, aired throughout the NBA playoffs. And a latest advert calling for a “timeout towards hate” featured sports activities icons together with Shaquille O’Neal and Billie Jean King.
Jessica Fox, with two extra golds, steals the present in Paris
Jewish and Israeli athletes received a slew of medals in Paris this summer time — 18 on the Olympics and 13 extra on the Paralympics. Jews took house medals in rugby, fencing, observe, swimming and quite a few different competitions, whereas Israel returned to Olympic soccer for the primary time since 1976.
One of many brightest Jewish stars of the Video games was Australian paddling legend Jessica Fox, who received two gold medals in three days, bringing her profession whole to 6, half of them golds. She received gold in each the canoe single and the kayak slalom.
Fox is probably the most embellished Olympic canoe slalom competitor ever, and the one Australian Olympian in historical past with six particular person medals. She had served as considered one of Australia’s flag bearers on the Paris opening ceremony.
And the magic didn’t cease there. Fox’s youthful sister, Noemie Fox, earned a gold medal of her personal within the inaugural kayak cross occasion. The win put the Fox sisters in uncommon firm amongst Jewish siblings to medal on the similar Olympics.
Amit Elor wrestles her option to Olympic historical past
A Jewish Olympian dominated on the wrestling mat in addition to the water: Amit Elor, a California native with Israeli mother and father, entered Paris because the youngest U.S. Olympic wrestler in historical past, and left as its youngest medalist within the sport.
Elor, an eight-time world champion, made fast work of her opponents, extending her undefeated streak of 5 years with a gold medal win.
Elor, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors who moved to Israel, skilled each on-line antisemitism and the sudden deaths of each her father and a brother throughout the years when she broke into the elite ranks of U.S. ladies’s wrestling. She wrestles on the 68-kilogram weight class and in October 2023 grew to become the youngest American wrestler — male or feminine — ever to win a senior world title.
After her win, Elor spoke out towards antisemitism — one thing she had largely prevented within the lead-up to Paris.
“Eighty years in the past my grandparents survived the Holocaust, however antisemitism continues to be throughout us,” Elor mentioned in a video posted on social media. The clip confirmed a remark directed towards her saying “you belong within the fuel chamber.”
3 Jewish gamers seem in a single MLB at-bat
Pitcher Max Lazar’s first profession strikeout on Aug. 10 was particular for a couple of cause.
Lazar, a Jewish Philadelphia Phillies rookie, was pitching to Jewish catcher Garrett Stubbs and struck out Diamondbacks designated hitter Joc Pederson, who can be Jewish. The second marked a uncommon trifecta — by which the pitcher, catcher and batter had been all Jewish. (Stubbs and Pederson each performed for Group Israel on the 2023 World Baseball Traditional.)
In accordance with the Jewish Baseball Museum, it was solely the third occasion of a Jewish pitcher-catcher-batter mixture in MLB’s greater than 100-year historical past. And Stubbs and Lazar made up solely the eighth-ever Jewish pitcher-catcher pairing, often called a battery.
It wasn’t Stubbs’ first historic second of the season. In July, with the Phillies trailing the Oakland Athletics, Stubbs took the mound, confronted fellow Group Israel alum Zack Gelof — and gave up a grand slam. It was the first-ever grand slam hit by a Jewish batter off a Jewish pitcher.
USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb notches her three hundredth profession basketball win
College of Southern California ladies’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb has established herself as one of many sport’s greatest.
Gottlieb, who in 2019 grew to become the primary ladies’s collegiate head coach to hitch an NBA workers, led USC to the No. 1 seed within the NCAA March Insanity event this 12 months after successful the Pac-12 Convention’s last-ever ladies’s championship (the convention since dissolved). USC made it to the Elite Eight within the Huge Dance earlier than shedding to the College of Connecticut.
In April, Gottlieb signed a contract extension with USC that can preserve her on the helm by means of the 2029-2030 season. And this season, USC is off to a different robust begin, now within the Huge Ten.
On Nov. 12, Gottlieb reached one other milestone: her three hundredth profession teaching win, a 124-39 rout over Cal State Northridge. The victory set USC information for factors scored in a single sport and widest margin of victory.
Gottlieb is a member of the Jewish Sports activities Corridor of Fame of Northern California. Following WNBA legend Sue Chicken’s retirement in 2022, some followers turned to Gottlieb as the brand new face of Jewish basketball.
“I questioned if there can be somebody to imagine [Bird’s] place as basketball’s Jewish position mannequin,” Sophie Bravo wrote for JTA’s companion web site Hey Alma in April. “Lindsay appears to have stepped into the position seamlessly, balancing success, humility and dedication, utilizing her actions to information and encourage.”
Sam Salz blazes a path for Orthodox Division I athletes
Talking of Jewish firsts, Texas A&M’s Sam Salz grew to become seemingly the first-ever Orthodox Jew to look in a Division I school soccer sport when he took the sector Nov. 16 with the Aggies.
Salz’s debut marked the fruits of a years-long journey, one which took him from Kohelet Yeshiva Excessive College — a Fashionable Orthodox faculty in Philadelphia with roughly 100 college students and no soccer group — to a legendary school soccer program that peaked at No. 15 within the nationwide rankings this season and performs within the vaunted Southeastern Convention.
Salz, who had by no means performed a snap of organized soccer in his life, not to mention DI school ball, had walked onto the group in 2022 however had but to look in a sport — partly as a result of most school soccer video games happen on Shabbat, when Salz doesn’t play.
However on the college’s senior night time, with 42 seconds left within the sport, he heard his identify known as and ran out on the gridiron.
“There’s most likely a Jewish child, and perhaps even particularly an Orthodox child, who desires to play soccer, or desires to play sports activities, and is sitting someplace confused about what he ought to do, or who’s advised that he’ll by no means be capable to do it,” Salz mentioned in an interview. “Even attending to see me run down on that area, profitable play or not, may have given him all of the hope that he needed.”
Jake Retzlaff enjoys a breakout season — and celebrates with some matzah
It sounds virtually just like the opening of a comedy routine: A proudly Jewish participant on the flagship college of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints turns into a family identify for faculty soccer followers.
Nevertheless it’s no joke. For Brigham Younger College quarterback Jake Retzlaff, this was a breakout season. Retzlaff goes by “BY-Jew” and made nationwide headlines each for his on-field play and for a way he publicly embraced his Jewish id.
Retzlaff, who grew up attending a Reform synagogue in Pomona, California, is BYU’s first Jewish beginning quarterback and considered one of solely three Jewish college students on the Utah faculty. He threw 20 touchdowns this season as he led BYU to a 10-2 document within the Huge-12 Convention and a top-25 nationwide rating — peaking at No. 9 on Nov. 5, a program document.
And earlier this month, Retzlaff inked a sponsorship cope with Manischewitz, the Jewish meals firm’s first-ever sports activities deal. The package deal is ready to incorporate special-edition containers of Manischewitz matzah emblazoned with Retzlaff’s likeness.
Max Fried indicators the biggest contract in Jewish baseball historical past
Retzlaff isn’t the one Jewish athlete with a landmark deal. Pitcher Max Fried entered the MLB offseason as one of the vital coveted free brokers in the marketplace. And on Dec. 10, he acquired his payday.
Fried signed an eight-year, $218 million contract with the New York Yankees, the biggest contract ever for a Jewish participant in addition to for a left-handed pitcher (topping David Worth’s 2015 deal by $1 million in uncooked phrases).
Fried, who turns 31 in January, has a 3.07 ERA in 151 profession begins, all with the Atlanta Braves, and is a two-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove winner, a Silver Slugger winner and a 2021 World Sequence champion. In 2024, Fried posted an 11-10 document with a 3.25 ERA and 166 strikeouts in 174.1 innings.
Now, the Los Angeles native, who grew up worshipping Corridor of Famer Sandy Koufax, will seemingly spend the remainder of his profession taking part in within the metropolis with probably the most Jews on the earth. Fried joins fellow Jewish pitcher Scott Effross, who was traded to the Yankees in 2022 however missed all of 2023 and most of 2024 with a number of accidents. Jewish Yankees pitching prospect Eric Reyzelman is working his method by means of the minor leagues. Brad Ausmus, the group’s bench coach, can be Jewish.
Aerin Frankel and Quinn Hughes headline a banner 12 months for Jewish hockey
On the identical day Fried signed his large cope with the Yankees, the Vancouver Canucks grew to become the primary group in NHL historical past to function three Jewish gamers in the identical sport.
Defensemen Quinn Hughes and Mark Friedman and ahead Max Sasson all performed for the Canucks as they misplaced to the St. Louis Blues 4-3 in additional time.
The Jewish hat trick capped a banner 12 months for Jews in hockey.
Jews featured prominently within the inaugural season of the Skilled Ladies’s Hockey League, which dropped the puck on New 12 months’s Day, led by Boston Fleet goalie Aerin Frankel, who’s arguably the very best Jewish participant within the league.
Frankel posted a .929 save proportion in 18 video games final season, however her breakout got here within the playoffs, when the Northeastern alum saved over 95% of pictures and earned the moniker “Inexperienced Monster” — an homage to a different formidable Boston sports activities presence — for her clutch performances. Boston misplaced to Minnesota within the finals in Might regardless of Frankel’s brick wall.
Within the NHL, Edmonton Oilers star Zach Hyman placed on a profession efficiency final season, tallying 54 targets, the third-most within the NHL, plus 16 extra within the playoffs. And Hughes completed with 75 assists, the third-most within the league, and received the James Norris Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the NHL’s greatest defender.
Throughout the offseason this summer time, Ryan Warsofsky grew to become the primary Jewish NHL head coach in three a long time, College of Denver star Zeev Buium was chosen twelfth total within the NHL Entry Draft and Jack, Luke and Quinn Hughes grew to become the primary brothers to grace the quilt of the flagship NHL online game.
Israeli Yaniv Bazini leads UVM to its first-ever NCAA soccer championship
Earlier than this month, the College of Vermont had received six nationwide championships within the faculty’s historical past — all in snowboarding. On Dec. 16, the Catamounts captured the NCAA Division I soccer championship, thanks largely to Israeli star Yaniv Bazini.
Bazini, a senior from Ness Ziona in central Israel, joined UVM in 2022 and have become an anchor of Vermont’s offense. This season, Bazini led the group with 14 targets — together with six scored in postseason video games — which is the second-most in a single season in program historical past. His 30 factors had been third-best within the UVM document books.
Past his offensive prowess, Bazini was additionally identified for his proud embrace of his Israeli and Jewish id. Final October, Bazini draped himself in an Israeli flag after scoring his first objective following Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault. He introduced the flag again out to have fun the nationwide title.
Bazini advised JTA he cherishes the chance to characterize Jews on the pitch — which he hopes to do professionally, both within the MLS or overseas.
“It means every part,” he mentioned. “I acquired so many messages up to now couple days of children which can be impacted, and never solely my soccer, however how I present that I’m Jewish and never afraid of it. By doing ‘Shema Yisrael’ at each starting of the sport or halftime, or each time I rating, each time to thank God.”
Honorable mentions
Listed here are a number of different Jewish sports activities tales from the previous 12 months which can be price noting:
Assaf Lowengart made historical past as the primary Israeli-born place participant to signal knowledgeable baseball contract within the U.S. when he joined the Frontier League’s New York Boulders in February.
Hapoel Jerusalem honored slain hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whom they known as “our pal within the stands.”
Orthodox MLB prospect Jacob Steinmetz continued his ascent by means of the minor leagues, becoming a member of the Hillsboro Hops, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Excessive-A affiliate.
MLB veteran Kevin Pillar loved a late-career resurgence with the Los Angeles Angels — and embraced his position as a Jewish ballplayer.
Group Israel launched an American group to strengthen its nationwide group pipeline and help baseball’s progress in Israel.
Náutico Hacoaj grew to become the primary Jewish soccer membership to compete in Argentina’s Novice Promotional Event since 1967.
Israeli fencer Yuval Freilich received a gold medal on the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix on Jan. 31, whereas sporting a uniform with an Israeli flag and the message “Am Israel Chai,” Hebrew for “the individuals of Israel lives,” written on his shoulder. Qatar, which doesn’t have diplomatic ties with Israel, has performed house to Hamas’ management.
And final however not least, Jewish wrestling promoter Paul Heyman and boxing publicist Fred Sternburg had been every inducted into their sport’s respective halls of fame. And the Jewish world mourned the deaths of Ken Holtzman, the winningest Jewish pitcher in MLB historical past, and Corridor of Fame jockey Walter Blum, who rode to victory within the Belmont Stakes.
For extra content material, go to jta.org.