Magazine focused on Jewish athletes
| Field | Value |
|---|
| title | Jewish Sports Review |
| image_file | Jsr.jpg |
| editor | Ephraim Moxson; Shel Wallman |
| editor_title | Editors |
| staff_writer | Neil Keller; Stan Ramati |
| frequency | Bi-monthly |
| category | Jewish Sports |
| publisher | Ephraim Moxson; Shel Wallman |
| firstdate | May–June 1997 |
| country | U.S. |
| based | Los Angeles |
| website | |
Jewish Sports Review (JSR) was a bi-monthly magazine that operated from 1997 to 2022. Its editors were Ephraim Moxson and Shel Wallman.
The magazine identified Jewish athletes, including professionals, college players, athletes in international competition, and selected high school athletes.
History
From 1972 to 1974, Shel Wallman published an early version of what became the Jewish Sports Review, then for 20 years in his weekly column for a Jewish newspaper in Indianapolis. Wallman placed an ad in The Sporting News and connected with Ephraim Moxson, who became a stringer for Wallman.
Wallman and Moxson relaunched the Jewish Sports Review as a print-only, biweekly magazine focused on identifying Jewish athletes from college through professional sports in 1997.
As to his inspiration for launching the magazine, Wallman said: "I was always curious to know who was Jewish as a kid. And there wasn't a list."
Jewish Sports Review ceased publication on September 16, 2022.
Content
The magazine rarely included in-depth profiles of the athletes or used photos. JSR provided information as to who is Jewish in the sports world. JSR's criteria for determining an athlete as Jewish was: at least one parent is Jewish, he did not practice any other religion during his athletic career, and he self-identifies as ethnically Jewish. If an athlete has a Jewish parent but was raised in, or converted to, another faith, or indicated to JSR that he did not wish to be considered Jewish, he is excluded (even though under Jewish law he might be considered Jewish). Athletes were asked whether or not they wish to be identified as Jewish before they were included in the Review. JSR also listed athletes frequently misidentified as Jewish.
Reception
When the American Jewish Historical Society published a set of baseball cards of Jews in the major leagues, the project founder, Martin Abramowitz of Jewish Major Leaguers Inc., relied on research by JSR. Also, when the Israel Baseball League was active, teams in it would recruit top college baseball players from the JSR's Jewish All-Americans in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III.
Peter Horvitz, in The Big Book of Jewish Sports Heroes (2007), calls Wallman the "best and most dependable source of up-to-date information on the subject" of Jews in sports. Joseph Siegman, in his 2005 book Jewish Sports Legends, listed Moxson as a distinguished authority on sports. The New York Times reported that JSR "aims to be rigorously comprehensive", and Sports Illustrated called JSR "tireless in its service mission".
In 2023, Wallman and Moxson were honored with the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame award of excellence.
References
- "Subscriptions". Jewish Sports Review.
- "About Us". Jewish Sports Review.
- Solomon, John. (October 25, 1998). "Neighborhood Report – Upper West Side – Honoring, Yes, The Jewish Athlete". The New York Times.
- (April 28, 2010). "Breakdown of Tampa's Star Designated Hitter Mike Schwartz". The Minaret.
- Steve Rushin. (February 7, 2000). "There's burgeoning subculture of devoted sports fans for".
- Ziegel, Vic. (January 13, 2000). "Film Recalls Greenberg War Vs. Pitchers, Prejudice". Nydailynews.com.
- "Jewish Sports Review - Home".
- (April 22, 2010). "Hard work works for Kavitsky". Courier-Post.
- (May 6, 2010). "Washington University Athletics". Bearsports.wustl.edu.
- (July 25, 2008). "Jacobs, Kavitsky honored for softball efforts". Northshoreoflongisland.com.
- (January 27, 2005). "UAB Women's Soccer Player Pam Cooney Named To Jewish Sports Review 2004 Women's Soccer All-America Team :: Sophomore garners first-team honors". Cstv.com.
- (August 20, 2004). "Jewish Sports Review honors lacrosse player". Media.www.thetriangle.org.
- (February 12, 2010). "Jewish Stars". Cleveland Jewish News.
- Casper, Joshua. (March 24, 2004). "Yale's Jewish basketball players make their mark". Jewish Ledger.
- (2022-10-31). "The octogenarian 'who is a Jew?' sports writing team calls it quits after 25 years". [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]].
- Ephross, Peter. (September 22, 2004). "A 'holy alliance'? Ties between U.S. Jews and baseball go deep". Jewish Ledger.
- (January 4, 2010). ""The phone book's here, the phone book's here!" * » Kaplan's Korner on Jews and Sports". [[New Jersey Jewish News]].
- Rodman, Edmon J.. "Duo celebrating bar mitzvah of counting Jewish athletes". JTA.
- Bloom, Nate. (March 2007). "Interfaith Celebrities Play Ball". InterfaithFamily.com.
- (February 6, 2007). "Sports Desk". The New York Sun.
- Lowenfish, Lee. (March 24, 2006). "New Cards Mine Baseball's Jewish Bench". Forward.
- Cobb, Nathan. (October 13, 2003). "Tribute is in the cards for Jewish ballplayers". Boston.com.
- Wieczorek, Allie. (September 12, 2007). "From Kelly Field to the 'Field of Dreams'". Studlife.com.
- Peter Horvitz. (April 2007). "The Big Book of Jewish Sports Heroes: An Illustrated Compendium of Sports History and The 150 Greatest JEwish Sports Stars". SP Books.
- Joseph Siegman. (2000). "Jewish Sports Legends: the International Jewish Hall of Fame". Brassey's.
- (2023-01-06). "ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman among International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame's 11 inductees for 2023". [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]].