Class of 2020
William Yale Saltzman, considered one of the greatest football players in Philadelphia High School history in 1928, was inducted into their first Sports Hall of Fame class 63 years later. In his junior year at Franklin & Marshall College, he was the first Jewish captain of the football team with wrestling, boxing and baseball rounding out his sports interests. He was inducted into F&M’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.
During the 1960’s, real estate developer Jerry Wolman owned the Philadelphia Eagles, Connie Mack Stadium, and was a founding owner of the Philadelphia Flyers. He also developed the Spectrum where the Flyers and 76ers played for most of the next three decades. The man who’d been raised in an Orthodox home in Shenandoah, PA was… Read more »
The Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame has inducted boxers, trainers, promoters, even a referee – but never before a judge. Yet this isn’t the first time Carol B. Polis has made history, because 47 years ago she became the first woman boxing judge, appointed by then Pennsylvania governor Milton Shapp. Polis has made her… Read more »
Contrary to popular belief, Sandy Koufax wasn’t the first dominant Jewish pitcher in baseball. That distinction belongs to Erskine Mayer, who made history nearly five decades earlier by becoming the first Jew to win 20 games and also pitch in a World Series, both of which he did twice. Mayer, whose father composed an opera… Read more »
Bryan Cohen, is the first basketball player in Patriot League history to earn Defensive Player of the Year three consecutive seasons while also scoring 1,102 points at Bucknell University from 2009-13. A Lower Moreland, PA native, he had played for 2014 PJSHOF inductee Coach Steve Chadwin at Abington Friends and later became a three-time participant… Read more »
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Carl Cherkin has enjoyed a long running career of success in sports, broadcasting, marketing, business development and public relations. While some may know him as an athlete or broadcaster, most recently he has been known for his involvement as one of the founding executives of the Philadelphia Union, a Major League Soccer… Read more »
After tripping over a hurdle in eighth grade, Sam Mattis was told he would be a thrower. From that day forward, he became a track and field athlete competing in the discus throw. Setting the New Jersey state record from 2010-2012, he won the NJ Meet of Champions and the New Balance Nationals in 2011… Read more »
Steve Shull was one of three captains for the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII. Born in Philadelphia, he grew up in Bucks County. His football career started at Neshaminy High School – the football program had a long history of excellence. As part of its 50th anniversary of the Super Bowl, the NFL honored… Read more »
Adam Feldman remains the winningest male foil fencer in Penn State University history with 92.3% wins. Born in Philadelphia, he started fencing at the Abington YMCA at age 15 and fell in love with the sport. With lessons under Coach Bill Shipman at the University of Pennsylvania, he began to taste some success at the… Read more »
Baseball Ballads and Baseball Ballads 2, written, played and sung by Chuck Brodsky
