Talk:List of Jewish American sportspeople

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S/be List of Jewish American athletes. 24.17.48.241 06:34, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Rod Carew

Dropped:

  • Rod Carew, baseball player, MVP 1977, HoF (heritage is disputed, but is a practicing Jew)

This does not harmonize, exactly, with the Carew article. Discussion? Ellsworth 23:47, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Chess? Poker?

Since when is a chess or poker player an "athlete"? Dbtfz 20:27, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

I guess this usage is not entirely without precedent (see athlete), and the Greek word "athlos" does mean contest. Still it seems like a very non-standard way of using the term. Dbtfz 20:31, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bodreau

As a Jew myself, I, as well as most other jews, would not consider Lou Boudreau to be Jewish. He technically was, as he had a Jewish mother, but he was raised by his father, who was Christain and raised him as such. Subsquentialy, players who have Jewish fathers but not mothers but were raised that way (like Mike Lieberthal) should be included.

[edit] Record of AfD

Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/List_of_Jewish_American_athletes  (aeropagitica)  13:18, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] John McEnroe

Mother was Jewish (Kay)

[edit] Kimmie Meissner

Does anyone have a source that she is Jewish? It's not really clear and it's not out there as far as I can see. I'll remove her until it turns up. Mad Jack O'Lantern 22:45, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

The source for appears to be this, however some google searching also turned up a few pages against as well. Honestly I can't find any real sources to back up the later person, so I cant judge his argument. --Bachrach44 01:48, 4 May 2006 (UTC)
Well the first source is a website that seems to say she might be Jewish because someone put her on this very list! lol Mad Jack O'Lantern 04:20, 4 May 2006 (UTC)
I found that amusing too. Frankly I can't find anything absolute, so I'm willing to say it's a hoax. (To be frank, there's a lot of that on this page). --Bachrach44 13:41, 4 May 2006 (UTC)
Have you seen anything about Ryan Sheckler, the skateboarder, being Jewish? Seems likely, at least on his father's side. Mad Jack O'Lantern 17:51, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sports?

"Power Sports"

Professional Wrestling is athletic but isn't a sport in any sense of the word as there is no actual competition, merely the illusion thereof.

However, Bill Goldberg used to played in the NFL and should be listed as an ex-footballer.

"Mind Sports"

Bridge, Poker, and Chess are highly competitive games but I would hardly consider them sports and the people who play them athletes.

Can we please go by a less ambigious definition of what exactly constitutes a sport?


—Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.205.239.56 (talk • contribs)

[edit] Sources

I'm sourcing the list in accordance with Wikipedia's Original Research and Verifiability policies. Basically, anyone described by a reliable source as "Jewish" or "Jewish-American" (i.e. as opposed to "of Jewish descent", "Jewish mother", etc.) is on the list. Here are the few people I couldn't find anything for. If you have a reliable source that fits that please restore the names:

Mad Jack O'Lantern 21:15, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lieberthal

Someone added a comment to the Mike Lieberthal entry to the extent that he wasn't really Jewish and denied being so. According to my source, Lieberthal has a Jewish father, but wasn't raised Jewish, and does not wish to be identified as such. Since he is not halakhically Jewish, and has only one Jewish parent and has chosen the other religion, I'm inclined to not count him as Jewish, but want to see what others think before taking unilateral action. --Bachrach44 02:34, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Lieberthal's father is Jewish, and he is therefore considered Jewish under Reform Judaism, and is also listed as such by the American Jewish Historical Society and others.[1][2][3][4] --Epeefleche 23:42, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pete Sampras?

I never knew he was jewish and there is no such mention in any of his bios or anything I've ever read about him. I've actually read about him attending Greek Orthodox mass, etc. I may be wrong though. Has anyone verified this? --Kimonandreou 17:16, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

Sampras is indeed Greek Orthodox. However, his father's father mother was a (Greek?) Jew, which seems to be enough to include him here. Though I suppose in a slightly twisted way, he is the most successful Jewish tennis player ever — counting only the 'Jewish 25%' of his Grand Slams, he still beats Dick Savitt 3½ to 2. – Udzu 20:28, 8 June 2006 (UTC)
Duh! I just read the source [5] from the article (#174). This is what he says (from the article):
I'm 75 percent Greek, 25 percent Jewish. My Dad's Jewish. My Mom was born and raised in Greece; she's 100 percent Greek. My Dad's mother was Jewish, but his father is Greek. That's where we got the Sampras name. A Greek Jew.
--Kimonandreou 21:06, 8 June 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Sampras??? DEMPSEY???????

This is ridiculous. I can't find ANYTHING on Jack Dempsey being Jewish. Not even the link works. It's ridiculous. Nothing is proven. I think it might have been put there as a joke. We don't want jokes, we want the truth.

As for Sampras, let me say this- it's the mother's side of the family that is what counts. Period. Unless the guy has converted. If his father's mother was Jewish, it means nothing.

Either the guy is a practicing Jew, (converted, or whatever) or has a Jewish father but a Gentile mother, but he PRACTICES Judaism, or someone on his mother's side of the family is Jewish. Otherwise, forget it. At least, that's the way that Orthodox Jews say it.

I have a feeling that when Sampras said- "A Greek Jew"- might have been said in a deadpan way. We don't know. Since we don't know, we shouldn't keep it in there. If there is no response to this within ten days, I'm going to remove both Dempsey and Sampras from this list. Slater79 03:58, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Robbie Gould

First, replying to the person above, Orthodox Jews do not consider practicing Jews with non-Jewish mothers to be Jewish, just to correct what you said (and not just "anyone" on the mother's side would suffice, it has to be the maternal grandmother, or so on). Next, Robbie Gould had this reference [6], however this [7] seems to say he is not Jewish. Mad Jack 01:41, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Mad Jack is correct. And just to complicate matters, there are the non-Orthodox Jews. Reform Jews, for example, view it as sufficient if the father is Jewish.--Epeefleche 02:08, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

And .. I might add ... the Orthodox are smaller in number in the US than are either the Conservative or Reform Jews ... [8]. --Epeefleche 02:17, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sourcing

One commentator has suggested as follows: "02:12, 7 February 2007 WassermannNYC (Talk | contribs) (Reminder -- EVERY name MUST have a source or these names will soon removed per User:Jayjg's policy on the List of Jewish American businesspeople page)

I believe that, if that is a Wiki policy, it makes no sense to apply it where the person is linked to their Wiki bio, which in turn supplies a source. That is the case with a great number of the sportspeople under baseball, for example, and fencing. To do so would entail needless double work.

Thoughts? --Epeefleche 23:41, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Buddy...

If Max Baer is included, why not Buddy Baer, his brother? Any reason not to include him? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Nootral (talk • contribs) 05:42, 14 March 2007 (UTC).