Celebrating athletics and a culture

Brooklynite Boyd Melson isn’t your typical guy. A junior middleweight boxing champion, West Point graduate and motivational speaker, Melson is a Jewish athlete who clearly has brains as well as brawn.

The 34-year-old is proud of his ethnic and religious background — his mother, whose parents were Holocaust survivors, is Israeli-Polish, and his father is Creole — and understands the significance of taking pride in one’s cultural heritage.
Asked why it’s important that April was declared Jewish Sports Heritage Month by the Jewish Sports Heritage Association, he responded, “I would say it forces [people] to take the time to praise athletes from different cultures [and] to give the due to the Jewish people who participated in American sports and helped contribute.”

The association has joined forces with Temple Israel of Lawrence to celebrate the accomplishments of Jewish athletes, to increase awareness of an overlooked area of Jewish achievement and to raise money for a pair of Five Towns Jewish institutions.

“Jews in sports is thought to be an oxymoron,” said Alan Freedman, executive director of Temple Israel of Lawrence and the director of the Jewish Sports Heritage Association, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to educating the public about Jewish athletes that is headquartered in Great Neck.

To commemorate those athletes’ achievements, the Lawrence synagogue and the association are hosting four events this month. The documentary “Supergirl,” the story of Naomi Kutin, an Orthodox Jewish power lifter, will be shown at Temple Israel, at 140 Central Ave. in Lawrence, on April 13 at 7 p.m. There will be a question-and-answer session with Kutin, her family and director Jesse Auritt. Admission is free for temple members of the temple and the Cedarhurst-based Marion & Aaron Gural JCC, and children under 16. A donation of $2 is suggested for other attendees.

Team Israel will offer a free lacrosse clinic for boys and girls ages 8 to 18 at Cantiague Park, in Hicksville, on April 16, beginning at 11 a.m. Those of all levels of skill are welcome.

NFL players Geoff and Mitchell Schwartz will share their experiences and discuss their book “Eat My Schwartz” at Temple Israel on April 30 at 10:30 a.m. Admission is free.

That same day at 4 p.m., the temple’s Mansion at Lawrence catering hall will host a fundraiser for Temple Israel and the Gural JCC called An Afternoon with the Jewish Stars. Minnesota Twins pitcher Craig Breslow; Ilana Koss, CEO and commissioner of Mylan World Team Tennis; Melson; Zelda Spolestra, former NBA senior director of alumni relations; and Richard Traum, president and founder of Achilles International, will be honored. Tickets are $100 per person for the kosher dinner.

“By focusing on Jews in sports,” Freedman said, “the Jewish Sports Heritage Association tries to show the public, in particular Jewish youth, that there’s nothing that they can’t achieve.”

New York City native Richard Traum understands that more than most. Traum wrestled and ran track in high school, and wrestled in college. He lost his right leg above the knee after being hit by a car while standing at a gas station in 1965.

Eleven years later, on an artificial leg, he ran in the New York City Marathon. Under the auspices of the New York Road Runners Club, Traum, 76, began a program for disabled runners that evolved into Achilles International, which now has members in more than 70 countries. Last November, 273 Achilles members finished the New York Marathon.

“What we’re doing is giving people an opportunity to achieve,” Traum said of the program. “When a person becomes involved, everything else becomes easier.”
Achilles, which is open to anyone with a disability, includes Achilles Kids (354 schools in 15 states are a part of the program), the Freedom Team of Wounded Warriors, the Hope and Possibility Race (in which disabled and able-bodied people compete together) and a marathon tour of a dozen marathons and other running events across the U.S.

According to Freedman, honoring people such as Melson and Traum isn’t just about sports; it’s about what they have accomplished. “Not only will it be an opportunity for the public to meet and speak with Jewish athletes, coaches, broadcasters, executives and others,” Freedman said of this month’s events, “it will be the best opportunity for us to show the public how Jewish men and women have excelled in the world of sports.”

Contact Freedman at alan@templeisrael-lawrence.org, or at (516) 239-1140, about the movie, the Schwartz brothers’ appearance or the fundraiser. For the lacrosse clinic, contact Seth Mahler at seth@lacrosse.co.li.

Have an opinion or a story to share on Jewish athletes? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.