H eadlines
Local Man to Lead International Jewish Sports HOF
L OCA L
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
THE INTERNATIONAL
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
opened in 1981 and is located
in the Wingate Institute for
Physical Education and Sports
in Netanya, Israel.

It has more than 420
inductees, all of them Jewish
athletic luminaries, though
some more famous than others,
like former Boston Celtics
coach Arnold “Red” Auerbach,
U.S. Olympic swimmer Mark
Spitz and Detroit Tigers slugger
Hank Greenberg. The most
recent inductee was Sue Bird,
the still-active WNBA star and
women’s basketball legend.

The ha ll ’s founding
chairman, Potomac, Maryland,
resident Alan Sherman, views
it as the official repository for
Jewish sports history.

And now Sherman is tapping
an Exton resident, Brian Schiff,
to replace him as the official
repository’s gatekeeper.

Sherman, 85, retired in
January after leading the hall
for four decades.

“It was time to pass it on,”
he said.

Sherman held various
leadership positions with
the international Maccabiah
Games, an Olympic-style
competition for
Jewish athletes, from the 1970s into
the ’90s. During that period,
Schiff coached the USA basket-
ball team at the Maccabiah
Games eight times.

The original chairman
knew Schiff and, by the time he
stepped down from the hall, he
felt his old acquaintance would
make a good replacement.

“I knew he had an interest
in the hall. I knew he knew
about sports,” Sherman said.

Sherman called Schiff and
asked if he wanted the role, and
the coach said he was inter-
ested. Schiff, 68, then talked it
over with his wife, who thought
it would be both prestigious
and something he would enjoy.

The new chairman still
works full time, too, in the
athletic department at the
Abington Friends School. But
he said he will make time for
the hall.

“It’s like anything in life,”
Schiff said. “Things you love
doing, you make time.”
For the hall, this is a moment
of transition in general, not just
at the chairman level. Schiff is
being joined in his endeavor
by another Philadelphia-area
resident: Jed Margolis, of
Dresher, the hall’s new vice
president. As VP of the nonprofit
organization, Margolis will
lead the 15-person election
committee for picking new hall
of famers. The IJSHF inducts
new members every year and
holds a ceremony every four
years at its Israel facility.

Margolis is replacing Joe
Siegman, a California-based
television producer who came
up with the original idea for
the hall.

The Dresher resident, now
70, retired four years ago after
a 45-year career with Jewish
Community Centers.

“This seemed like a natural
next step,” he said. “I was
looking for something that
would have meaning and make
a difference.”
Schiff and Margolis have
worked together before, at the
JCC Maccabi Games for Jewish
athletes 16 and under. Schiff
coached basketball, while
Margolis helped organize the
events. “I know he’s smart, driven
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JEWISH EXPONENT
New International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Chairman Brian Schiff
Courtesy of Brian Schiff
and committed to whatever
task he takes on,” Margolis said
of Schiff.

With the hall, Schiff’s and
Margolis’ task is to keep it the
same: to keep the inductions
rolling and the website and
facility operating.

Sherman said he left the
organization in good shape,
and the new leaders agree.

But Sherman acknowledged
that the hall needs to do more
to enter the 21st century.

And that, according to Schiff
and Margolis, is the mission
moving forward.

Schiff wants to start with the
website, which, even more than
the Israel facility, Sherman
labeled as “the sole repository
in the world for outstanding
Jewish athletes.”
Right now, though, the site
is just text and information.

Schiff and Margolis want to
make it more interactive with
videos and pictures.

“To get people to want to go
to it,” Schiff said.

After the website, Schiff
hopes to focus on the Israel
building. He recently spoke
with a 2017 inductee, who said
the facility, like the site, needs a
21st-century upgrade.

At the moment, it’s just
exhibits and lists of names.

Like its web home, the physical
hall would benefit from more
interactive elements, Schiff
said. “Something people would be
interested in visiting,” he said.

Both foundational renova-
tions, though, would cost
“enormous amounts of money,”
Schiff added. An amount
beyond the existing $100,000
quadrennial cost to run the
hall and hold the induction
ceremony. Schiff and Margolis are
planning to host a Zoom
meeting with board members
this month to discuss this vision.

Both local men are
committed to it.

“We just want to let people
out there know that Jews have
accomplished great things in
the world of sports,” Schiff
said. l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM