Jewish athletes

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Harvey Salz, from Brooklyn, New York, played for the DC Truckers in AAU competitions, passing up try-outs with the St. Louis Hawks (now Atlanta Hawks) and the New York Knicks to play for the Truckers during the early 1960s. He also played with the Truckers in a tournement in Ecuador in 1962. Salz also played handball as well.

Abstract Joe 'Awful' Coffee, born Joseph Rutkowski in Minsk, Russian Empire in 1905 was a major figure on the Denver sports scene. After boxing, as a featherweight, for ten years across the Rocky Mountain region, he retired and went to college at the University of Denver. After graduation, Joe worked for the May Company, and then opened up Joe 'Awful' Coffee's Ringside Lounge in 1943. Coffee's restaurant operated for some 23 years, closing in 1966, and attracting such notables as Jack Dempsey,...

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Collection contains notes and newsclipping of individual Jewish athletes from Colorado: Leonard Alterman, Abe Attell, Mandel Berenbaum, Joe Coffee; Max Cohan, Nate Grimes, Dorothy Heitler, Irwin Hoffman, Helen Hyman, Blanche Lange, Larry Loeb, Aaron Lutz, Alice Marx, Fay Morris, Ed Pepper, Harvey Salz, Howard Schechtel, Jack Shapiro, Morey Sharp, Craig Silverman, Sam Sugarman, and William Winograd.

Abstract Russian Jewish immigrants Harry and Ida Cook journeyed to the American West in the early 1890s. They later opened Cook's Russian Baths in Denver. It served both as a mikvah (ritual bath) operated at night for women by Ida and during the day as a popular stean open to the public, complete with catered Kosher meals. Members of the 1912 Cook's Baths Baseball Team line up in front of a brick building. Left to right: Al Fishman, Dave Cook, Harry Gibbons, Max Sedalnick (Shep), [unidentified team...

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Members of the 1912 Cook's Baths Baseball Team line up in front of a brick building. Left to right: Al Fishman, Dave Cook, Harry Gibbons, Max Sedalnick (Shep), [unidentified team member], Sam Kay [Sam Kantowitz, coach], Judi Goldberg, Sam Waitz, Louie Spector, Max Gelfond, Abe Pringle, and Louis Cook. Team members are wearing uniforms that display the word ''Cooks'' on their shirts.

Abstract David Speken was born on the 28th of July, 1908 to Ralph and Tillie Speken. David played football for the University of Denver from 1927-1930, except for 1929 for which there is no record of his playing. His statistics show him to be an excellent player--regularly leading the team in game and season metrics. Anecdotally, it is said that Hilltop stadium was referred to as, "The House/Stadium that Spek Built," due to the number of fans who came to see him play. David Speken died on the 10th of...

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Blanche Lang, from Evergreen, Colorado was active in figure skating on the front range of Colorado in the 1920s and 1930s, helping to form the Denver Figure Skating Club before moving to Los Angeles, California in the 1940s.

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Howard Schechtel was a multi-sports star at East High School, being honored in football, baseball, and basketball (in AAU). He later competed in tennis at senior level.

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Sam Sugarman starred in football with the now-defunct University of Denver program in the late 1930s, earning all-American honors twice and earning headlines for sitting out a game that was scheduled on Yom Kippur in 1940 for religious reasons. After graduation, he turned down an offer to play with the Newark Bears, joined the military and played semi-pro football with a team in Honolulu, Hawaii. Sugarman retired from playing in 1944.