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23
Feb
2011
Yeshiva University Hosts 2011 Wittenberg Wrestling Tournament
More than 180 wrestlers from across the country filled the Max Stern Athletic Center on Yeshiva University’s Washington Heights’ Wilf Campus on February 21 for the championship finals of the 2011 Henry Wittenberg Wrestling Tournament. The tournament, now in its 16th year, is the highlight of the yeshiva high school wrestling year.
The weekend included a YU-sponsored Shabbaton, featuring words of inspiration from Alan Veingrad, a former NFL offensive lineman turned observant Jew.
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“Wittenberg gives Yeshiva high school students an opportunity to experience competition with likeminded students who not only share an interest in wrestling but also share the same Jewish values as well,” said Dr. Hillel Davis, vice president for university life at Yeshiva University.
When the dust settled, the Ida Crown Jewish Academy (Chicago, IL) wrestling team took first place at the tournament, with Torah Academy of Bergen County (Teaneck NJ) and The Frisch School (Paramus, NJ) placing second and third, respectively. Other participating schools included Yeshiva Atlanta (Atlanta, GA), North Shore Hebrew Academy (Great Neck, NY), DRS High School (Woodmere, NY), Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy (Elizabeth, NJ), Fuchs Mizrachi (Beachwood, OH), Kushner Academy (Livingston, NJ) and Yeshiva University High School for Boys / MTA (New York, NY).
The tournament is named for YU’s former wrestling coach and legendary Olympic medalist, Henry Wittenberg. Wittenberg founded the school’s wrestling program in 1955 and was the team’s first coach. He passed away last year at the age of 91.
For a list of team scores and results visit the Yeshiva Wrestling Web site.
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I am Henry Wittenberg’s daughter and am very moved to read about the Wittenberg Wrestling Invitational. I was recently ask who followed my father as the Yeshiva University wrestling coach. If you know, please e-mail me his name. This information is for an article that is being written about my father.Thank you
Hi Susan,
Neil Ellman has been the coach at YU for 41 years. He wrestled for Henry at YU. He knows the name of the coach who was there in between for a couple years….
I believe it was your father’s friend from CCNY, Judge Jerome Steinberg.
Susan:
I believe your father induced Judge Steinberg to replace him at YU when he left to replace his former coach, Joe Sapora, as wrestling coach at CCNY, a job that he could not turn down for sentimental reasons.
Your father was a great teacher and coach, and a magnificent human being.
Saul.Shajnfeld@gmail.com
Susan:
Your father, Sapora and Steinberg are listed here: http://www.ccnyalumni.org/test/images/stories/affiliates/CCNY_Athletic_Hall_of_Fame.pdf
I was present when your father gave his farewell address to the wrestling class at YU, and introduced Steinberg–a former member of the CCNY team–as his replacement. His own coach, Sapora, who had helped train him for the Olympics, had taken ill, and your father was called on to take over for him at CCNY.
As much as he was devoted to training Jewish wrestlers at YU, he could not bring himself to ignore the debt he owed to Sapora and CCNY and turn down the offer. He left with a good deal of sadness.
Susan,
I’d like to talk to you about the book you are putting together in memory of your father