Posted: Dec. 13, 2005
Alan Veingrad, an offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers from 1986 to 1990, has turned from football to faith since retiring from the National Football League in 1993. These days, he talks to Jewish organizations around the country about his journey from being a secular Jew to an observant Orthodox Jew. After Green Bay, he played two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys; he was a backup player on the Super Bowl-winning team in 1993. Veingrad, 42, will speak at 7:30 tonight at The Shul, 333 W. Brown Deer Road, Bayside. The cost is $8 for adults, $4 for children. He spoke with Journal Sentinel reporter Tom Heinen.
Q: The public may remember you best as the player who beat out Tony Mandarich - the second overall draft pick in 1989 - as a starter. He later improved but was still labeled a bust.
A: Tony Mandarich was my claim to fame. It's amazing. When I went to Green Bay, I took two suitcases. I came off of hip surgery. I knew I was a long shot to make the team. So, I was so insecure that I actually stayed in a hotel the whole season. And it was the best year of my career. I got a lot of publicity over it. And I was able to get a better contract, and I thank Tony.
Q: You say you were the only Jewish player on the Packers. Was there spirituality in the locker room?
A: The team would get together for prayer before and after the games. They would say the Lord's Prayer, which is not a prayer that Jews say. I would have my own prayer. I would speak to God and ask God for certain things and thank God for certain things. . . . I was talking to God to watch over me that I don't get creamed today.
Q: You were not active in Judaism. Were your parents secular Jews?
A: We belonged to a synagogue up until my bar mitzvah, and then we no longer really associated with the synagogue. We always would have the customs and the Jewish foods associated with the various holidays. However, we didn't really have the spiritual aspect of it.
Q: You say that, after you retired, a cousin invited you and your family to a Shabbat, or Sabbath, dinner. Then he got you to attend a Torah study session in a home. What happened next?
A: The rabbi started talking, and I was not really paying attention. I was really focused on the magnitude of this particular doctor's house that I was in. I was focusing on the materialism of his house. Right towards the end of the class, the rabbi started talking about materialism and about envy and I really started to pay attention, and it really kind of woke me up, and I started to go to every class. . . . And I realized that right in front of me as a Jew was this thing they called the Torah, and it really provided so much inspiration, so much insight and meaning.
Q: Another turning point was a story the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote about you in 2003, in which you talked about your martial arts, kayak fishing, scuba diving and other activities?
A: I read that story and thought that I had a very shallow existence. At the same time, I was starting to spend time with some of the Chabad rabbis here in south Florida, going to their homes for (Sabbath), starting to interact with other Jewish families. And I was really inspired . . . and I decided to make changes in my life.
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