Bob Stein in his NFL heyday as a member of the Los Angeles Rams…
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Jews in footballJanuary 24, 2008
The play was over in a matter of seconds, but for Bob Stein and football fans, the memories still linger.
As a member of the 1970 champion Kansas City Chiefs, Stein made a spectacular defensive play against the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV, one of his contributions to his team’s 23-7 victory.
The game — the last before the merger of the rival AFL and NFL — was the only time a coach was fitted with a microphone; consequently, it became the most-played highlight film.
“It’s so amazing to me,” Stein said in a telephone interview, one of many that presumably come in around this time of year. “It demonstrates the power of the media…. I made a tackle and as I came off the field, they had in the film Hank Stram saying, ‘Who made that play? Oh, Bobby Stein? Way to go, Bobby Stein!’ and he pats me on the butt as I go by. It’s maybe 15 seconds. In the last two years, I’ve had times when I was at the Metrodome in Minneapolis for a football game, and I’m walking up the stairs [and] I hear someone calling, ‘Bobby Stein, Bobby Stein! Way to go, Bobby Stein!’”
It also doesn’t hurt that he’s the answer to a trivia question: Who was the first Jew to play in a Super Bowl?
That game had extra meaning for the six-foot-three, 235-pound Minnesota-born student-athlete since it came against his hometown team.
Stein mentioned another watershed moment in Minnesota/Jewish sports lore.
Sandy Koufax made his famous decision not to pitch in the first game against the Twins in the 1965 World Series, which fell on Yom Kippur. Instead, he went to a local synagogue for services.
“I remember that well. I was a freshman [at the University of Minnesota]. It was one of those things I thought about a lot. We had a game in my junior year against Illinois — a Big 10 game — that fell on Yom Kippur, and I ended up deciding not to play.”
Although Stein followed his conscience, he said he empathizes with the handful of contemporary Jewish players who, faced with a similar situation, might decide to play.
He recalled the kibitzing that went on in the locker rooms. “Some of it good-natured, a couple of times bad-natured. At that time I had a lot of teammates who had never met a Jew before. Generally speaking, I got along well with everyone, one-of-the-boys kind of thing. At the same time, some of the black players and Southern players had only stereotypes as their experience. There were a couple that I felt were way out of line; at other times my friends would joke about it.
“When you’re in your 20s and every day is a day out with the boys, then everything is fair game. But my father use to have an expression: Joking on the square. Sometimes you get the feeling there was a little legitimate prejudice in the jokes….”
Stein, who turned 60 on Jan. 22, retired after seven seasons in the NFL — he also played for the Los Angeles Rams and San Diego Chargers before finishing his final season with the Vikings — but unlike many of his fellow athletes, he was prepared for a life after sports. During his first few seasons with the Chiefs, he attended law school full time, thanks to an understanding boss.
“When I graduated from college, I applied, and had been accepted, to Harvard, Michigan, and Stanford law schools and was all set to go to Harvard had I not made it in my rookie training camp.
…and today.
“Coach Stram facilitated a lot for me. He had a real steel-mill mentality about people trying to better themselves, so anyone who wanted to do something academically — if they were a good citizen on the team and a decent guy — he would really try to let them do it.”
Stein finished his degree in three years and practiced in the off-season over the remainder of his career, often working as a player representative.
Stein was also the first CEO/president of the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association. His ex-father-in-law wanted to get into sports and after an aborted effort to buy the Minnesota Twins obtained the expansion franchise in 1989. Stein remained with the team until 1995 when new ownership took over.
“After 30-something years in sports and law I’m trying to go straight.” Stein now works for a telecommunications consulting group. “I didn’t think I would miss the fishbowl of sports and law and I haven’t,” he said. The sports world isn’t quite done with him, however: He was recently named to the Minnesota State Boxing Commission.
Stein was elected to the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. “That was very exciting, especially when I did a little research on it and looked at some of the people who have been inducted over the years. It was really a big thrill. I had always felt I had some obligation and unique opportunity being a Jewish professional athlete. This kind of fit right in there.”
Jews in football
BOB STEIN WILL participate in Only the Pigskin Was Treif: Jews in Football, a panel discussion hosted by the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame & Museum in Commack, NY, on Sunday, Jan. 27. Other speakers will include John Frank, former tight end for the San Francisco 49ers; New York Times’ sportswriter Jerry Eskenazi; Jen Blum, a member of the NY Sharks women’s pro football team; and Fox Sports broadcaster Sam Rosen. Barry Landers, long-time radio voice for the NY Islanders, will serve as moderator. For more information, call 632-462-9800, ext. 125.