About Alan

Alan Veingrad Offensive Lineman with the Green Bay Packers & Dallas Cowboys who is a Member of Super Bowl XXVII World Champion Dallas Cowboy Team in 1993. Started 16 games as a rookie with Green Bay Packers and played for five years. Signed by Dallas Cowboys to play with Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith. Won five Game Balls in career for game-winning performance. Recognized as highly versatile and consistent "veteran" and played every position on the line, except center.

With Alan blocking, Emmitt Smith earned the rushing title and awarded Veingrad with a signed Rolex watch as a token of his appreciation.

It's hard being a professional football player. It's harder still being a Jewish football player. My road to playing offensive line in the NFL began at East Texas State University where I was the only Jewish student and where there was no Jewish community. I was the object of some proselytizing, often sitting through team prayer meetings before the games. Always, I retained a strong sense of Jewish dignity and pride.

After completing my undergraduate degree, I was signed as a free agent by the Green Bay Packers and spent five exciting years in Wisconsin , upholding the traditions of Vince Lombardi and trying to keep quarterbacks off their backs. The Jewish community of Green Bay , though small, sustained me and helped me survive the isolation of being the only Jew on the team. At pre-game prayer sessions, when my t

eammates would join hands and recite the Lord's Prayer, I would say my own s ilent prayer, a Jewish prayer.

As a Dallas Cowboy and member of the Super Bowl championship team of 1992, I got to play for coach Jimmy Johnson and protect the now legendary quarterback Troy Aikman. Being Jewish left me open to a fair amount of good-natured ribbing and kidding, more the by-product of insensitivity than of malice. In the rough and tumble environment of an NFL team, a Jew is an outsider.

But now, as I continue to discover even more the rich traditions of Yiddishkeit, I'm happy to be on the inside of Hashem's army.