Vol. 32, No. 11
Kislev-Tevet 5771
December 2010
An Affiliate of ttie Jewish Federation of Greater Ctiariotte
Panthers’ Geoff Schwartz Still Holds Tight to His Jewish Heritage
By Steve Goldberg
If you’re ever on
Jeopardy and the answer
under College Football for
$800 is “He holds the PAC
10 record for rushing by a
right tackle,” trust me when
I tell you that the correct
response is “Who is Geoff
Schwartz?”
For the past two seasons,
Schwartz has been blocking
for former University of
Oregon teammate Jonathan
Stewart as an offensive line
man for the Carolina
Panthers. But for one glori
ous October day three years
ago in Eugene when the
Ducks beat the mighty
Trojans of Southern Cal, it
was the other way around.
Stewart and Schwartz would
combine for 1,725 rushing
yards in 2007. Of those,
Stewart had 1,722.
But Schwartz’s three
yards are the stuff of legend.
He had already blocked his
man outside and was look
ing for someone else to hit when
the Ducks quarterback mistakenly
pitched him the ball. Though
astonished to see it coming his
way, Schwartz is one who takes
things in stride, so he nonetheless
gathered it in and gained his three
yards on the play, one that may
have helped him gamer the All-
PAC 10 honors he received that
season. With the Panthers tepid
offense this year, perhaps they
could engage what’s now known
in the Pacific Northwest as the
Jumbo Option Sweep.
.
Geoff Schwartz in action for the Panthers.
Photo courtesy Carolina Panthers.
That’s but part of the Geoff
Schwartz story immortalized on
the World Wide Web.
On various internet sites, it’s
claimed that the Rabbi of the Adat
Shalom congregation in West Los
Angeles had to stand on a stool
when next to 13 year old though
6’1” Schwartz during his Bar
Mitzvah. Now 6’6” and tipping
335 pounds, Schwartz doesn’t
remember that part but doesn’t
deny it either.
What Schwartz does recall is
that being Jewish has always been
ON ‘3110iyVHO
8031 #lll/\iy3d
aivd 39visod s n
ais lysyd
pejsenbey eojAjes sBublio
93383 ON ‘sHO|jbl|o
21,1,# aims ‘peoy eouepjACJd ZOOS
an important part of who
he is.
His parents met as stu
dents at UCLA and
brought up their kids just
a few miles from the
Westwood campus.
Father Lee Schwartz, a
business consultant to
manufacturing compa
nies, and mother Olivia
Goodkin, an attorney,
raised Geoff and his
younger brother Mitchell,
currently a lineman at the
University of California
in Berkeley, in a conser
vative Jewish home. They
celebrated Shabbat, ate
deli at Junior’s and
Jerry’s Famous, and guid
ed the boys’ Hebrew edu
cation through high
school.
At Oregon, Schwartz
attended high holiday
services at the local
Chabad House and tried
diligently to navigate the
demands of being a
scholarship athlete in a fall sport
with his faith. If fasting for Yom
Kippur conflicted with a game, he
would attend services but fast on
another day.
It’s a situation that he still wres
tles with as a professional athlete.
“It’s tough to do both. I have a job
to do. I’ve committed to the team
to be here. I’ve tried to make up
for it in any way possible.
“I’ve always made time for the
high holidays,” says Schwartz,
“but I’d like to make more time in
the future for Saturday morning
services, for Sukkot and more
things like that.” Now 24, he
hopes to experience the Taglit-
Birthright Israel program.
This past September, he went to
Temple Beth El’s services, which
he enjoyed but were admittedly
different from what he grew up
with. Schwartz appreciates though
that there are many ways for Jews
to be observant.
“I think Judaism does provide
that. There are so many avenues,
reform, reconstructionist, conser
vative, orthodox. The core values
are all the same but it does allow
you to make Judaism a part of
your life in the way that works
best for you. I think going to tem
ple is great because it reinforces
all of those beliefs and just being
in the synagogue you have this
feeling of...”
was
He pauses while searching for
the right words before admitting,
“I don’t know, it’s just great to be
there.”
Schwartz also understands why
his being Jewish might be a big
deal for others.
In the yin and yang of Jewish
identity, there have always been
the polar opposites of nebbish and
Maccabee. Schwartz with his
strength, size and success at one of
the toughest positions in the NFL,
most definitively represents the
latter and he’s glad to do so.
“I think Jews are getting recog
nized more for athletics which is
good for kids coming up now.
When I was a kid, I didn’t know of
an offensive lineman who
Jewish.”
The fact is that you
wouldn’t be able to make
a minyan from the sons of
Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob on NFL rosters but
you could make a start.
According to various
reports, there are at least
seven others besides
Schwartz including the
Dallas Cowboys Igor
Olshansky, a defensive
end and offensive lineman
Kyle Kosier, Sage
Rosenfels, a backup quar
terback for the Minnesota
Vikings, St. Louis Rams
offensive lineman Adam
Goldberg, San Francisco
49’ers safety Taylor Mays,
Jacksonville Jaguars
punter Adam Podlesh, and
David Binn, a long snap
per for the San Diego Chargers.
Bruce Snyder, who’s also
Jewish and the sports anchor for
FOX Charlotte, agrees. “It proves
you can do anything you want if
you set your mind to it. If you
want to be an NFL player it does
n’t matter what your background
is.”
Schwartz was an all-around
athlete at Palisades High School in
Los Angeles, playing basketball
and excelling in baseball as a
pitcher with a good inside fastball.
While it may seem sacrilegious
for a southern California native to
do, he cheered the San Francisco
Giants on through their World
Series run this fall. But that tracks
to his father who’s originally from
Santa Rosa in the Bay Area.
Selected out of the University
of Oregon in the seventh round of
the 2008 NFL Draft, Schwartz
spent his first season on the prac
tice team before filling in for Jeff
Otah and later starting the last
three games when Otah went
down with a season ending injury.
He helped DeAngelo Williams
and Jonathan Stewart to become
the first set of teammates in NFL
history to each rush for more than
1,100 yards in the same season.
He considers Charlotte home
now and looks towards the future
on and off the field. A political sci
ence major at Oregon, Schwartz
had originally thought about going
into law but now sees his future in
coaching. In the off-season he’s
been coaching baseball at Fort
Mill High School for the past three
years.
Geoff at his Bar Mitzvah.
Photo courtesy Olivia Goodkin and Lee Schwartz.
When asked by an Oregon
interviewer about his adjustment
to Charlotte, Schwartz answered,
“Life is great here. It’s such a dif
ferent way of living - way more
laid back than the west coast and
people are so nice here. The food
is great also, which is most impor
tant in my book.”
Foremost though, his focus is
on the Panthers. “It was fun at the
end of last year. We were playing
really well on offense. It’s tough
this year with the losing. We’ve all
been working hard to correct some
of the issues on offense and it just
hasn’t come together yet. We’ll
keep working at it.”
This modem day Samson will
carry the load, and the ball if he
has to. ^
Steve Goldberg, a left-handed
child of the 60s, awaits the second
coming of Koufaxfor the Dodgers.