feature story
MEET THIS YEAR’S
DC JEWISH SPORTS HALL
Roger Cossack
TO BE INDUCTED
Glenn Fine
into the Greater Washington Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, a person must
possess three qualities: They must be Jewish. They must have some connection to the Washington area. And they must, according to the online nominating form, “have outstanding accomplishments as an athlete or sports professional” and “demonstrate excellence in leadership, sportsmanship, and character.” This year’s six inductees have performed in a variety of sports or related activities: basketball, golf, performance white water kayaking and legal analysis. They’ll be honored on Nov. 21 at a Dinner of Champions that will be livestreamed. “It is a way to celebrate the diversity of Washington area Jews who are not only accomplished in a sport or in the sports industry, but also have been involved in the community,” said Lisa Levin, chair of the hall of fame’s induction committee and herself a 2016 inductee. “There’s a stereotype or misconception that there aren’t a lot of outstanding Jewish athletes,” she said. “And, for me personally, it’s really encouraging and inspiring to see that we have this many Jewish athletes in the Washington area to recognize.” According to Levin, the hall of fame was founded in 1992. It’s a program of the Bender Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, in Rockville. Each year the names and portraits of another group of hall of famers are added to a wall in the Bender JCC and they also take their place online at benderjccgw.org/ halloffame. The annual “Dinner of Champions” raises funds for a program that enables children with disabilities to attend the Bender JCC’s day camp. Last year’s dinner raised $450,000, according to Jodi Shulimson, the Bender JCC’s director of individual and corporate giving. Read on and get to know this year’s inductees. 16
November 19, 2020 | Washington Jewish Week
Susan Green
ROGER COSSACK — Media/Sports Law
Law professor by day, ESPN legal analyst by night. That’s how Roger Cossack describes himself. The Washington resident said he was surprised to learn of his inclusion in the hall of fame, as he’s “certainly not someone who at this time, probably at any time, was hailed for great athletic ability.” That may be true, but unlike the rest of this year’s inductees, Cossack is being honored for his work in sports media and sports law. A large portion of his career was spent as a legal analyst for both CNN and later ESPN. “Normally when you would hear [sports hall of fame], you would think of people who are more involved in athletics. It’s terrific that they are noted,” Cossack said. “I think someone like me, who worked for a sports network in a media capacity, it’s nice to be given the opportunity to associate with those people and to add my name to the list. You know, how neat is that?” Cossack is a graduate of UCLA Law School and in 1994 became a legal analyst at CNN. In his eight years there he covered the O.J. Simpson trial, the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and co-hosted the show “Burden of Proof.” In 2003, Cossack joined ESPN as its chief legal analyst and went on to cover the trials of Kobe Bryant, Roger Clemens, Aaron Hernandez and Jerry Sandusky. He also covered the investigations into the Duke Lacrosse team and Tom Brady. Cossack retired from ESPN in 2017. Most recently he hosted “OJ25,” a Court TV series on the O.J. Simpson trial.
