Heart Warming Story showing the best face of Aggieland
How Texas A&M Aggies's Sam Salz became college football's first known Orthodox player
Despite never having played on a team and not even owning a pair of cleats, the plucky athlete practiced alongside the squad and is now a walk-on member setting a Jewish example.
By CATHRYN J. PRINCE FOLLOW
The chain link fence separating Sam Salz from the Texas A&M football team was a minor detail as far as he was concerned as was the fact that he didn't yet own a pair of cleats.
Salz spent 11 months practicing alongside but never with the Aggies, each practice bringing him closer to realizing his goal: to be a walk-on player for the Division I squad despite never having played on a football team.
"I never played football on a team and didn't even follow college football until I was in college. I just knew I wanted to play," Salz told The Times of Israel in a Zoom interview from a hotel room in New Orleans, where he was visiting to speak at a local synagogue.
Salz's story might seem like the plot of a feel-good movie, but the tale of how the 5' 6'', 160-pound Philadelphian earned a place on the Division I team is all too true. More than that, it's the story of how Salz, an economics major who wears a kippa under his helmet, became the only known Orthodox Jew to play college football.
It was 2021, and Salz had gone to Rudy's Country Store in College Station, Texas, to hear Texas A&M's former head coach Jimbo Fisher's weekly radio show. By then Salz had decided he was going to play for the Aggies, and when he spotted Fisher in the parking lot, he told him so despite a team policy that walk-ons have to have at least played varsity football in high school.
How Texas A&M Aggies's Sam Salz became college football's first known Orthodox player
Despite never having played on a team and not even owning a pair of cleats, the plucky athlete practiced alongside the squad and is now a walk-on member setting a Jewish example.
By CATHRYN J. PRINCE FOLLOW
The chain link fence separating Sam Salz from the Texas A&M football team was a minor detail as far as he was concerned as was the fact that he didn't yet own a pair of cleats.
Salz spent 11 months practicing alongside but never with the Aggies, each practice bringing him closer to realizing his goal: to be a walk-on player for the Division I squad despite never having played on a football team.
"I never played football on a team and didn't even follow college football until I was in college. I just knew I wanted to play," Salz told The Times of Israel in a Zoom interview from a hotel room in New Orleans, where he was visiting to speak at a local synagogue.
Salz's story might seem like the plot of a feel-good movie, but the tale of how the 5' 6'', 160-pound Philadelphian earned a place on the Division I team is all too true. More than that, it's the story of how Salz, an economics major who wears a kippa under his helmet, became the only known Orthodox Jew to play college football.
It was 2021, and Salz had gone to Rudy's Country Store in College Station, Texas, to hear Texas A&M's former head coach Jimbo Fisher's weekly radio show. By then Salz had decided he was going to play for the Aggies, and when he spotted Fisher in the parking lot, he told him so despite a team policy that walk-ons have to have at least played varsity football in high school.
