The Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies & UW Hillel present:
The 2023 Darren M. Latimer Lecture on Jews and Sports
“Sid Luckman and the Creation of the Modern Quarterback” presented by author Rich Cohen

This lecture will also be livestreamed via Zoom for any who are unable to attend in person.
To register and receive the Zoom link, visit: https://cjs.wisc.edu/event/latimer2023/

Join us for an evening of sports and Jewish history, as Rich Cohen unpacks the complex story and legacy of quarterback Sid Luckman.

Born in Brooklyn to Jewish immigrants, Sid Luckman went on to lead the Chicago Bears to four NFL championships from 1939-1950. More than just playing the game well, “Sid the Kid” changed how football was played. Luckman was instrumental in the creation of the modern, quarterback-centric offense that has shaped so much of the sport. But the great athlete also had a dark secret: his father’s ties to the Jewish mob that terrorized Brooklyn in the 1930s and ’40s. In this talk, Rich Cohen unpacks Luckman’s complex story and legacy: his path to fame, his life in the game, and his role in both the Jewish American imagination and the history of a quintessentially American sport.

Rich Cohen is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Tough Jews; Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football; and many more. His newest book, When the Game Was War: The NBA’s Greatest Season, was published in September. He is a co-creator of the HBO series Vinyl and a columnist at the Wall Street Journal. He has written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Harper’s Magazine, among other publications.