Baseball, Nazis & Nedick's Hot Dogs: Growing up Jewish in the 1930s in Newark

Jerry Izenberg has been a sports reporter and a columnist at the New Jersey Star-Ledger for over seventy years.

One of only two daily newspaper columnists to have covered the first 53 Super Bowls, Izenberg also covered 54 consecutive Kentucky Derbies and the last five Triple Crown-winning horses. And no one has covered more of Muhammad Ali's fights than he, dating back to the 1960 Olympics. A recipient of the Red Smith Award for sportswriting, he has been named the New Jersey Sportswriter of the Year five times. He is an inductee in 17 Halls of Fame, including the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

In his memoir, Baseball, Nazis & Nedick’s Hot Dogs: Growing up Jewish in the 1930s in Newark, the nonagenarian author looks back on his first two formative decades of life. Somehow, during a fraught period of antisemitism, Depression, and World War, Izenberg finds love, community, and purpose. Today, he lives Henderson, Nevada, with his wife Aileen. He continues to contribute columns to the Star Ledger and is working on several books.

Jerry Izenberg has been a sports reporter and a columnist at the New Jersey Star-Ledger for over seventy years. His best-selling books include Once There Were Giants: The Golden Age of Heavyweight Boxing, No Medals For Trying, and Rozelle: A Biography. He released his first novel, the well-received After the Fire: Love and Hate in the Ashes of 1967, in 2020, at age 90. Izenberg is one of only two daily newspaper columnists to have covered the first 53 Super Bowls, as well as 54 consecutive Kentucky Derby races and the last five Triple Crown-winning horses. And no one has covered more of Muhammad Ali's fights than he, dating back to the 1960 Olympics. A recipient of the Red Smith Award for sportswriting, he has been named the New Jersey Sportswriter of the Year five times. He is an inductee in 17 Halls of Fame, including the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Izenberg's charity, Newark Project Pride, sent 1,100 local kids to college during its 29 years in operation. Today he lives Henderson, Nevada, with his wife Aileen, where he continues contributing columns to the Star Ledger and is working on several books.