‘G-d gave me wisdom,’ says Orthodox receiver

Sam Salz, a Jewish wide receiver for the Texas A&M Aggies men’s football team, displays the Sabbath prohibitions on his jersey.

Salz, 21, who wears a kippah and tzitzit, told JNS that he chose the number 39 to symbolize the lamed tet melachot, the 39 “work” categories banned on Shabbat.

“When the game is on Shabbat, I’m not there. If the game is after Shabbat, I’m there,” said the 5-foot-6 wide, 160-pound receiver from Philadelphia. “Thankfully, they allowed me to do that.”

The alumnus of Kohelet Yeshiva in Merion, Pa., isn’t afraid to get his hands on some pig skin on the field, even though he keeps kosher and refrains from playing on holidays and fast days — all with the support of his coaches and team.

When a game is scheduled for Shabbat, he drops off a meal and some Torah books at the facility prior to nightfall on Friday and walks the two miles to the stadium on Shabbat, ready to enter the game after sundown.

The first game in which Salz played was on Nov. 16, a Saturday, against the New Mexico State Aggies. The game began at 6:55 pm, nearly an hour after Shabbat ended.

Texas A&M, a public university with 60,000 undergraduate students on a 5,200-acre campus in College Station, has about 500 Jewish students, Salz said.

“It’s probably one of the only campuses in the country where you can go and feel safe as a Jew,” he said. “There is really no antisemitism there.”

Fellow students are often intrigued by his Jewish practices.

“We always have conversations on perspectives. Judaism, especially to them, is such a unique thing,” he said. “Being in the Bible Belt, you’ll get the questions from the Christian guys, who are curious on what we believe.” 

“A lot of times, what we believe is not exactly represented accurately in the media. It never comes from a place of malice, but it always comes from a place of curiosity and interest,” he added.

Salz said that he is studying economics, but aspires to become a rabbi.

A rabbinic path might be more plausible than his football journey has been, especially considering he had never played football before and had only attended his first college football game in late 2021. Still, he vowed that he would try out for a position.

He discovered the Jimbo Fisher Radio Show, hosted by the Aggies football coach. The show welcomed an audience, who could submit questions.

Salz asked Fisher what he looks for in a walk-on, non-scholarship player. The coach gave a three-minute answer, he told JNS.

After the show, Salz approached Fisher and asked him to sign a kippah and an inspirational note he wrote for himself, which read: “I made the Texas A&M football team this year. I became the first Orthodox Jew in college football.” Salz said he reread the note several times daily for encouragement.

As luck would have it, no sooner had Salz left the show, when a homeless man asked him for food.

Salz entered a store to buy something for the man and ran into Fisher and his assistant again. Salz asked the coach if he could observe tryouts to see what he would need to do to train. Fisher agreed and gave Salz his business card.

Salz contacted members of the team asking for their advice. When he arrived at the tryout, a man guarding the field eyed him suspiciously. He showed the guard the signed kippah and inspirational note, and he was allowed to enter.

Notebook in hand, he studiously recorded each training exercise. He found a practice field on the other side of the fence, where each day he would copy the drills he had written down.

“G-d gave me the wisdom to even go to that field,” he said.

Without professional-grade equipment, Salz trained with everyday objects. Trash bins stood in for the line of scrimmage.

A member of the Aggies surprised him weeks later when he told Salz that teammates had noticed his training. The determination paid off, and he received a call that he had made the team.

As it turned out, the first practice was on Yom Kippur, so the coach’s first exposure to the new Aggie was his religious obligations. He had no problem with Salz passing on that first practice.

“I am lucky, but it’s also determination, and G-d’s help, that brought me to where I wanted to go,” he told JNS.

“I want people to know that they should be proud Jews, and that your Jewishness should never stop you from doing what you want to do.”