Prior to winning a Super Bowl ring as offensive lineman on the Dallas Cowboys (1991-92), Alan Veingrad spent five years as a Green Bay Packer (1986-90). He was often the only Jew in the locker room, and never really embraced Judaism until after he retired. Today Veingrad is Orthodox, and recently sat down with Newsweek’s OnFaith reporter Kathy Orton for an interview about what it was like to be a Jew in the NFL, and why he became more religious:
Alan Veingrad: from helmet to yarmulke

"I just felt as I was going to my rabbi’s house Friday night for the traditional Shabbat meal and I was driving with my family, and then on Saturday night I was going out with my friends and their wives and I was comparing the two ways of life. Friday night was so meaningful and so rich and so fun and so real and then Saturday night was so, what? What? What do we talk about? The next vacation you’re taking? That new car that you got? Your golf score? You’re going fishing and boating? Okay, there’s nothing wrong with all those things and I enjoy all of them. And I also like to go fishing and I like to exercise, and when I have the time I love taking my kids to Orlando to the theme park to do things like that with them. However, that is a very small part of life. The main focus of life is your relationship with God and growing toward that."