Among the leading coaching nightmares is the touch foul that results in the star player’s fifth foul. At Yeshiva, the fear of a touch foul created a whole different nightmare. In the Orthodox tradition, a man may not touch a woman other than his wife. This practice, observed by some, but not all Yeshiva basketball players, never impacted our games until the passage of Title IX, which allowed women to compete on men’s teams. In 1987, Stevens Tech, decimated by injuries, promoted their female manager to the varsity. Coaches in the conference felt no need to react.
I immediately called Wally Whitaker, Stevens Tech’s coach. “Is she getting any playing time?” “Only in blowouts.” I breathed a sigh of relief because our games with Stevens were always competitive. “So she probably won’t play against us?” I asked more as a prayer than a question. “Boy, you really do a thorough scouting report. You even scout the reserves.” “Only when they are women,” I responded. “Because if she plays, half my team will opt out—and we will all have to opt out.” “Tell them not to worry; they’ll be able to guard her.” “No, they won’t. They can’t risk committing a touch foul.”
After a brief explanation of Jewish religious law, Wally agreed to speak with the young lady, but reminded me that the “opt- out” decision ultimately rested with her. I assured him that we would respect her decision and underscored that our decision not to play was based on religious obligations and not in- tended as a bargaining chip. A few days later, the Stevens coach related that the young woman had decided that it was in everyone’s best interests, especially her teammates, to opt out. Prior to tip-off, my captain expressed the players’ appreciation to the young lady and further explained the rationale for our “no-touch” obligation.
My leading scorer, who needed the game to break the all-time YU scoring record and did not abide by the no-touch rule, attempted to express his appreciation by planting a socially acceptable, but certainly not religiously permissible, touch kiss on her cheek. Fortunately, our captain tackled him at the last second, thus avoiding an in-depth philosophical discussion about the diversity of religious practice among Orthodox Jewish basketball players.
[Jonny Halpert, former coach of the YU Maccabees]
