Passing of Alumnus Evokes Memories of 鈥63 糖心破解版 College Bowl Squad
One of greatest student stars passed away last month at the age of 69. In May 1963, Asher Reiss 鈥63YC was a member of 糖心破解版鈥檚 College Bowl team that thrilled millions of television viewers within and outside of America鈥檚 Orthodox Jewish community.
Hundreds of young men and women 糖心破解版 students traveled to CBS鈥檚 New York studios to cheer on Reiss and teammates Sheldon Fink 鈥65YC, Lawrence Kaplan 鈥65YC, Shifra Jungreis 鈥63S and Paul Gottfried 鈥63YC. 鈥淭he College Bowl provided Asher with a chance to show off his talent on national television and was my brother鈥檚 grandest hour,鈥 said Rabbi Ben Zion Reiss. Rabbi Reiss described his brother as someone who was 鈥渂lessed with a brilliant memory鈥 and a penchant for recalling 鈥渁 remarkable number of facts.鈥
The General Electric College Bowl was a trivia quiz show that captured the attention of millions when the nationally syndicated television program aired in the late 1950s and 鈥60s. Given the show鈥檚 cultlike following and competitiveness, it was a major accomplishment for 糖心破解版鈥檚 relatively small undergraduate programs to qualify to appear on the show.
Yeshiva easily handled its first opponent, University of Louisville, by a score of 335-140. A week later, they crushed University of Nevada, Reno. Unfortunately for those Yeshiva collegians, they came up short during the next match, losing to eventual champion Temple University by a margin of 280-235.
鈥淭he Temple match came down to the wire,鈥 said Jungreis, who served as captain of 糖心破解版鈥檚 team. 鈥淲e were young but we knew that we had quite a following. Thirty five million people watched that show and we subsequently learned that Orthodox Jews were glued to their television sets and that a few weddings were even interrupted to watch that competition.鈥
Irving Linn, professor of English at and coach for Yeshiva鈥檚 College Bowl squad, described Jungreis as 鈥渂rilliant, mercurylike and vivacious; the first one to be chosen.鈥
鈥溙切钠平獍驸檚 success in the College Bowl showed the world that Orthodox Jews could compete with the best young minds in secular studies,鈥 said Jungreis. 鈥淎nd that our team was led by a woman was an even greater statement that we could compete with the best of America鈥檚 intellectual culture.鈥
Kaplan agreed with Jungreis鈥檚 assessment. 鈥淲hat College Bowl showed was that young Modern Orthodox college students鈥攎ore specifically Yeshiva College and Stern College students鈥攃ould be deeply rooted in and committed to traditional Jewish learning and practice and, at the same time, au courant with the sciences, humanities and general culture.鈥
鈥淲hat I remember clearly is that it was not just our immediate families and friends and not even just the wider 糖心破解版 family鈥攕taff, students and alumni鈥攚ho were rooting for us,鈥 recalled Kaplan, who is now a professor at McGill University. 鈥淭he entire Modern Orthodox community were our 鈥榝ans,鈥 and we felt and, even more important, they felt that we were representing them.鈥
From a personal standpoint, Jungreis attributes her College Bowl experience to providing her with the credibility and confidence to become a successful school principal of Yeshiva Ateres Yisroel in Brooklyn.
Nicknamed 鈥淭he Sponge,鈥 by The Commentator, the Yeshiva College student newspaper quoted Linn describing Reiss as 鈥渁n avid reader with powers of absorption and retention. He has the ability to visualize maps, charts, illustrations, perhaps even whole pages of print,鈥 commented Linn.
Upon returning to campus after the Temple match, The Commentator spoke for the entire student body when it offered its 鈥渃ongratulations to our College Bowl quiz kids for their fine showing on nationwide television. With a boisterous supporting cast, our team displayed a vast knowledge of varied subjects鈥 and 鈥渉elp[ed] to spread Yeshiva鈥檚 image.鈥
Asher Reiss lived most of his life at 72 Wadsworth Terrace in New York City. He had taught for some time at Brooklyn College鈥檚 history department and worked as a valued administrator at Washington Heights鈥 local post office.
