Sandy Koufax - Early Life

Early Life

Koufax was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family, and raised in Borough Park. His parents, Evelyn (née Lichtenstein) and Jack Braun, divorced when he was three years old; his mother was remarried when he was nine, to Irving Koufax. Shortly after his mother's remarriage, the family moved to the Long Island suburb of Rockville Centre. Before tenth grade, Koufax's family moved back to the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn.

Koufax attended Brooklyn's Lafayette High School, where he was better known for basketball than for baseball. At the time, school sports were not available because New York's teachers were refusing to supervise extracurricular activities without monetary compensation. As an alternative, Koufax started playing basketball for the Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst local community center team. Eventually, Lafayette had a basketball team; Koufax became team captain in his senior year, and ranked second in his division in scoring, with 165 points in 10 games. In 1951, at the age of 15, Koufax also joined a local youth baseball league known as the "Ice Cream League." He started out as a left-handed catcher before moving to first base. While playing first base for Lafayette High School's baseball team with teammate and friend Fred Wilpon, he was spotted by Milt Laurie, the father of two Lafayette teammates and a baseball coach. Laurie recognized that Koufax might be able to pitch, and recruited the 17-year old Koufax to pitch for the Coney Island Sports League's Parkviews.

Koufax attended the University of Cincinnati and was a walk-on on the freshman basketball team, a complete unknown to coach Ed Jucker. He later earned a partial scholarship. In spring 1954, he made the college baseball varsity team. That season, Koufax went 3–1 with 51 strikeouts and 30 walks, in 31 innings. Bill Zinser, a scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers, sent the Dodgers front office a glowing report that apparently was filed and forgotten.

After trying out with the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, Koufax did the same for the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field. During his Pirates tryout, Koufax's fastball broke the thumb of Sam Narron, the team's bullpen coach. Branch Rickey, then the general manager of the Pirates, told his scout Clyde Sukeforth that Koufax had the "greatest arm ever seen." The Pirates, however, failed to offer Koufax a contract until after he was already committed to the Dodgers. Dodgers scout Al Campanis heard about Koufax from a local sporting goods store owner. After seeing Koufax pitch for Lafayette, Campanis invited him to an Ebbets Field tryout. With Dodgers manager Walter Alston and scouting director Fresco Thompson watching, Campanis assumed the hitter's stance while Koufax started throwing. Campanis later said, "There are two times in my life the hair on my arms has stood up: The first time I saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the first time I saw Sandy Koufax throw a fastball." The Dodgers signed Koufax for a $6,000 ($52,000 today) salary, with a $14,000 ($121,000 today) signing bonus. Koufax planned to use the signing bonus as tuition to finish his university education, if his baseball career failed.