Marty Glickman

Marty Glickman (August 14, 1917 – January 3, 2001) was an American track and field athlete and sports broadcaster renowned for his sprinting prowess at Syracuse University and his exclusion from the 1936 Berlin Olympics relay team due to anti-Semitic pressures exerted by U.S. Olympic officials. Born in the Bronx and raised in Brooklyn, Glickman qualified for the U.S. Olympic team as a 200-meter specialist but was abruptly replaced in the 4x400-meter relay alongside fellow Jewish teammate Sam Stoller, a decision attributed to concerns over Jewish athletes potentially defeating Nazi competitors in Adolf Hitler's Games. After graduating from Syracuse in 1939, where he also starred in football, Glickman transitioned to broadcasting, becoming a pioneering voice in New York sports media with over 50 years of play-by-play announcing for the New York Giants (23 seasons), New York Jets (11 seasons), New York Knicks (21 seasons), and harness racing at Yonkers Raceway. His distinctive style and longevity earned him induction into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 1993, cementing his legacy as a trailblazer in basketball and football commentary despite the unfulfilled Olympic promise that haunted his early career.

Martin Irving Glickman was born on August 14, 1917, in the East Bronx neighborhood of New York City to Harry (also known as Hermann) and Molly Glickman, both Romanian Jewish immigrants. His parents had known each other in Iași, Romania, but immigrated separately to the United States around 1912, reuniting and marrying in New York. Harry worked as a cotton-goods salesman, while the family navigated the challenges of early 20th-century immigrant life in a Jewish household.

The Glickmans relocated to Brooklyn when Marty was five years old, settling first in an apartment building owned by his maternal grandfather adjacent to a synagogue. Raised in this working-class environment amid a tight-knit Romanian Jewish community, Glickman grew up emphasizing physical prowess from an early age, often competing informally with neighborhood peers and priding himself as "the fastest kid on the block." Unlike many immigrant parents who prioritized academic study, Harry and Molly actively encouraged their son's athletic pursuits, fostering an environment where sports became central to his youth rather than a distraction.

Glickman attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn, New York, during the early 1930s, graduating around 1934. There, his secondary education coincided with the emergence of his athletic talents, as the school's sports programs provided structured opportunities for competition in track and field and American football. His parents, Harry and Molly Glickman, Romanian Jewish immigrants, prioritized sports development over academic emphasis in his upbringing, fostering early interest through neighborhood games and school activities in the Bronx and later Brooklyn.