Saul David Kleinfeld
Before I received a request recently, I had never given much
thought to the person behind this well-known street name (if you spend much
time on the eastside of town). Saul Kleinfeld. Two words to most, but not many
of the people driving down the street know the life that he led. His permanent
resting place is in B’nai Zion Cemetery.
Previously from Passaic, New Jersey, Saul Kleinfeld
was involved in multiple sports at the high school level. An interesting
article covering his retirement in the local paper tells an anecdote of how he
came to be in El Paso. Apparently, he and his wife, Barbara, were hitchhiking
to California where they planned on moving to from New Jersey. As a stop, they
went over to Juarez and had a large steak dinner for only 35 cents and they
decided to stay in El Paso.
His interest in sports continued into his life in El Paso.
He became one of the biggest promoters for amateur sports. Union Furniture Company,
where he worked at from his move to El Paso until his retirement was a sponsor
for multiple amateur sports teams of which Kleinfeld had supported in multiple
capacities. Additionally, many of the teams competed at high levels. This is
most especially true for the Union Furniture Company Basketball Team.
The team was a regular opponent of the Harlem Globetrotters
when they were in town. The Union Furniture Co. Basketball team also played the
Mexican and Russian Olympic basketball teams. According to Ray Sanchez, Kleinfeld’s
recollection of the game against Russia was quite tense. The Russian team had
agreed to play them at the Monumental Bullring in Juarez for a fee of $1,500
dollars in 1971. When they tried to ask for more money after seeing the
gathered crowd, Kleinfeld held his ground with the assistance of the Mexican
police. While the team lost, he did win the argument.
Another endeavor of Kleinfeld’s was the Downtown Optimist
Club’s Little Boy Blue and Sister Too which he directed and raised funds for 35
years. This picnic was a major event for orphaned or underprivileged children
in El Paso and Juarez (Sanchez, 1989). These activities and many others show
how active Kleinfeld was in the El Paso community.
References
El Paso Herald Post.
El Paso
Public Library. (2019). CVF -- KL-KZ.
Rhodes, Star.
(2017). Saul David Kleinfeld. Retrieved from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/186129595/saul-david-kleinfeld
Sanchez, Ray. (1989). El
Paso’s greatest sports heroes I have known. El Paso, TX: The Sunturians
Press.
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