Sandy Koufax Parents: Meet Jack Braun, Evelyn Lichtenstein

Sandy Koufax is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) left-handed pitcher who spent his entire career with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966.

Sandy Koufax is the son of Jack Braun and Evelyn Lichtenstein. Koufax was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Borough Park.

When he was three years old, his parents, Evelyn and Jack Braun divorced. 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 relocated to Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighbourhood.

He began his basketball career with the Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst community centre team.

The first half of his career was unremarkable after joining the major leagues at the age of 19, having never pitched a game in the minor leagues; he was a member of World Series champions in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles, though he did not appear in any of the teams’ Series wins.

However, after making adjustments before the 1961 season and benefiting from the team’s move to the larger Dodger Stadium a year later, Koufax quickly rose to become the most dominant pitcher in the major leagues before being sidelined by arthritis in his left elbow at the age of 30.