Joe Namath’s Jewish Fur Guy

Image by Marc Kaufman Furs

By Anne Cohen February 5, 2014

You may not have followed the Super Bowl, but chances are you’ve heard about the dead animal gracing Joe Namath’s back during the coin toss.

Namath’s fur coat comes to you courtesy of one Marc Kaufman, owner of Marc Kaufman furs, who apparently provided the former Super Bowl III hero with the Men’s Fur Coyote Parker when he dropped into the store last week, the New York Daily News reported.

He looked at it, and he said, ‘Wow,’” Kaufman told the Daily News. “He put it on. He turned around. He had a big grin on his face.”

The price for this pelt worthy of “American Hustle”? A cool $3,000.

Kaufman’s other A-List clients include fellow tribe-member Drake, and P. Diddy. According to the furrier, business is up since Namath’s appearance, with orders coming in from as far away as Dubai (to counter the freeze of air-conditioning, perhaps?).

Despite his exclusive clientele, Kaufman admitted he was excited to see Namath don one of his creations at Met Life Stadium.

“Everybody loves Joe,” he said. “He’s an icon.”

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO