Veingrad was born in Brooklyn and lived in New Jersey from ages 3 to 9, before moving to Miami. He went to Miami Sunset High School, and grew up in a Jewish household, but never embraced religion until a later point in his life. He played college football on scholarship at East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University–Commerce), where he was an All-American
and also won National Strength and Conditioning All-America honors. He
was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in October 2006. Veingrad played for the Green Bay Packers for five seasons, from 1986–90, and two seasons for the Dallas Cowboys, 1991–92, who won Super Bowl XXVII on January 31, 1993, playing in a total of 86 games. Alan "Shlomo" Veingrad was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday, April 19, 2010. The ceremony was held at at the Suffolk Y Jewish Community Center in Commack, New York. The organization chronicles and celebrates Jewish involvement in all sports, and includes Jewish sports legends such as Sandy Koufax, Red Auerbach, Kerri Strug, and Hank Greenberg When Veingrad had begun his NFL career with Green Bay, a local Jewish
man who ran a shoe store had reached out to him and asked him to join
his family for the Rosh Hashana services at K'nesses Israel, a synagogue near the site of the Packers’ original home field, City Stadium.Veingrad had not spent much time in shul.“But when I heard the Hebrew,” he said, “I felt a pull.” Following the Super Bowl win, Veingrad retired from football back to
Florida. He rediscovered his Jewish roots, and became an observant Jew,
affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He now uses his Hebrew first name, Shlomo, wears a kippah and ritual fringes called tzitzit, and travels around the country giving inspirational talks about his spiritual transformation.
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