Over the years there has been controversy as to weather Max Baer was really Jewish. The media painted him as one of the many Jewish greats because in his victory of Max Shmeiling he wore the star on his shorts. I wanted to figure this out once and for all so I emailed Mike DeLisa. Here's the response I got :

Max Baer's grandfather was Jewish but non practicing. His name was Aschill Baer from ALsaice-Lorraine. He married a non-jew from Vienna, Fanny Fischel. They had seven sons and two daughters. Al the sons named after the tribes of Israel and they were educated in Jewish schools. Baer's father did not practice the religion and married a girl of Scotch Irish desent in the USA. Max and Buddy apparently did not practice any religion. Baer wore the star more to honor Ancil Hoffman, his manager, than as a religious statement.

According to Jewish law you are only Jewish if you have a Jewish mother or you have been legitimately converted (an orthodox conversion is the only one acceptable by all branches of Judaism). However, what a person recognizes themself as is very important. It's obvious that Baer recognized himself as a Jew and while he may not have been Jewish by law (unless of course he was converted which I'm not sure of) he felt pride in his Jewish blood enough to raise his kids Jewish. He still makes it onto my list of Jewish greats