Davidson College basketball players traveled to Berlin this summer to confront one of history’s darkest chapters, returning with lessons about antisemitism, moral responsibility, and the influence athletes can wield far beyond the court.
In an opinion piece for The Media Line, Rabbi Erez Sherman examines how a four-day educational journey transformed the perspectives of Coach Matt McKillop and his players, none of whom are Jewish. Their experience offers a compelling alternative to a college basketball culture increasingly dominated by transfer deals, lucrative endorsement arrangements, and the relentless pursuit of victories.
The trip continued a family tradition. In 2018, Matt’s father, longtime Davidson coach Bob McKillop, brought his team to Auschwitz, where Holocaust survivor Eva Mozes Kor helped players confront the realities of Nazi persecution. After succeeding his father four years ago, Matt organized a similar experience in Germany.
At Berlin’s House of the Wannsee Conference, where Nazi officials coordinated the implementation of the Final Solution, players Josh Scovens and Jackson Keith struggled to reconcile the peaceful surroundings with the atrocities planned there. Their previous classroom lessons had offered little preparation for standing where such decisions were made.
Speaking on Sherman’s Rabbi on the Sidelines podcast, Scovens emphasized the urgency of preserving survivors’ testimonies as their numbers decline. “We just have to keep these stories alive,” he said.
Keith focused on the responsibility athletes carry as influential figures among their peers. Recognizing that influence, he argued, can encourage players to confront prejudice and share what they have learned.
The experience also reinforced Davidson’s two guiding principles: “No entitlement” and “No nonsense.” Players are expected to express gratitude to specific people each week and eliminate distractions that interfere with their mission. Those expectations now extend into conversations about hatred, history, and personal responsibility.
A visit to Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, which hosted the Nazi-era 1936 Games, prompted another discussion: Could a hypothetical 2036 Olympics in Berlin, a century later, transform a venue once exploited for Nazi propaganda into a symbol of reconciliation?
Sherman’s account presents the Wildcats’ journey as an example of how sports can cultivate leadership beyond competition. For these players, preserving Holocaust memory has become part of what it means to represent Davidson.