NISH NEWS

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Less-spectacular high school athletes look to
'guardian angel' Larry Fisher to land a chance
for college education.

BY LARRY PALADINO
Special to The Jewish News

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Larry Fisher tries to match an athlete,

ecruiters zero in on blue
chip high school athletes like metal
shavings to a magnet. It's left upto the
likes of Larry Fisher to zero in on the
"red chippers."
For six years Fisher, a Southfield
businessman, has been a one-person
scouting-recruiting-counseling magi-
cian in southeast Michigan. He has
placed, according to his tabulations,
115 high school seniors in colleges
throughout the country.
Although his preps — mostly
football players or girls basketball
players — generally are a step slow,
perhaps 15 pounds too light or six in-
ches too short, or even below a "C"
average and thus ignored by major col-
leges, Fisher has found a niche for
them. All have sufficient athletic
savvy to earn invitations to play sports
at such schools as Prairie View A&M,
New Mexico Highlands, Arkansas
Tech, Richmond, Cincinnati, Vil-
lanova and points in between, al-
though at times the scholarships
awarded are other than athletic.
"I've got two Jewish kids — Scott
Scharg of Southfield-Lathrup and
Irwin Ruby of Oak Park — playing
football at Prairie View A&M," Fisher

says proudly. "They're the only white
kids on an otherwise all-black team."
Fisher says they're in college on a
"minority scholarship."
What does the 44-year-old Fisher
get out of all his efforts?
A few school shirts, plus a deluge
of gratitude from young people —
many of whom he's never met — who
otherwise would have found them-
selves out in the tough job market four
years early and without a college
sheepskin and, more importantly, the
additional knowledge to help them
cope in the bigger world.
Out of the kids I sent to school, 90
percent have gotten their degrees,"
says Fisher, former president of the
Brandeis Sports Lodge of B'nai B'rith.
Some have gone, stayed a semes-
ter and come home. The main thing is
they've had a chance. If they have a
chance it's up to them what they do
with it. I'll open the doors for them,
then it's up to him or her."
Fisher, who owns Premium Serv-
ices, a janitorial services company
which employs nearly 60 persons,
says, "I believe every kid deserves a
chance. I'd hate to have my lawn cut by
a kid 6-6, 260 pounds, whose vocation

is cutting lawns just because nobody
wants to make a phone call for the
kids."
The problem, he says, is that some
coaches simply won't go to the trouble
of calling schools to recommend any
but blue chip athletes for scholarships.
In some cases, Fisher says, they're in-
timidated. They don't figure college
coaches are interested in anyone who's
not a superstar and they won't be
bothered by phone calls from high
school coaches from who-knows-
where.
"The whole secret is knowing
where there's a need," Fisher explains.
"I look in the paper to see what good
academic school has a poor record in a
particular sport. If a school has a good
record they're not likely to need these
kids. But if a team is 2-8 or something,
they'll be needing some help. I have
more catalogues than most high
schools."
How did Fisher, an ex-Army air-
borne ranger, get started with all this?
He says Freddy Davis, the son of
one of Fisher's employees, was a bas-
ketball player at Highland Park High
School who was being recruited by
several schools. The parents weren't

sure what school was best and asked
. for Fisher's help. He checked into it
and recommended Western Texas
Junior College, whose basketball team
was coached by Nolan Richardson
(now very successful at Tulsa). ,
Davis mentioned Fisher to
Richardson, who later called Fisher to
inquire if I knew any tall white kids"
he might send his way. "I told him
about Scotty Russell of Southfield
High. That sort of got the ball rolling. I
just started realizing there were a lot
of young high school men and women
whose coaches didn't have the knowl-
edge to help their kids or were apathe-
tic toward helping their kids. Then I
got involved in helping Jewish kids. I
always look for Jewish kids first, if
possible. If I'm going to help kids, why
don't I help my own?
"Then, word of mouth, and it just
started to snowball. Now I seem to be
the one with more connections than
anyone in the area. I do not charge a
fee for this."
This hasn't been a banner year for
Jewish athletes. Fisher says of the
some 60 seniors he's made efforts to
place in football, only one is Jewish:
Barry Wauldron, a 6-foot-4, 245-pound