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Continued from Page 16
Moorawnick's house in 1967
while a player in the Adray
League), Bill Freehan (former
Tiger catcher), Dave DeBusschere
(former NBA star), Lund, Maskin,
Elliott Trumbull (former Lions
pubic relations man), George
Sherman ("who handled business
matters at Wayne years ago when
I was there"), Brian Hitsky
(former Pistons PR director),
Pentecost, "and of course, the
greatest hockey player of all time,
Gordie Howe. I knew his wife be-
fore he married her."
Moorawnick has one rather
memorable — though distasteful
— memory involving newspapers.
When he was very young, he re-
calls, he was sitting in the back
seat of his family's Packard while
relatives made various stops to
collect from pinball machines
Twenty-First Anniversary Dinner
of
Akiva Hebrew Day School
Sunday, the third of March
nineteen hundred and eighty-five
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
27375 Bell Road
Southfield, Michigan
Praise from peers
Dinner 7:00 p.m.
Cocktails 6:00 p.m.
Convert $150.00 per couple
INha
1
Of FELL FOODS
they owned. Little Morrie started
playing with the cigarette lighter,
"and before you know it I burned
the car down. My father spanked
me a little bit."
That, however, has nothing to
do with Moorawnick's refusal to
own or drive a car. "I don't like to
concentrate on distances in cars,"
he said. "I never had the desire to
drive. I don't know how to drive,
nor do I want to learn, although I
think I'd be good. I know all the
laws."
Moorawnick's basement is a
veritable sports museum, with
"tons and tons of bookcases," he
says, filled with such
memorabilia as World Series pro-
grams dating to 1937, NFL cham-
pionship game programs since
1935, every Pistons program since
they've been in Detroit and every
Here is what some area
sports writers and public re-
lations representatives have
to say about statistician Mor-
rie Moorawnick:
Bill Halls,Detroit News pro
basketball writer — "He's
considered one of the fairest
scorers in the NBA in terms
of giving legitimate assists,
rebounds or whatever. He's
made an error here or there,
but everybody does. Guys in
some cities give players
enormous amounts of assists
because they want someone
to lead the league, but I don't
think Morrie's ever fudged on
statistics. He's been ques-
tioned by both Wilt Chamber-
lain and Maurice Lucas, who
always kept track of their
statistics in their heads. He
refused to give Wilt another
rebound once when Cham-
berlain thought he deserved
one more than he got."
Bill Jamieson, Detroit Red
Wings public relations direc-
tor: "I'm a great admirer of
Morrie. I admire his
thoroughness, his diligence.
He's always there when you
need to know something. No
fact is ever too miniscule for
him to look it up. You might
say, 'No, he won't have that,'
but, sure enough, he does. I'm
very fond of him personally.
I've known him since 1965
when I was a copy boy at the
Free Press. My first impres-
sion of Morrie came when I
was at the Free Press and he'd
come into the office carrying
a huge radio. He'd be listen-
ing to all these out-of-town
games. I figured this guy
really likes his sports."
George Maskin, public re-
lations director of DRC and
Hazel Park race tracks,
former sports writer and De-
troit Pistons PR director —
"One of the classic stories I
know about Morrie had to be
when I was at the Times on
Friday night with Morrie
working on high school stuff.
We left about 3:30 in the
morning and I drove him
home. The next night he was
back for a Pistons game. He
came to me after the game
and left about midnight. He
was snickering and I said,
`What are you snickering
about now?' He said, 'I'll tell
you about my day today.'
"He had walked through
the little office of Sports
Editor Bob Murphy and saw
on Murphy's desk a working
press ticket for that day's
Army-Navy football game in
Philadelphia. Morrie confes-
sed he took the ticket. He
couldn't see it go to waste be-
cause he knew Murphy
wouldn't use it. So in the
morning (a few hours after
getting home from the Free
Press) he flew to Philadel-
phia. He saw someone on the
plane who was going to the
game and chiseled a cab ride
with the guy to the stadium.
After the game, he got a ride
back to the airport, flew back
to Detroit and was the official
scorer that Saturday night at
the Pistons' game."
Joe LaPointe, Detroit Free
Press sports writer -- "People
say Morrie will eat anything,
anytime, anywhere. That's
false. He abides by his reli-
gious law and he won't eat
peperoni pizza . . . He used to
dress in clothes of the same
color — all blue or all green or
whatever. He strikes me as
an eccentric, intelligent,
friendly and an efficient man.
He loves sports and I think he
loves Detroit."
Jim Spadafore, Detroit
News sports writer — "He's
truly an amazing person. One
of the first things I heard
about him is that he'd keep
score of two or three Adray
baseball games and listen to
the Tigers on the radio at the
same time. And he's got a
great appetite. He can go up
for fourths and fifths."