SPORTS
Basketball
great
Myron
Schecter.
7.
C
a
(70
•ne-Handed Wizard
Sports Hall Of Fame honors a legend named 'Susie'
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
H
e may not remember how
he became a boy named
Sue, but Myron "Susie"
Schecter has some - fond
memories of his days in the
1920s and 30s as one of Michigan's
best basketball players. .
Schecter, along with Daniel Dwor-
sky and the late Herman Fishman,
will be inducted into the Michigan
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame on Mon-
day at a banquet at Cong. Shaarey
Zedek.
Schecter, born in Russia in 1905,
now lives in Southfield with his wife
of 56 years, Rose.
He moved from Russia to the
United States when he was four or
five, but did not learn anything about
the sport that would make him
famous for several years.
"A fella moved into the corner of
Alfred and Hastings, when I was
about 10, 12 years old," recalls
Schecter, "and he gave us a basket-
ball. We went to the Eastern Market
and bought a peach basket and cut it
in half and we used it up against a
pole, without a backboard." Three of
those neighborhood youngsters would
eventually play college basketball for
City College of Detroit — now Wayne
State University. They were Schecter,
Al Tennenbaum and Morris Cohen.
After playing basketball at Nor-
theastern High School, Schecter
enrolled at City College and tried out
for the team, but "the coach didn't
pay any attention to me."
"When the season was over, we
had an intermural game. Our
freshman intramural team played the
juniors, who had five varsity men on
the team. And we beat 'ern 47-9. • At
that time we had to dress up in the
attic (of WSU's Old Main), because
the high school (old Central) was still
there . . . The (City College) coach ran
up and said, 'Why didn't you come out
for the team?' And I said, 'I did, coach.
I was there, but nobody paid attention
to me.
"So he talked me into coming out.
I was gonna go to Alma. I had a cou-
ple of offers, but I had a job at the
(Detroit) Times and I didn't want to
give it up — on the weekend."
. Schecter played for City College
and Coach David Holmes for three
years, 1926-28. He scored 221 points
in his first year, the first Michigan
player to break the 200 barrier. He
totalled 750 career points. City Col-
lege won the first title in the newly-
formed Michigan Collegiate Con-
ference- in Schecter's senior year, with
an 18-1 record. Schecter was team
captain and was named to the all-
conference team.
Schecter, a forward, and describes
himself as a strong offensive player.
In an era of two-handed set shots, he
shot one-handed, learning by observ-
ing a traveling professional team
which would later dominate the game
when they moved to Boston. "I learn-
ed how to play basketball after I
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
47