SPORTS
Pigskin In The
Promised Land?
It is difficult to imagine NFL
football in Tel Aviv, but promoters
are trying to put together a deal
for an event they're calling the
Holy Land Bowl
ARYEH DEAN COHEN
Special to The Jewish News
p
igskin in the Promised
Land? That seemingly
blasphemous thought
may soon be a reality if the
Committee for the Holy Land
Bowl gets its way. A coalition
of American and Israeli
sports agents and figures, the
Committee is hard at work to
bring the spectacle of NFL
football to Israel as early as
1990.
Unlike the Middle Eastern
football debacle depicted in
the 1964 movie John Gold-
farb, Please Come Home,"
which saw the Notre Dame
football team (and Shirley
MacLaine) visiting a mythi-
cal Arab sheikdom, the
planned Holy Land Bowl, as
it is being called by pro-
moters, is very much for real.
In fact, it is the seriousness
of the endeavor and its possi-
ble political implications and
use as a public relations ploy
for the State of Israel that is
making promoters like Natan
Amir so nervous about get-
ting the Xs and Os of the deal
just right.
The kickoff for the idea
came to Amir in January of
1987 as he watched throngs
of American immigrants, con-
sular personnel, and native
Israelis exposed to football
during trips to the States
crowd the Tel Aviv Hilton's
lobby in the wee hours of the
morning to watch the New
York Giants devastate the
Denver Broncos in the Super
Bowl.
Amazed by the numbers
who descended on the 1 a.m.,
big-screen telecast, and the
even greater number that had
to be turned away both in Tel
Aviv and Jerusalem, Amir de-
cided that big-time football
was a sports promotion idea
he should look into.
Little did Amir know that
the seeds for his venture had
been planted a few years
earlier when Avi Pazner,
media advisor to Yitzhak
Shamir, became what Amir
calls a "Redskins fanatic"
during his diplomatic service
in Washington.
So when Amir and Don
Smith — former director of
public relations for the
Giants and the man who
coordinated the first 12 Super
Bowls — met with Pazner,
they had an open ear and im-
mediate cooperation.
Amir had previously dis-
cussed his plan with Sports
Group, a promotion team
made up of television people
and promotions. Headed by
Thrry Lazin, who had worked
in the office of the governor
of Pennsylvania the group
formed the Committee for the
Holy Land Bowl.
They started to run with
their idea to bring an NFL
pre-season game to Ramat
Gan stadium, which is on the
outskirts of Th1 Aviv and
seats some 47,000 fans.
The promoters expect the
game to be a sell-out, and
Amir hopes it will be picked
up live by one of the net-
works. The game has been
scheduled for 8 p.m. Israel
time to meet the 1 p.m. local
football broadcast schedule
on the East Coast.
While the idea looks great
on the chalkboard, Amir ad-
mits that it will take the
equivalent of an administra-
tive flea flicker play to pull it
Seniors Score In Southfield Olympics
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Sports Writer
hree local competi-
tors won gold med-
John Marcosky displays his
medals.
A A
rninAv
rvYrno_co_7 too°
als in the recent
Olympics in Southfield.
That's right, Southfield.
, John Marcosky, 56; Phil
Kovsky, 65; and Julius
Spielberg, 85, all won golds
in the Michigan Senior
Olympics in August.
Marcosky, of Farmington
Hills, swam to first-place
finishes in the 100-meter
backstroke and 100-meter
breaststroke. He took silver
medals for second place in
the 200 backstroke, 50
backstroke and 50 freestyle.
Kovsky won the 65-69-year-
old table tennis gold medal,
while Spielberg triumphed
in the 1500-meter race-walk
in the 80-and-over division.
All three are eligible to
compete in the national
Senior Olympics in St. Louis
next June.
Unlike the younger win-
ners, Spielberg, from
Southfield, was not active in
sports until his retirement.
The former pharmacist
began working out 10 years
ago because he had "more
time to devote to it." Now he
walks four-to-five miles a
day and works out on nau-
tilus equipment at the
Maple/Drake Jewish Com-
munity Center.
Despite his gold medal, he
does not consider himself a
competitor, but rather a
sports participant. He parti-
cipates because "I assume
I'll feel better, I think I'll
last longer." He adds, "I feel
like 55." Other race-walk
medalists included Louis
Casden, who won a silver,
and bronze-medal winner
Max Nasanchuck, both in
the over-75 age group.
Kovsky won Philadel-
phia's recreational table
tennis championship, at age
"18 or 19." At 20, Kovsky
"went out in the world to
work, raise a family, all that
good stuff." He did not
compete in table tennis
again until he retired at 65.
The former metalurgist
says, "After I retired I
decided to pick it up again.
I joined the Clinton
Township Senior Center.
They have a club there that
plays twice a week. So I was
able to get back some of my
skills."
Kovsky, of Mt. Clemens,
won five matches at the
Senior Olympics.
Marcosky, an engineer
with a Southfield firm, was
a high school swimming
champion in Pittsburgh and
a varsity swimmer at the
University of Pittsburgh. He
continued to swim "off and
on" but stopped competing
after graduating from
college. Recently, he
changed his mind. "I
thought I'd get in shape and
swim again," he explains.
Winning a backstroke
race was a particular thrill
for Marcosky, who was never
strong in that event. The
Senior Olympics "was a lot
of fun. I really enjoyed
myself that day."
Consequently, he may begin
competing regularly with a
Farmington Hills master's
team, as several other
Senior Olympic participants
urged him to do. The squad
would meet other master's
teams on a regular schedule.
"I like to compete," says
the former Southfield city
councilman. "I really
missed competing athleti-
cally. I think swimming is
the best physical fitness
program you can enter-
tain." ❑