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Raquetballer Yellen, Pioneers
Handler, Mazer To Enter Hall
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Staff Writer
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FRI,DAY, APRIL 21, 1989
THE JEWISH NEWS
wo sports pioneers —
basketball guru Jacob
Mazer and boxing
referee and promoter Lou
Handler — plus present-day
raquetball great Mike Yellen
were named last Sunday to
the Michigan Jewish Sports
Hall of Fame.
The trio is the fifth group to
be inducted and will join the
previous 13 honorees at the
Hall's annual banquet Nov. 6
at Congregation Shaarey
Zedek.
The threesome's selection
was announced at the
Maple/Drake Jewish Com-
munity Center, Hall of Fame
headquarters.
Mazer, who died in 1958,
was a top-flight amateur
basketball player who stood
up against the anti-Semitism
of his day. He was president
of the Michigan Amateur
Athletic Union and was the
pioneer in Detroit profes-
sional basketball.
Handler, who died in 1974,
was a one-time boxer who
refereed and promoted profes-
sional championship fights.
He founded and operated the
popular Camp Tamakwa for
children. Yellen, 29, a profes-
sional raquetball player, is
the only winner of five con-
secutive national titles in the
sport.
The selection of two deceas-
ed and one living honoree is
a break from the Hall's
custom and reflects the
changing demographics of
Jewish athletic participation
in Michigan, according to
Mark Unger, Hall of Fame ex-
ecutive director. The in-
ductees were chosen by a
seven-person committee
chaired by Unger.
Except for the Hall's first
year, when four were in-
ducted, the Hall has chosen
three honorees, two of them
living. .
Unger explained that many
Jews were actively involved in
sports early in the century,
when immigration was heavy,
but participation dwindled in
the face of financial success
and the move to the suburbs.
Although Jews are once
again active in athletics, a
gap exists. "There are so
many great athletes who
went before us," said Unger,
"that we really have to
change our format."
Mazer, born in Rugsia in
1877, was one of Penn-
sylvania's leading bicycle
Jacob Mazer
riders before moving to
Detroit in 1898.
A lead guard in basketball,
Mazer headed a talented YM-
CA team which eventually
was recruited by the Detroit
Athletic Club. The team lost
only seven games in 10 years,
beating many collegiate
teams, including national
champion Yale in 1904.
In 1911, when the DAC
changed its policy to exclude
additional Jews from joining,
Mazer protested by quitting
and rejoining the YMCA,
leading their team to the
state championship in 1918.
In 1929, Mazer was named
president of the Michigan
AAU. In the late 1930s, he
formed the Detroit Eagles,
the city's first pro basketball
team which, in 1939, won the
league championship.
However, the pro sport was
not popular and the team
folded the following year.
Mazer also served on the
U.S. Olympic Committee. He
was inducted posthumously
into the Michigan Sports Hall
of Fame in 1967.
At Sunday's ceremonies,
Mazer was represented by his
great-grandson, Bill Mazer
III.
Handler, born in 1910, was
campus heavyweight boxing
champion at Michigan State
College, now Michigan State
University. He also played
collegiate football but suf-
fered a shoulder injury which
hampered his boxing ability.
When he threw punches,
"the shoulder would pop in
and out," recalled Handler's
nephew, Wallace Handler.
Handler's injury forced him
to retire, but not before he
sparred with Max Schmeling
prior to one of the latter's
fights with Joe Louis.
It was as a referee and pro-
moter that Handler made his
greatest mark. He refereed
the fight in which Louis won
his first Golden Gloves title
and was the third man in the
ring for pro fights featuring
Rocky Graziano, Sugar Ray
Robinson and Kid Gavilan.
His refereeing highlight
was the middleweight title
match between Jake LaMot-
ta and Lauren Dauthielle,
which would later earn
Handler a mention in the
LaMotta film, Raging Bull.
Handler turned to pro-
moting, including the Joe
Frazier-Bob Foster
heavyweight title bout at
Cobo Hall.
But "his main love was his
summer camp," said Wallace
Handler, referring to the
Algonquin Park, Ontario,
camp which Lou Handler
owned and operated
throughout his adult life.
"He wasn't the kind of fella
who enjoyed being honored
Lou Handler
for himself," said Wallace.
"But he was very, very en-
thusiastic about the Jewish
Center and about all things
Jewish. He would've been ab-
solutely elated" at being in-
ducted into the Jewish Sports
Hall of Fame.
Yellen lives in West Bloom-
field when not travelling the
country playing or promoting
raquetball. He was in San
Diego last Sunday, so his
longtime coach and mentor,
Leonard Karpeles, stood in for
him.
Karpeles called Yellen's
selection "fitting. No one has
ever had a record of his type
— to be the national champ
five times in a row. I don't
believe it'll ever happen
again. An honor well-