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Fields, Gyms Were Classroom
For Ex-Mumford AD Sam Taub
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
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44
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or the past 30 years,
Sam Taub has enjoyed
many titles, including
coach, athletic director,
referee, umpire. But the best
title for Taub is "teacher."
And although Taub taught
junior high and high school
classes, his role of teacher was
not confined to classrooms.
Taub, 59, retired in
February after 24 years at
Detroit Mumford High
School, including 18 as
athletic director. He took ad-
vantage of an early retire-
ment incentive plan which
the Detroit school board of-
fered school administrators.
While Taub coached many
excellent athletes, he is most
proud of their success in life.
At a recent Class of 1969
reunion basketball game, "I
went back and saw a lot of the
kids," says Taub. "They were
all working, all have good
jobs. That's what makes (my)
job nice, to see the kids grow
up and make something of
themselves."
Taub believes that lessons
learned through sports
helped those ex-athletes
achieve success. "First of all,
it kept 'em off the streets
because they had to be at
practice. And it made 'em
loyal to something, to a team.
They knew what it meant to
follow directions -- because
most of 'em are working for
someone else (today). You've
got to learn how to follow
directions. I think everyone
ought to be involved (in
sports) in some manner,
whether it's on a varsity-
sports level or not.
"And
winning
isn't
everything. As long as you do
the best you can, that's what
counts."
As a coach, Taub was a win-
ner. He coached Mumford's
1969-1970 varsity basketball
team to the school's only
Public School League cham-
pionship and to the state
Class A tournament semi-
finals. In the late '70s, he
coached a Mumford tennis
team to the state finals,
where it lost by one point —
despite being without its best
player, who had moved to
California before the state
tourney.
Taub says today's high
school athletes are more
talented than those he coach-
ed early in his career, but
they are also more
success-oriented.
Taub says, winning isn't everything.
"They're only interested in
winning all the time. If you
tose,_they don't want to be any
part of it — which is wrong.
Competing is half the battle,
and then learning from the
experience that you get when
you compete. And learning
that when the game is over,
it's over. You don't rehash
things that you can't change
and argue about things that
you can't change. You can't
blame the referees for
losing .. .
"You can't win all the time.
Whether it's a job or anything
else. You're going to lose at
one time in your life and
.you've got to bounce back."
Taub, a member of Adat
Shalom Synagogue, grew up
in Detroit, where he was ac-
tive in sports. At Central
High School, he lettered in
football, basketball and
baseball.
Taub was influenced by
three older brothers, Maurice,
Markey and Alex, who all
played baseball and basket-
ball. But he was also influenc-
ed by his father, William, a
religious man who believed
strongly in education.
"He was one that always
said if you want to get ahead,
you had to get an education,"
Taub says.
Taub earned a basketball
scholarship to the University
of Detroit, where he was a
starting guard his final two
years. He earned a degree in
accounting.
Taub, 5-foot-9, says, "I was
fortunate that I grew up in
the time I did," since today's
college coaches want big peo-
ple, even at guard. "If I had it
to do again, I'd take up tennis
of golf or some other sport
where the size didn't mean
that much."
Taub was in the army in
1949, then did accounting for
several years before returning
to U-D in 1958 to earn his
teaching certificate.
During those years, Taub
played slow-pitch softball for
teams which won three
world championships, draw-
ing sponsors such as Mike I1-
itch. He also played for a tour-
ing basketball team and was
one of the original instructors
at Detroit's Cincy Sachs
basketball school.
In the early '60s, Taub
taught math at several
Detroit junior high schools,
beginning his high school
varsity coaching career in the
Catholic League, at
Wynadotte Mt. Carmel. He
coached basketball and
baseball at Detroit Salesian
High School, a now-defunct
Catholic school, then began
coaching those sports at
Mumford in 1965-66.
Taub gave up coaching ma-
jor team sports after becom-
ing Mumford's athletic direc-
tor and physical education
department head, due to the
administrative work load. He
coached golf and tennis until
the late '70s, when the
Detroit school board, in a con-
cession to the Detroit Federa-
tion of Teachers, ruled that
only Federation members
could coach school teams.
Taub, a member of the ad-
ministrator's union was forc-
ed out of coaching.
"I think it's a mistake
becuase they're losing out on
a lot of good people who are
athletic directors who are