SPORTS **FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** Panasonic's NEWEST PHONE IS HERE! •Lighter in Weight • More Features •Smaller in Size Israel's Abner Doubleday ALL THIS AT A PRICE YOU CAN AFFORD! Texas native Randy Kahn introduced, and oversees, Little League baseball in Israel. MIKE ROSENBAUM Special to The Jewish News DRIVE41N CELLULAR MOBILTRONICS Featuring Ameritech Cellular Service EAST 31051 Stephenson Hwy. Madison Heights Just N. of 13 Mile AMERITECH MOBILE © COMMUNICATIONS AL/D408273”1.11FR 585-4520 WEST 32825 Northwestern Hwy. Farmington Hills Just S. of 14 Mile 626-8480 CLASS & PLASTICS • SPECIALISTS IN CUSTOM SHOWER ENCLOSURES • EXPERTS IN CUSTOM MIRROR DESIGN AND INSTALLATION EUROPEAN FRAMELESS GLASS SHOWER ENCLOSURE Call today for a free estimate, or visit our Southfield showroom for a consultation. 22223 Telegraph Rd. (South of 9 Mile) 353.5770 — Interior decorators and Builders Welcomed - - Custom Glass Experts Since 1964 — $99.00 INTERPLAK tefee BIG BIG DISCOUNTS TOOTHBRUSH' VP g MONT BLANC PENS 40% OFF Sugg. List PHONE ANSWERING MACHINES CROSS PENS 40% OFFNG CASIO•SHARP CALCULATORS SEIKO WATCHES 40.50% OFF sL2,9. RCA•SONY TVs TOASTER OVENS TELEPHONES K•45 KITCHEN•ID MIXERS NOW ONLY $167.98 OSCAR BRAUN'S LINCOLN TOWERS SUITE 111 968-5858 15075 W. Lincoln (10 1/2 Mile) One Block East of Greenfield 54 Mon. thru Sat. 10-4 FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 15 1989 NORELCO TRIPLE HEAD ELECTRIC SHAVER $27.88 Most Americans think of Abner Doubleday, the Civil War general, as the inventor of baseball. Though histor- ians have disproved the story, Doubleday remains a symbol of baseball's evolution in the United States. In Israel, however, ex-Texan Randy Kahn is the real thing. He did not invent the game, but he introduced organized baseball to the Jewish state and is primarily responsible for the sport's development there. So much an influence is he, that Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek has called Kahn the "father" of Israeli baseball. As a boy, Kahn was an en- thusiastic little league baseball player with average talent who later played on his high school's freshman team. "I'm not that great a player," he says. "I just love it and I love kids." In 1985 Kahn, working as an outstide sales represen- tative for Kraft in 'Texas, took a three-month leave of absence to visit his sister who had moved to Israel and mar- ried an Israeli. Randy Kahn had first visited Israel in 1976, living on a kibbutz for four months. This time, however, he took a baseball and three gloves with him. One spring day, Kahn unpacked the equip- ment, rounded up nephews Yaacov and Yona, and began tossing the ball around. "The kid next door came over," Kahn recalls. "Then his friends came over. Before I knew it I had 20-25 kids. And they all wanted to learn baseball." Before Kahn's three months were up, he decided to move to Israel and introduce baseball to the nation. "Only because of baseball did I even go back at all," he explains. "I had a great sales job. I was doing just fine in Houston. But I needed a change. I felt like I was just doing the same old thing every day. "I wanted to go to Israel — and it certainly is different — and I wanted to make a change there. In Houston, I could never make a change in my surroundings. I was only a spot on the map whereas, in Israel, I'm changing lives of kids and that means a lot to me. I feel like I'm needed." William Serman, IAB-Detroit membership chairman, presents a check to Kahn as Phillip Applebaum, far left, and Robert Sternberg look on. He is helping to change children's lives through baseball leagues. "Where kids who normally were very quiet and didn't assimilate among the Israeli youth, now they are on the baseball field and they're a part of a team," Kahn says. "It's changed their lives. They've now become a little bit more self- confident. They're a part of something, a team, and their peers look up to them." Kahn established a non- profit organization, Israel- American Baseball, in Thxas, and made several trips to the U.S. to gather baseball equipment. At first, Texas parks and recreation departments and Jewish community centers were his prime sources. Then the Houston Astros chipped in 60 used baseballs. Kahn went to New York, where he solicited Jewish owners at sporting goods stores at a na- tional sporting goods manufacturers convention. Louisville slugger, a prime supplier of bats to the major leagues, donated several large bags of them. A major league team owner anonymously provided support money for several years. Today, Bill Mazur, one of the Chicago White Sox' owners, is the national chairman for Israeli-American Baseball. Kahn returned to Israel, learned Hebrew at Tel Aviv University, then began tak- ing coaching classes at Jerusalem's Wingate In- stitute. He will soon graduate as a certified athletic coach. Kahn is now executive director of the Israel Associa- tion of Baseball — not to be confused with its partner, Israel AmericanBaseball — as its only paid employee. His father, Leonard, a retired lawyer who made aliyah in 1985, is an LAB volunteer. The IAB is affiliated with the International Little League. Despite his title, Kahn says he earns much less money than he did at Kraft. "But that doesn't bother me," he says. "I know that later on down the road I'll make a liv- ing." He adds that his "liv- ing" will always be made 'Only because of baseball did I even go back at all. from his baseball work. "It's more exciting for me to live this kind of life, where I run an organization that is grow- ing." Through the years, the number of teams and players in Israel has steadily grown. Four teams played informal- ly in 1986. They were from Beth It- zhak, where Kahn introduced baseball and which now is known as Israel's Cooperstown; Herzlia, Netanya and a remarkable combined team from the Ramat Hakovesh Kibbutz and the Arab village of Tira. That team, which stayed together through 1988, did not play last year because its coach emigrated to the U.S. "When it was happening, it worked," Kahn says of the Arab-Jewish team. "There was very little hostility. They got along pretty well. They're kids. "The parents were very,