RICHARD PEARL
Staff Writer
F
or six "alumni" of the
Class of '84, the first
Detroit JCC-Maccabi
Youth Games were the
greatest.
The six — Dana Dobran-
sky, Joshua Glantz, Hannah
Kramer, Samantha Lincoln,
Marc Schwartz and Samuel
Sterling Heights, Mich., had
a special reason for liking
the Detroit Games: she was
a very nervous lass of 12
participating in her first
international meet but, by a
stroke of luck, the gym-
nastics competition was held
where she trained.
"I was really young then
and I had no idea what to
expect," said Dobransky.
(The minimum age for Mac-
and uneven parallel bars
and finished second in the
vault, compiling enough
points to win the all-around
title for her age group.
The next year, at age 13,
Dobransky went to the
World Maccabiah Games in
Israel, again winning gold
medals — in the vault, bal-
ance beam and floor exercise
— plus a silver in the uneven
parallel bars.
Six athletes who
participated in Detroit went
on to greater competition.
Singer — used the 1984
Detroit Games as a spr-
ingboard to bigger athletic
accomplishments, including
participation in the World
Maccabiah in Israel.
Track star Kramer com-
peted in both the 1985 and
'89 World Maccabiah Games
and also the Pan American
Maccabi Games in 1987; the
others were in one of the
Maccabiahs and recorded
other top athletic achiev-
ements.
Gymnast Dobransky, from
M-14
FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1990
cabi has since been raised to
13). Now 20, she is a member
of the University of
Alabama's 1990 Southeast
Conference women's gym-
nastics championship team.
Dobransky was worried
about the Maccabi but, "My
mother told me, 'Oh, Dana,
just go have fun, have a good
time — have fun meeting
lots of people and just do the
best you can,' " she recalled.
She followed the advice
and took first place in the
balance beam, floor exercise
She also won the all-
around gold, but her smil-
ing, friendly ways earned
her another award: the
World Maccabiah
"congeniality" title. "It was
a little plaque they gave me
because I always walked
around with a smile on my
face, saying hello to people
all the time."
Glantz, a suburban New
York City swimmer who was
the Mark Spitz of the '84
Detroit Games, winning six
gold medals, remembers the