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56
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1990
354-5959
Fame Bound
Continued from preceding page
in Detroit then, so Bagdade,
a Montreal native, tried to
correct the situation. In
1923, he persuaded the
Detroit Times to sponsor its
own Gold and Silver Skates
Derbies at Belle Isle —but
seven ensuing years of mild
winters killed the event.
He turned to northern
Michigan — Cheboygan,
Petoskey, Bay City,
Midland, Saginaw, Alpena
— for the colder winters and
because "I loved speed-
skating and thought it
would be good for kids," he
said. "I wanted to get kids
out of doors; it's a healthy
sport. I grew up being out of
doors where it was cold. It
didn't bother me; I didn't
think about it," he said. He
also didn't think about the
time and energy needed to
get the various chambers of
commerce to sponsor
weekend meets: "It was
harder than selling
tobacco," he said, which was
his vocation in those days.
By the late 1920s, Bagdade
had organized about 200
metro Detroit skaters into
the Michigan Skating
Association. To give his kids
a place to skate on
weekends, Bagdade told the
chambers he'd bring them
up gratis, just to compete
among themselves. In
return, he would organize
the local kids into their own
competitions.
"All it would cost them
was medals and a banquet
afterwards," he said. "But
they couldn't understand;
`What's in it for you?', they'd
ask me. They couldn't
understand me being a
former skater and these kids
just wanting to skate in the
winter. It was no way for me
to make any money. Why,
we had to depend on the
kids' parents to buy the
skates and things."
Slowly, the skepticism
diminished, speedskating
became a reality in Mich-
igan and Bagdade went on to
bigger things: the Winter
Olympic Games. In 1932 at
Lake Placid, N.Y., he was
the Michigan representative
on the U.S. Olympic Speed-
skating Committee; in 1948
he was interim coach of the
U.S. speedskating team
which took two silver medals
at St. Moritz, Switzerland;
and he was an Olympic
speedskating official at the
'48, '52 and '60 Games.
He was treasurer of the
U.S. Olympic Speedskating
Committee for 20 years and
president of the Amateur
Skating Union of the U.S.
1948-50. He was inducted
into the Michigan Amateur
Sports Hall of Fame in 1977
and into the Speed Skating
Hall of Fame in '78.
Daughter June Swartz
recalls the freezing weather
she and her sisters and
brothers encountered on
trips with their father and
mother for his volunteer of-
ficiating at meets. "He'd
come into the little but and
warm up. Mom would say
it's so cold out there and he'd
say, 'Yeah, but I got to be out
there officiating,' and back
out he'd go," Mrs. Swartz
said.
Bagdade still tries to stay
involved, traveling to winter
sports meetings in the
summers, health permitting.
"He's a real role model; it's
rare to see this year-after-
-year commitment he's been
giving all of his life," his
daughter said. "His grand-
children adore him; he's got
this incredible determina-
tion."
A charter member of Tem-
ple Israel, Bagdade served as
its men's club president. He
also worked 40 years on the
Allied Jewish Campaign and
every Thursday drives to
Fleischman Hall to conduct
a current events program for
the residents, for which he
received the Jewish Com-
munity Center's volunteer of
the year award in July.
"He's one of the sweetest
men you could ever meet,
and so deserving of this (in-
duction into the Hall). A
wonderful man," said Rabbi
M. Robert Syme.
The Bagdades have two
other children, Alice of
Peoria, Ill., and Dr. John of
Chicago (a third, Walter,
died of cancer in his 20s).
They have eight grand-
children. El
Superstar Basketball
Is Hot Hall Auction Item
H
oney, Cubby, Ben and
Bo won't be the only
items of interest when
the Michigan Jewish Sports
Hall of Fame holds its sixth
annual induction dinner Nov.
5 at Congregation Shaarey
Zedek.
Certainly, the induction of
Henry "Honey" Berris, Carl
"Cubby" Bayer and Ben-
jamin B. "Ben" Bagdade
into the Hall of Fame will
hold center stage, as will the
presentation by Detroit
Pistons owner Bill Davidson
of the Alvin N. Foon
Memorial Award to ex-