Local Love Story
To Be Told Nationally
H
LESLEY PEARL STAFF WRITER
\,---.
oward and Nichole Gold
owe their mothers a lot.
After yet another of
Nichole's disastrous
dates with an undesirable, her
mother, Jackie Sorkin, wrote a
personal ad for her daughter.
Anita Gold spotted the ad in
The Jewish News.
She showed the blurb to her
son, Howard, and asked if she
might respond to it on his be-
half. He agreed.
Later, sifting through letters,
Nichole found a short note
about a Michigan State Uni-
versity graduate who owned a
construction renovation com-
pany. Personal facts were list-
ed, along with a phone number
and instructions to recycle the
paper if she was not interested.
His name was Howard.
Nichole called Howard from
her home in Flint and the two
made plans to meet half-way
between them, at the Clarkston
Cafe. One month later, at Strat-
ford, Mr. Gold said, "Hypothet-
ically, if I asked you to marry
me, would you?"
"Hypothetically, yes," she
replied.
That was in August. In Feb-
ruary, the engagement was of-
ficial. May 23, 1993 the couple
were married at Congregation
B'nai Israel.
All Nichole and Howard's
friends and family thought it
was a pretty terrific story. So
did the producers of the "Vicki!"
(Lawrence) show.
The week of Valentine's Day
(the actual date has not been con-
firmed), all the country can hear
Nichole and Howard's story in a
segment called "Pen Pal Lovers."
"Vicki!" airs locally on WKBD-TV
Channel 50 at 12:30 p.m.
The Golds join couples who
met at a Pez candy-dispenser
collectors' convention, through
Operation Desert Storm (he was
a soldier, she was a teacher, her
class wrote to him), and by in-
surance sales (he didn't want
what she was selling, but they
began a friendship via the phone
lines that turned to romance).
Nichole and Howard Gold: Pen pal
-
lovers on "Vicki!"
Maccabi Sets Tryouts
For Summer Teen Games
ALAN HITSKY ASSOCIATE EDITOR
G
roundhog Day may be an
impending sign of spring
for some, but for many
Jewish teens in Detroit
the surest sign is the annual try-
outs for the North American
Maccabi Youth Games.
The Detroit Maccabi Club is
scheduling tryouts or team
meetings in 12 sports, beginning
Feb. 27. Those tryouts may take
on more importance this year.
The North American games,
which will be held in Cleveland
Aug. 14-19, have been limited
by the host city to 2,200 teen
athletes. That's the same num-
ber Detroit hosted in 1990, but
400 fewer than Baltimore host-
ed at t,he last North American
Games two years ago. (Last
summer, smaller regional
games were held in four cities
around the United States.)
The Cleveland organizers do
not believe they will have
enough host families to house
additional athletes.
"We're going to have an al-
lotment," - said < Dr. Alan
Horowitz, the Detroit Maccabi
Club's delegation head. "And the
tryouts will be competitive. We
may even need to have tryouts
in swimming and track, sports
where we've never had tryouts
before."
But Dr. Horowitz believes De-
troit will continue to have one of
the largest delegations at the
games. "We always have a quo-
ta," he said, "but Detroit has
been doing it so long, the hosts
will do whatever possible to give
us as many spots as they can."
Another factor may be the
The Golds' story was the im-
petus for the announcement
that ran about the show and
commanded more than 1,700
responses.
Mrs. Gold's friend worked as
a freelance producer and editor.
She turned down a job to attend
the Gold wedding and ex-
plained why in her letter to the
"Vicki!" show.
Soon Nichole and Howard
were flying to Los Angeles with
their mothers to tell their story
— letters, wedding photos and
The Jewish News in hand.
The first segment of the pro-
gram features the local couple.
"It was really interesting,"
Nichole said. "They did our
makeup. The artists told us Bet-
ty White was really as nice as
she seems, and Charles Nelson
Riley thought he knew me.
They just ran the tape and edit-
ed later. We have no idea how
it turned out."
They left NBC with a photo-
graph of Ms. Lawrence and all
the guests.
"In the old country, people
got fixed up. This (personal ads)
is like the '90s version of match-
making. It serves the same
function," Mr. Gold said.
B'nai David, Southfield
Work On An Extension
Detroit's flagbeamra lead the team in Baltimore in 1992.
dates of the games, Aug. 14-19.
Because they conflict with the
second session of many summer
camps, some teens may not be
able to participate in Maccabi
this year.
Chi. the positive side, most of
Detroit's veteran coaches are re-
turning and they will be leading
the tryouts or team meetings,
all scheduled for the Maple-
Drake Jewish Commmunity
Center:
Feb. 27 --- 4:30 p.m. tryouts,
girls soccer (Coach Larry Har-
win) and boys soccer (Coach
Dave Stone). 6 p.m. tryouts, girls
softball (coaches Don Rudick
and Harold Friedman) and boys
softball (Coach Tony Spokojny).
March 3 -- 7:30 p.m., team
meetings only: Track (Coach
Joel Kashdan), swimming
(Coach Herb Bernstein), golf
(Coach Matt Lester), wrestling
(Coach Glen Clark) and gym-
nastics (Coach Lauren Rosen-
berg).
March 6 — 2 p.m. tryouts,
racquetball (Coach Andy Tuck-
er).
March 10 — 6 p.m. tryouts,
boys and girls volleyball (coach-
es Ken Bertin and Sam Skee-
gun).
March 13 — 6 p.m. tryouts,
girls basketball (Coach Mark
Jeross), boys basketball (Coach
Howard Golding), and table ten-
nis (coach to be named).
Teens interested in trying out
for tennis will participate in a
tournament, on Sundays in
March. The coaches are veter-
ans Linda Okun and Janice
Bloom. For an entry form, which
must be submitted by March 3,
call 683-2848 (evenings).
The Detroit Maccabi Club also
appointed a veteran group of ad-
ministrators. Assisting Dr.
Horowitz for the games will be
sports chairmen Jill Spokojny and
Michael Kobernick and team
manager Beth Robinson. 0
c
ALAN HITSKY ASSOCIATE EDITOR
ongregation
B'nai
David's four-year sale
agreement with the city
of Southfield will expire
March 14, and the two sides are
working to give the congrega-
tion a little more time in its
Southfield Road building.
Both groups are facing pres-
sure.
"There's acres of
middle ground."
Robert Block
The congregation is negoti-
ating with financial institutions
to help fund construction of its
proposed sanctuary on Maple
Road near Halsted in West
Bloomfield. Southfield, ac-
cording to City Manager Robert
Block, is feeling pressure from
the arts community that has
been waiting four years to get
into the B'nai David facility.
"No way is this adversarial,"
emphasized Mr. Block. `We are
very sensitive to their needs;
and they are, I'm sure, very
sensitive to ours. There's acres
of middle ground."
One compromise, Mr. Block
believes, would allow Southfield
arts groups limited use of the
B'nai David facility while the
congregation continues to be
housed there.
Four years ago, the city paid
the congregation $500,000 to-
ward the $1.4 million purchase
price. It also has paid 9 percent
interest a year, which will be
used against the balloon pay-
ment due, according to the orig-
inal agreement, on March 14.
The $1.4 million figure also will
be reduced an additional
$200,000 because no asbestos
abatement work has been done
in the building. El