participants in the 5-kilometer
cross-country run.
Berman, who was clocked in
18:27, also led Detroit's gold
medal- winning boys 13-14 team.
Rounding out the group were
wrestler Dean Egdish, soccer
player Jordan Kobernick, swim-
mer Steve Rosenberg and soccer
player Joseph Shargorodsky.
MACCABI competition is se-
rious business ... most of the time.
The powerful Los Angeles girls
volleyball team took on the
Detroit boys volleyball squad and
assistant coach Leah Trahey in
an impromptu match. Detroit as-
sistant coach Sam Skeegan was
the referee.
The girls beat the boys in both
games they played, but it cer-
tainly wasn't an upset. In the
competition that counted, Los
Angeles captured the gold medal
and Detroit took home the silver.
OUCH! Detroit assistant vol-
leyball coach,Lisa Slovis ended
up using crutches to get around
Left: Later, most of the sign
after she suffered a calf-muscle
came crashing down.
injury during a coaches' volley-
ball match. -
AMONG the more interesting
.
contributions
on the graffiti board
Below: Dr. Ben Berger lights
in the hospitality center at the
the Maccabi flame.
Mandel JCC were:
— Detroit rules!
— Millwakee (sic)
rules!
— Here we are ... now
entertain us.
— Rockland down.
Israel's next.
— Chicken fingers:
The fingers should be
eaten separately.
THE TRADING
frenzy reached new pro-
portions when the moth-
er of a Montreal boys
softball player asked a
uniformed Beachwood
policeman if he would be
willing to part with his
hat in exchange for a
Montreal softball cap.
The policeman agreed,
as long as the mother
would be willing to pay
the salary he'd be docked
during the two-day sus-
pension he'd receive. The
the second straight year. They deal wasn't made.
TWO PROMINENT speak-
also did last year in Pittsburgh
during the regional Maccabi ers addressed the Detroit dele-
gation during a parents' reception
Games.
Golding was pleased to hear in a meeting room at a host ho-
that players Justin Kaplan and tel. Robert Spivak, president of
Matt Stein, who will be too old for the United States Committee
Maccabi competition next year, Sports for Israel, and Lenny
want to return as assistant coach- Rubin, executive director of the
es. Jewish Community Centers
"That's what the Maccabi Association, spoke to the over-
Games are all about," Golding flow crowd of about 200.
WHILE Peter Rzepka, presi-
said. "They're much more than
dent
of the Cleveland JCCs, was
just basketball games."
DETROIT'S Jon Berman won speaking during the opening cer-
the gold medal in the boys 13-14 emonies, most of the huge
age group, and he was seventh Maccabi banner behind him
overall among an estimated 100 came crashing to the ground.

hadn't experienced in decades.
VETERAN Detroit boys bas-
ketball coach Howard Golding re-
ceived a surprise while he was in
Cleveland. The players on his
team gave Golding and his wife,
Rita, a vacation package which
includes a one-night stay at the
Livonia Marriott, breakfast, din-
ner and movie tickets.
Golding said Larry and Debbie
Kaplan, parents of player Justin.
Kaplan, headed the effort to pre-
sent him with the "thank you,"
but the players paid for the pack-_
age.
"I don't coach Maccabi to re-
ceive gifts, but that was very
nice," Golding said. "One of the
best parts of coaching through
the years has been the opportu-
nity to meet the parents of our
players."
Jeff and Joanne Ishbia, par-
ents of player Matt Ishbia, took
the Goldings out to dinner for

TH E DE TR O I T J EW IS H N E WS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

108

1.

n addition, it was the arrival
and departure point for dele-
gations when they came to and
left from the Maccabi Games.
The opening ceremonies were
held in the Convocation Center
at Cleveland State University.
GAMES DIRECTOR Jay
Jacobs said he thought every-
thing went as smoothly as
could be expected.
"Even though we hosted
regional Maccabi Games in 1987
and 1991 and we prepared
for two years for the North
American Games, there were
glitches. But we made the ad-
justments we needed to make,"
Jacobs said.
Transportation, tight schedul-
ing and the quality of the food
provided for the athletes were the

biggest complaints
voiced by the partici-
pants in Cleveland.
More than 1,500 vol-
unteers, including host families,
contributed their time and effort
to the North American Games.
Some 68 delegations from the
United States and five foreign
countries participated, bringing
an estimated 7,500 athletes,
coaches and families to
Cleveland's eastern suburbs.
THE WEATHER was nearly
perfect during the four days of
competition. Days were sunny
and warm and the evenings were
cool. On the day before the open-
ing ceremonies, the northeastern
Ohio area was clobbered by tor-
rential rainstorms which caused
flooding that local residents