Medicine Men
Aspiring doctors helped lead the Birmingham Groves football
team to its first league championship since 1980.
STEVE STEIN STAFF WRITER
icah Heilbrun and Jeremy Walker
want to pursue careers in medicine.
They're off to a good start.
This fall, the Birmingham Groves
High School seniors helped resus-
citate their school's football team.
The Falcons ended two long
droughts this season. For the first
time since 1980, they won a league
championship and they finished
with a winning record.
Groves captured the Division IV
title in the new Oakland Activities
Association, winning all four of its
division games.
The Falcons went 5-4 overall, but
the four teams which beat them had
a combined 29-7 record and includ-
ed fellow OAA division champions
Troy, Lake Orion and Royal Oak
Kimball.
Heilbrun, one of Groves' four cap-
tains, rushed for 812 yards and 10
touchdowns from his fullback post
despite being slowed by a leg injury
during the second half of the sea-
son. The 6-foot, 210-pounder also
was a starting inside linebacker.
Coach Jim MacDougall said
Walker was the team's "Mr. Inspi-
ration." Despite being 5-3 and 118
pounds, the speedy two-way back
didn't retreat from any challenges.
He made several starts in the de-
fensive backfield.
Off the field, Heilbrun, 18, is a
3.78 grade-point average student
who is co-president of his senior
class. He scored an impressive 30
on his ACT test.
Walker, 18, who has a 3.85 GPA,
is a National Merit Scholarship
semi-finalist. He is a tutor for the
Groves football players who are tak-
ing part in a daily 6 am. study table
at school.
"Micah is a physical, tough, all-
business kind of player," Coach
MacDougall said. "He isn't a glam-
orous ball-carrier, and he doesn't
pretend to be one. In fact, he de-
scribes himself as a guard who plays
fullback."
Heilbrun has many college op-
tions, some of which include play-
ing football.
He may opt to play football at a
Above: Micah Heilbrun and
Jeremy Walker are ready for
the snap.
Left: Jeremy Lewin has a bright
future on the gridiron.
Division HI school "because
even though he loves the
sport, he doesn't want it to
be his entire life," Mac-
Dougall said. "He has his
priorities straight."
The Division III institu-
tions which have the inside
track for Heilbrun are
Kalamazoo, Hope and
Denison (Ohio).
Walker said he enjoyed
playing football in high
school because of the op-
After Groves lost Its season finale to Birmingham Seaholm at the Pontiac Silverdome,
Micah Heilbrun (23) consoled a teammate.
portunity to go one-on-one with an
opponent while at the same time
counting on his teammates for sup-
port.
"Football also gave me a sense of
focus which I'll be able to use the
rest of my life," he said. "You had to
do your job at practices and games
and you had to make the best use
of your limited free time."
Michigan and Brown are Walk-
er's top college choices.
"Hopefully, Micah, Jeremy and
our other seniors have started a
legacy at Groves," MacDougall said.
"I know they've helped bring respect
to our team."
This was MacDougall's second
year as coach at Groves following a
long career at Royal Oak Shrine.
Both Heilbrun and Walker played
for him as juniors, when the Fal-
cons went 3-6.
MacDougall is optimistic Groves'
improvement will continue next fall
and one of the big reasons is Jere-
my Lewin.
Lewin, a 6-3, 260-pound junior,
was a two-way starter at tackle this
season.
"Jeremy has the potential to be
one of the finest linemen I've ever
coached," MacDougall said. "He's a
quiet kid. You can hardly tell he's
in a room with you. But on the field,
he's ferocious. He'll definitely be a
Division I prospect next year."
Lewin said he'd love to be a Di-
vision I football player, especially a
defensive lineman.
"I prefer defense to offense be-
cause you can be more aggressive,"
he said. "On the offensive line, you
basically just push people around."
Lewin, who will be 17 on Nov. 30,
said the underclassmen on Groves'
team this fall looked up to Heilbrun
and Walker.
"Micah didn't let anybody get
down and Jeremy, well, everybody
loves him," Lewin said. "He's.a nice
kid, he's smart, and he's a guy who
never quits."
Barry Fishman is another Groves
player to watch next year. The 6-1,
200-pound junior two-way tackle is
expected to be a candidate for a
starting spot in 1995.111
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