Sports Hall Of Fame
Loses Its Mentor

STEVE STEIN STAFF WRITER

I

t didn't take long for Michigan
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of-
ficials to realize how much
they missed Bill Hertz.
Within days after Mr. Hertz's
death from a heart attack on Jan.
24, a problem arose in the plan-
ning of one of the Hall of Fame's
major events.
"My first thought was, Ill talk
to Bill.' Then I realized we're on
our own now," said Hall of Fame
treasurer Mike Applebaum.
"In the past, if we had a prob-
lem or question, we went to Bill.
He was always there, and he
seemed to know how to get things
done. He knew how to work with
people.
"We're really going to miss
him. He was a mentor for so
many of us."
Mr. Hertz, 76, a Southfield res-
ident, was a vice president of the
Hall of Fame at the time of his
death. He was the treasurer un-
til Mr. Applebaum took over that
post four years ago.
A sporting goods salesman and
consultant for more than 40
years, mostly with Griswold
Sporting Goods, Mr. Hertz was a
rabid sports fan who was active
with the American Power Boat
Association.
The Detroit Lions were the
major account in his sales work,
and the Hall of Fame was his
love.
"Bill was very involved in all of
our events. He was very devot-
ed," said Hall of Fame executive
director Harvey Frank.
"He had a tremendous memo-
ry for how we did things and he
paid a lot of attention to details.
You didn't need a checklist of
things to do when Bill was
around.
"What made it fun to work
with Bill was the fact that he was
a warm, friendly guy."
Steve Simons, the newly-
named chairman of the 1995
Hank Greenberg Golf and Ten-
nis Invitational and a member of
the Hall of Fame's board of gov-

ernors, spoke to Mr. Hertz on the
phone for about an hour the night
before he died.
"Among other things, we
talked about what people I need-
ed to put on our letterhead for the
invitational," Mr. Simons said.

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Bill Hertz

"When it came to the Hall of
Fame, Bill was always there for
me. We were the best of friends.
"Bill always wanted to do the
right thing. He was a very im-
portant cog in our organization.
We're going to have to pull our-
selves up by the bootstraps and
move on even though we've lost
someone who can never be re-
placed."
Mr. Simons said Mr. Hertz
played a major role in the success
of the silent auction held in con-
junction with the 10th annual in-
duction dinner last November.
The auction raised more than
$10,000.
Mr. Hertz is survived by He-
len, his wife of 46 years, sons Lee
and Steven, and four grandchil-
dren.
Memorials may be sent to the
Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of
Fame, 6600 West Maple, West
Bloomfield, MI 48322. Li

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