NICMLNINC,

STAR page 55

KEEP IT SIMPLE SALE

THE 1996 VOLVO 850 TURBO SPORTSWAGON. LOADED WITH WHAT MATTERS.

The 1996 front-wheel-drive Volvo 850 Turbo Sportswagon features 222 hp.

Motronie engine management, 3-mode transmission, side impact air bags, anti-lock

brakes and up to 67 cubic feet of cargo space. Ladies, gentlemen: Start your errands.

VOLVO

Drive safely.

Sid Goldberg and Jake LaMotta at a 1991 dinner.

$2660

Down. Includes all fees,
security dep., first payment
CAP., cost reduction

$499

per month. 36 months
Including tax

DWYER

SONS
liTCM. Nr C,

AND

Internet Address:
http://www.stoneage.com/dwyer

Maple Rd. West of Hagerty

624-0400

36 Mo. Closed-end lease, 150 per mile over 36,000, purchase option $22,222, total
obligation = payment x 36, license plates are additional. Offer expires 6-30-96

SUBARU®

KEEP IT SIMPLE SALE

NEW '96
LEGACY OUTBACK WAGON

All Wheel Drive Includes:

• 2.5L
• Auto Transmission
• Fog Lamps • Aluminum Alloy Wheels
• Special Outback Trim, Inside & Out

$3500

Down. Total Up Front Costs.

Includes: First payment, Acquisition fee,
Refudable Security Deposit, Taxes,
Excludes plates. CASH OR TRADE-IN

*per
month.
r
Payment includes tax
for 24 months

*24-month closed-end lease. 100 per mile over 24,000. Total obligation + pymt. x 24. Purchase option negotiable at lease inception.
Lessee responsible for excess wear & tear. Offer ends 6-30-96. Np coupons apply. Licence plates are additional.

CONVENIENT
HOURS

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624-0400

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SD LA EMIR UP
Maple Rd. West of Haggerty

MAPLE ROAD

14 ME

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50

Open `til 9 p.m.
on Mondays & Thursdays;
and
Saturdays until 4 p.m.

D W Y E R

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1E96

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1'

Indeed, Goldberg served a long
stint as business manager for
Saperstein's legendary Harlem
Globetrotters, bringing them on
many occasions to Detroit's old
Olympia Stadium on Grand Riv-
er Avenue. Detroit always
played a key role in the Goldberg
story, especially during his barn-
storming years. Sid Goldberg
never made a fortune in those
days. But he left behind a trea-
sure trove of colorful stories. He
was a throwback to an era when
Jewish athletes and sports pro-
moters dominated basketball,
and when Jewish boxers entered
the ring proudly wearing a Star
of David prominently sewn to
their boxing trunks.
Like another young Jewish
Toledoean of that era, Allie
Reuben, who once owned the
Toledo Mud Hens baseball fran-
chise, hired Casey Stengel as
the team's manager, and later
produced a Preakness winner
from his Hasty House horse
farm, Goldberg learned that the
odds could often be stacked
against you.
At the induction dinner last
month, Sid's son Albert, former
business editor of the Toledo
Blade, observed that the audi-
ence was larger than that at
many of his father's promotions.
But one event that packed Tole-
do's Sports Arena came about af-
ter Jack Dempsey instituted a
search to find a "Great White
Hope" for boxing. As Albert Gold-
berg tells the story, "This was at
a time when all the major box-
ers, like Joe Louis, Sugar Ray
Robinson and Ezzard Charles,
were African-Americans. So
Dempsey wanted to find a white
potential champion, to carry on
in the tradition of his era, when
he, Gene Tenney, Max Baer and
Jack Sharkey and other cham-
pions were white.
'Dempsey contracted with my
father to hold the selection corn-
petition in Toledo. And on the
night of the bout, it was won by
an African-American from
Youngstown. No one could ever
figure out how he managed to
get into the tournament."
That's how Sid Goldberg's life

was. His longtime friend Sey-
mour Rothman, a now-retired
Toledo Blade columnist and
sportswriter, recalls when Gold-
berg and his associates owned
the contract of Sonny Liston, but
were glad to give it up. 'The fu-
ture heavyweight champion was
eating more at the downtown ho-
tel than Goldberg and his part-
ners felt they could possibly earn
with him," said Rothman.
"And second, they were wor-
ried that the mercurial Liston
might carry out his threat to
break up a police roll call because
it interfered with his workouts
at the Toledo police headquar-
ters gym."
Rothman also recalls how
Goldberg "brought the Harlem
Globetrotters to Toledo's West-
minister Gym when the now-
world renowned team was so
new that its share of the gate was
only $43. Abe Saperstein never
forgot how Sid helped him in the
formative years, and he later
hired Sid's Toledo Mercurys bas-
ketball team to travel with the
Globetrotters and play against
it."
The Mercurys — so named be-
cause auto dealer Iry Pollock
gave the team the money for
their jerseys and a car to travel
in — featured some star athletes.
But their sole purpose as a team
was to be defeated by the Globe-
trotters.
Former Mercury Johnny
Payak recalls the time in 1952
when the Mercurys actually de-
feated the Globetrotters 87-74
in Minneapolis. "I called Sid,
who had come back to Toledo to
promote a fight, and told him
what had happened. He faint-
ed. And when he recovered, he
asked what Abe Saperstein had
said."
Later that evening, Goldberg
received a telegram from Saper-
stein offering congratulations
and assuring him everything was
all right. But Saperstein added,
"Don't make a habit of this."
Jack Kennedy, another Mer-
curys player, remembers "the
guys just sitting around before

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