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Paul Groffsky
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youth programs," Deitch said.
Deitch won two silver medals in
the last Maccabiah Games, in 1997.
"From a Jewish standpoint, that was a
tremendous experience, and having
my kids with me on the medal plat-
form was just a great thing," he said.
"I'm planning on doing it next year.
"My family have been members of
Shaarey Zedek for 50 years," Deitch
added. "This is like a lifetime dream
that I'll be honored [by the Hall of
Fame] at the place that I grew up in."
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•
Although raised in New Jersey, play-
ing basketball for the University of
Michigan was a boyhood dream for
Paul Groffsky.
"I can't tell you why," he said. "I
was a sports fan and I just adopted
the U-M football team as my team. I
had my heart set on going to
Michigan."
Groffsky, of Keego Harbor, now
66, was a 6'4" basketball center for
U-M his sophomore year and led the
team in scoring and rebounding. "In
my senior year, I was a forward and
captain," he said. Ron Kramer, who
later played football for the Green
Bay Packers and Detroit Lions, played
center. "Ron was an extraordinary
athlete and a great basketball player,"
Groffsky said.
Groffsky played on the U.S. gold
medal basketball team in the 1953
Maccabiah Games and was the lead-
ing scorer in the championship game.
After college, he worked in his
father's window glass business for six
years but returned to U-M to earn
master's and law degrees. He now
practices wills and estate law for
Sommers, Schwartz, a Southfield law
firm. He is the father of three.
"Getting this honor is a great
thing, kind of awesome," he said. "If
Hank Greenberg's in here, what am I
doing here? Like almost all Jews, I
was a big Hank Greenberg fan."
But to Groffsky, the biggest thrill
was just playing basketball. "That's all
I was ever interested in," he said. "I
would have paid to play."
Groffsky is also proud of his work
at Temple Kol Ami in West
Bloomfield — a trustee from 1989,
then temple president, 1993-94.
Currently he's back on the board.
Bernie Kahn
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108
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(S. of 9 Mile Ril.)
Bernie Kahn, besides being a top
backstroke swimmer at the University
of Michigan, has had a long career as
a television and movie script writer.
Kahn, now 70 and a resident of
West Hollywood, Calif, originally
came to U-M from Brooklyn, N.Y.,
on an alumni scholarship.
As a youth, Kahn was national
Boys Club backstroke champion,
junior AAU champion, New York
high school champion and N.Y. state
champion. At U-M, he was an all-
American for two years and was sec-
ond in the AAU nationals in 1953,
"which for all intents and purposes
made me the second best swimmer in
the country," he said. He was also an
all-Army backstroke champion.
At the 1953 Maccabiah Games,
Kahn won the 100-meter backstroke,
setting a Maccabiah record. "That -
was the climax of my career," he said.
After getting a master's degree from
Michigan in speech, Kahn started
writing for NBC radio, created a TV
game show, and moved out to
California. "I ended up writing over a
career about 150 situation comedy
episodes, including scripts for Get
Smart!, Bewitched, All In the Family,
Maude, The Odd Couple and The
Brady Bunch," he said. "I was nomi-
nated twice for Writer's Guild awards.
I created a show, Joe and Valerie, an
NBC sit-com lArith a disco theme, and
wrote or produced five Movies of the
Week."
Kahn has written three movies, the
most successful being the 1971
Disney release, The Barefoot Executive,
featuring Kurt Russell and a chim-
panzee. "It was supposed to be a satire
on the television business, but it
turned into a series of monkey jokes,"
Kahn said.
Kahn has also had three plays pro-
duced, one starring Milton Berle, and
had 10 rock and roll records made. "I
had a very varied career," he said.
At age 50, Kahn started master's
swimming and never loit a race in his
age group, becoming California
champion.
"I never lost interest in my sport,"
he said. "In fact, now I swim four or
five times a week." He credits swim-
ming as playing a big part in his suc-
cess.
"You have to be so disciplined to
work out, to train," Kahn said. "That
discipline has carried over into my life
as a writer. I think swimming has
really given me the foundation to do
that."
Kahn, a_father of three, still follows
Michigan football. "Hopefully they
will go to the Rose Bowl— I'll be
there," he said.