[raising money to save eight courts]."
The board made a similar decision
over a year ago when it decided to
eliminate the indoor tennis courts to
build the Inline Hockey Center. That
decision was based on the board's task
force recommendation that a large chil-
dren and family sports program was
missing at the JCC.
"We lost 75 tennis players and
gained 1,000 new members — young
people and their families — in a year,"
said Sorkin, noting 10,000 JCC mem-
bers at its facilities in Oak Park and
West Bloomfield.
With a health club membership
that has dwindled from 1,800 to
1,500 in two years, the JCC needed
to modernize the West Bloomfield
health facility built in 1976 and to
attra c t more members. The health
and fitness area is the major money-
maker for the Center, Sorkin said.
The board heeded advice from sever-
al consultants, including the Jewish
Community Centers Association of
North America, the umbrella organi-
zation based in New York City.
The West Bloomfield JCC's health
and fitness wing was once one of the
largest such JCC offerings in the
nation. In 1976, such wings were a
place for leisure and relaxation. Today's
health clubs are more active places.
"Just look at our competition like
Powerhouse and Life Fitness," Sorkin said.
We need to use the space [including
the 24,000-square-foot racquet courts
area] for a new design for the entire fit-
ness facility," said Hannan Lis, a JCC
vice president. "It includes a large,
open fitness area the way modern clubs
are built, with studios for yoga, free
weights, aerobic and cardiovascular
workouts, and other amenities."
Adds Sorkin: "The Center has to
-
move with the fitness industry, as do
other JCCs around the country."
But the diehard racquet sports play-
ers disagreed. As word spread about
the decision, the players became more
vocal about the board's decision.
"There's no due process here, they
held meetings after the fact. They're
just bailing out on us," said Lloyd
Starr, 63, of West Bloomfield.
Plotnick said he told the players at a
meeting led by Hart that if they could
raise $1.5 million soon, and find major
donors to cover the rest of $4 million,
the JCC board might reconsider.
Starr said that national squash
champion Gene Perle of West
Bloomfield was at the meeting and
said, contrary to what the JCC
believes, health clubs are building
more squash courts and selling more
squash racquets than ever before.
"They think racquet sports are a
dying sport and want to use the space
for something else. It's a mistake," said
Harry Topper of Farmington Hills, a
longtime JCC racquetball player.
"Racquet sports go in cycles ... and
when it comes back, they won't have
any courts because they tore them out."
Without some action to keep some
courts, the Center likely will lose the
players plus family and friends, they say.
Sorkin said: "We feel terrible that even
one person would potentially leave the
Center because an activity is not there for
them. But it's tough to be everything to
everybody. We're trying to manage prior-
ities for the greatest number of people."
When he first heard the news, Dr.
Roy Goodman of Bloomfield Hills was
ready to leave the Center for the
YMCA, taking "all my racquetball bud-
dies as soon as the courts are closed,"
he said. He felt "the Center was throw-
ing members out on the street who had
been there for generations — at two
and three [JCC] locations."
Such concerns resulted in the second
meeting where Sorkin agreed to look
into raising funds to renovate and
maintain eight courts. "We have a
community mission here. And at the
end of the day, we think we'll do the
right thing," Hannan Lis said.
But the additional $4 million brings
the JCC back to the fund-raising task,
originally begun after the JCC's 1996
financial crises. "We were losing hundreds
of thousands of dollars a year, and needed
to make the Center viable," Sorkin said.
In 1998, the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit and its finance -
arm, the United Jewish Foundation,
undertook the $50-million Millennium
Campaign for Detroit's Jewish Future.
The campaign has grown to $58 mil-
lion, $33 million of which has gone to
the JCC Capital and Endowment
Campaign. A joint committee of the
Federation, the UJF and the JCC func-
tions as a steering committee for the
renovations to both JCC buildings, said
Mark Davidoff, Federation's chief oper-
ations officer. He said that the JCC
board is responsible for priority setting
and that the joint committee is respon-
sible for implementing those priorities.
The first two phases of renovation
are completed. They include the core
lobby fashioned after a town center
with the. Milk & Honey Restaurant of
West Bloomfield, Marion and David
Handleman Hall and Aditorium, the
planned Harry and Jeanette Weinberg
Judaic Enrichment Center and the
Sarah and Irving Pitt Child
Development Center.
Work on this final health club and
fitness area phase, excluding the pro-
posed eight courts, will begin later this
summer, said Sorkin. The work will
take about 16 months. ❑
Previously a purveyor of poultry, Sol shows up every sum-
mer with huge jars of delicious pickled cucumbers and toma-
toes ... and he grows almost all of the ingredients himself.
Who are the morning players? They're mostly older men,
emember when the JCC Maccabi Games were
mostly
retired. Many of them have marvelous names from an
held here in 1990? I had a chance to watch some
earlier
generation.
Remember the old joke about Henry Ford
of the racquetball competition at the West
and the three Jewish engineers named Norm, Max, and Hi?
Bloomfield branch of the Jewish Community
Max-and Hi have left the game for health reasons, but Norm
Center, and I was very impressed by many of the athletes
is still going strong. There's Sol, Sam, Sid and Seymour; Lloyd,
that other JCCs had sent here to compete.
Leo
and Leroy; Marvin and Morey; Herb, Herb and Herb.
But in the next court, there was an equally remarkable
The
most common occupation seems to be dentistry;
group of athletes. No, they weren't flying around the court like
sometimes,
there'll be a doubles game where all four players
the Day-Glo-clad teenagers, slamming kill shots and scooping
are dentists, and sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get
up impossible returns. They were remarkable because
enough players. Other health professionals include a
they were all in their 60s and 70s, and out there play-
pharmacist, a podiatrist and an allergist. One former
ing racquetball as they did most weekday mornings.
regular is a polymer chemist. When the court was
Twelve years later, they're still at it!
being painted, he informed us that after the epoxy
One regular player has an apt phrase for the
paint
cured, it would all be one molecule. In fact, he
morning sessions: "sandlot racquetball."-There's
went on, the vulcanized rubber ball was actually one
nothing formal about it; whoever shows up, plays.
big molecule. For a week or two, this led to encour-
Practically all of the games are doubles, so by adjust-
aging shouts of "hit that molecule!"
ing the teams, it's usually possible to create a pretty
Most of the players appear to be indestructible.
even game. If there are too many people for one
DR.
_OY
They've
come back after prostate surgery,
game of doubles and not enough for two, the extras
DMAN
GOO
parotidectomy,
back surgery, hip replacement, even
sit out a game and then rotate in fpr the losers.
Specia / to the open-heart surgery and brain surgery. There has
Not sure if the ball made it to the wall? Play the
Jewish News
been some attrition, but new players appear from
point over. One player was in another's way? Play
time to time. In fact, not everyone in the morning
the point over. The ball hit the metal vent in the
game
is
a septuagenarian or octogenarian. There are some
ceiling? Play the point over.
sexagenarians,
even a couple of "pentagenarians" (50s) and
The unofficial leader of the group is Sol the Pickle Man.
one
trigenarian"
(30s), to coin a phrase.
He's there more often than anyone else; he's usually the one
Me? I'm a mere lad of 53. I'll usually show up on a
who arranges the teams and with his sense of fairness, he's
Monday or Friday morning, play singles for an hour with
the one who decides most of the disputed calls. Sol often
one of my regular nemeses, before getting in a few games of
shows up wearing a T-shirt hand-painted by his family to
doubles with the All-Stars. They're a fun crowd, with a lot
commemorate his 83rd birthday or another one they made
of good-natured heckling and trash talking, and we usually
up for his 84th ... and they're old shirts! At age 87, Sol has
can adjust the sides to create an even match. Above all, play-
the posture of a retired sergeant-major and the flexibility of
ing with these guys gives me hope that I'll still be running
a teenager (I could never do toe-touches even when I was a
around like a meshuggener 30 years from now.
teenager!), and he can still ace a lot of players with his serve.
If you're a JCC member, and you have some free time at
about
9:15 a.m. on a weekday, come on over to the courts.
Roy S. Goodman of Bloomfield Hills is a physician and a JCC
We'll
fit
you into a game.
member since 1989.
`Still Got Game'
R
_._
❑
(a kg
5/31
2002
15