To Life!
Players Chad Kalisky Max
Grossman and the rest of the Cubs
listen to pre gameinstructions from
coaches Jay Kalisky left, and
Steve Grossman.
Coach'
TAN
EM
Two best friends spend eight years giving back
to their children and the community.
ALAN HITSKY
Associate Editor
T
he Cubs finished a 12-5 season June 14 by
winning the Franklin Baseball League Pony
Division championship with an 8-3 victory
over the first-place Pirates.
The celebration capped an eight-season collabora-
tion between team coaches Jay Kalisky of West
Bloomfield and Steve Grossman of Bloomfield Hills.
Their sons are going on to Birmingham Groves
High School next fall and are graduating from the
Franklin league.
Kalisky and Grossman met through a mutual
friend during college and have been close friends
ever since.
Kalisky, a CPA, claims Grossman is "the real base-
ball guy" of the two. "I learned how to coach by
watching my older son, Josh, [now 17 and a senior
next fall at Birmingham Groves]," he said. "I went
to all his practices and games, and learned from all
these really great guys who treated my kid like he
was their kid. [All the coaches] are classy dads who
just want all the kids to have a wonderful experi-
ence."
He got involved with coaching when son Chad,
now 14, began playing in a T-ball league. Kalisky
was amazed to find that the coaches had less knowl-
edge than he did. He recalled all the kids were
standing around at practice watching one player
swing at the ball atop the batting tee. Kalisky helped
organize the youngsters into groups with the dads as
instructors, and a coach was born.
Grossman, at least, comes with some experience,
Kalisky says. He played Little League ball as a kid in
Oak Park.
His father, Bernard "Bunny" Grossman of
Southfield, is a longtime ball player, and Grossman's
daughter, Hannah, 11, is four-year softball veteran
in the Franklin league.
Steve Grossman is on the league board of directors
and maintains the league Web site for the 860 par-
ticipants — boys and girls in kindergarten through
eighth grade, mostly from Franklin, Birmingham,
West Bloomfield and Farmington Hills.
Grossman laughs about his "experience" and
admits that pairing up as coaches with his best
friend "has been wonderful. It has enhanced our
relationship."
When not coaching, Grossman is a software sales
executive to the automobile industry.
Franklin is a "house" league. Most elite players
have gone on to travel teams in other leagues by age
10 or 11. Franklin's Pony Division, for ages 13-14,
had 16 12-player teams this year.
Another Sideline
The champion Cubs, from left, front row: Jacob Rubin, Matthew Smith, Brian Krasnick, Alex Benitez, Josh Smith,
Terry Sedmak and Zak Yaker. Back row: Coach -Steve Grossman, Richard Smith, Max Grossman, Max Blitz,
Jordan Haddock, Chad Kalisky, Coach Jay Kalisky.
6/23
2005
62
Jay Kalisky is losing two volunteer positions with
son Chad's graduation to high school. While
some parents continue coaching after their chil-
dren graduate from the Franklin Baseball League,
Kalisky is contemplating other community serv-
ice.
"I've always been involved," he says.
The second activity he's giving up is his role as
founding president of the Proud Dads organiza-
tion at Chad's school, the Birmingham
Covington magnet school for grades 3-8.
Proud Dads gets the fathers involved. Some
350 of the 550 fathers at Covington are mem-
bers. At the group's annual meeting in the fall,
fathers can sign up for any of the 20 events spon-
sored by the Covington Parent-Teacher-Student
Association during the year. Last fall, 250 dads
attended the annual meeting.
At Field Day this month, 50 dads made the
picnic and ran the activities. Some 200 partici-
pated in two Dads Eat & Run events this year,
leaving work to eat with their children and play
on the playground during lunch. ❑