P 0 R

Here's To

BIG Honor

Roberts surprised
by JN Athlete
of Year honors.

Steve Stein

Special to The Jewish News

A

.J. Roberts was shocked to
learn she was one of the 2006
Jewish News High School
Athletes of the Year.
"I've never considered myself a big
star or anything like that',' she said.
"Hopefully this proves to other female
athletes that as long as you have the
desire to do well individually and make
your team better, you can be recog-
nized."
Roberts wasn't exactly chopped
liver at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook
Kingswood. The West Bloomfield resi-
dent was a stellar performer in softball
and girls hockey for four years.
She showed enough potential on
the softball diamond to earn a spot on
next year's Oakland University roster.
Oakland finished 28-31 last season,
recording the second-highest number
of victories in the program's seven-year
history.
At Cranbrook, Roberts was an All-
Metro Conference softball player for
four seasons. She was a third baseman
and first baseman as a freshman, and a
pitcher her final three years. She hit .532
as a junior and .483 as a senior.
To help her make the substantial leap
from high school to college competition,
Roberts, 18, played summer softball for
the first time this year. In previous sum-
mers, she spent time at Camp Nicolet for
Girls in Wisconsin.
Roberts played right wing on the
Cranbrook Kingswood girls hockey
squad for four seasons. She was the

team captain as a senior, and she helped
the Cranes win the Michigan Metro
Girls High School Hockey League state
championship when she was a junior.
They were runners-up the previous two
years.
Cranbrook Kingswood beat archrival
Grosse Pointe South 3-2 in a double-
overtime thriller to capture the 2005
state title. But triumph turned to trag-
edy just before the start of the 2006
season when Coach Lance Wissmueller
died of complications from colon cancer
at age 35, and the Cranes struggled last
year.
Even though girls high school hockey
is a non-checking sport, Roberts' forte
was being a physical player. It also was
her weakness. The 5-foot-3, 160-pound
former figure skater was always among
Cranbrook Kingswood's penalty leaders.
Roberts isn't ready to hang up her
skates. For the second summer, she's
teaching at hockey camps and helping
out with private hockey lessons.
The four 2006 Jewish News High
School Athletes of the Year will be
honored Nov. 6 at the Michigan Jewish
Sports Foundation's annual Michigan
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame induction
dinner at Congregation Shaarey Zedek
in Southfield. Besides Roberts, the
other high school honorees are Nurit
Weizman from Ann Arbor Huron,
Gabe Schubiner from Cranbrook
Kingswood and Ross Tashjian from
Novi Catholic Central.
Yan Isayev from Berkley and
Weizman each won a $2,500 Hertz
Memorial Scholarship. They'll also be
honored at the dinner, and they'll be
profiled in an upcoming Jewish News
sports column.

Streetballers Rule
It was hot on the blacktop parking lot
at West Bloomfield High School, and
the competition was intense. But the
Streetballers didn't crack.
They won five straight games and
captured the age 10-under division title
Aug. 5-6 at the Gus Macker 3-on-3 bas-
ketball tournament.
"The boys did a fantastic job. You have
to play hard on every point and have
a lot of stamina to win a Gus Macker
championship," said Jimmy Birnberg,
the father of one of the Streetballers.
Three of the four Streetballers live
in West Bloomfield. Josh Birnberg,
Alex Kay and Brandon Wallace
will be fifth-graders this fall at Green
Elementary School. Jonah Kast, from
Birmingham, will be a fifth-grader at
Pierce Elementary School. None had
played in a Gus Macker tournament
prior to this year.
Their coach was former West
Bloomfield High basketball player
Randy Wexelman.
Josh and Jonah, who have played in
the same basketball leagues for several
years, scored 70 of the Streetballers'
75 points in their five Gus Macker
games. But it was Alex who banked in
a free throw for the winning point in
the Streetballers' 15-12 win over Team
Select II from Pontiac in the champi-
onship contest.
There were 11 teams in the 10-under
division. The Streetballers sent Team
Select II into the losers' bracket of the
double-elimination competition with
a 15-10 triumph in an opening-round
game.

❑

Please send sports news to

sports@thejewishnews.com

Sandra Schwartz of Franklin will
receive the 2006 Kipnis-Wilson/Friedland
Award at the International Lion of Judah
Conference Sept. 10-12 in Washington.
The award was created to honor one
woman from each community who has
set the highest standard for philanthropy
and volunteerism. As a member of the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
board and immediate past president of
the Women's Department, Schwartz has
dedicated herself to Federation in numer-
ous leadership roles. She has served as
president of both the Sinai Hospital Guild
and the Congregation Shaarey Zedek
Sisterhood.

Daniel Michaels of Bloomfield Hills
graduated cum laude from Lynn
University, Boca Raton, Fla. He is a psy-
chology major. He has been president of
Psi Chi, the national honors society in
psychology chapter. He has been a senator
for the student government association
for the past two years.

Marshall R. Hersh of West Bloomfield
was honored as this year's recipient of the
Rosenbush Award
at a recent Temple
Beth El Brotherhood
installation dinner.
The award is given
to an individual
who has shown
exemplary commit-
ment and service
Hersh
to the Bloomfield
Township temple and its brotherhood
over time. Among his many are co-chair-
ing the committee that packed Chanukah
and Passover boxes for college students
and working sports nights and blood
drives.

Brian M. Saxe of Waterford gradu-
ated summa cum laude in May with a
juris doctor degree from Michigan State
University College of Law. While in law
school, he served as senior articles editor
of the Michigan State Law Review.

Dr. Mark B. Orringer of Ann Arbor
was inducted into the Johns Hopkins
University Society of Scholars. He is the
John Alexander distinguished professor
of surgery and head of the University of
Michigan section of thoracic surgery. His
recognition came based on his contri-
butions to the field of thoracic surgery,
particularly in the treatment of surgical
diseases of the esophagus, and for his
contributions to medical student and
resident education.

August 17 2006

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