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A44
November 6 a 2008
very member of the
Michigan Jewish Sports Hall
of Fame has an interesting
life story. Denise Thal, one of four
new members inducted at the 24th
annual dinner this week, also owns a
piece of history.
Thanks in
large part to Thal,
Michigan high
school girls can join
a boys team in a
non-contact sport if
their school doesn't
offer a girls team.
Denise Thal
Thal didn't set out
to be a trailblazer or
ruffle the establishment. It just worked
out that way.
"At the time, sports and politics
were inseparable she said. "My only
regret is I didn't do something sooner."
The year was 1971. Thal, a junior at
Berkley High, wanted to play tennis
for the Bears. She was a good tennis
player, ranked No. 2 among girls under
age 16 in southeastern Michigan.
There was no girls tennis team at
Berkley, so Thal went to a meeting
for the boys team. She was told she
couldn't play because state law pro-
hibited girls from playing on a boys
interscholastic team.
Undaunted, Thal contacted then-
State Sen. Dan Cooper, D-Oak Park,
in October and asked if he could
help her. Cooper introduced a bill in
December 1971 that allowed girls to
play with boys in non-contact inter-
scholastic sports.
The bill passed the Senate and was
on the floor of the House when the
high school boys tennis season began
in April 1972.
Thanks to a temporary injunction
issued by Federal Judge Damon Keith
in a suit filed by two Ann Arbor Huron
High School girls who wanted to
play tennis, Thal was able to join the
Berkley boys tennis team.
In her first match — on April 27,
1972 — played in front of a crowd
of about 25, she defeated Southfield's
Steve Feldman 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 singles.
Having Thal on the boys tennis
team didn't please then-Berkley
Athletic Director Lane Ramsdell.
"This will destroy girls athletics,"
he told the Daily Tribune at the time.
"Where does it all end?"
Five years after breaking the glass
ceiling for girls in Michigan high
school sports, Thal did it again in
another venue. She was among the
first group of women selected as
Rhodes Scholars.
After graduating from Berkley, Thal
played women's tennis and basketball
at Harvard University from 1973-77,
and she played women's tennis and
rowed crew at Oxford University in
England from 1977-79.
The 53-year-old Ann Arbor resident
is currently vice president for business
affairs and CFO at the Henry Ford
museum in Dearborn.
Thal was inducted into the Hall of
Fame along with Detroit Northern
High School and University of
Michigan track star Len Alkon,
Northern and Eastern Michigan
University basketball standout Ben
Bayer — brother of Hall of Fame
inductee Carl Bayer — and WXYZ-
TV sports director Don Shane.
Sports shorts
• Former Detroit Red Wings defense-
man Mathieu Schneider was induct-
ed into the Michigan Jewish Sports
Hall of Fame in 2006, at the beginning
of his final season here. After playing
for the Anaheim Ducks for two years,
he's now with the Atlanta Thrashers.
"Detroit is a tremendous sports
town, one of the best sports towns I've
played in and one of the best in the
country," Schneider told the Detroit
Free Press last month.
Schneider is the highest scoring
Jewish player in NHL history.
• Five Israeli players are on the
roster of the Saint Peter's College
(New Jersey) men's soccer team. Liad
Amir, Udi Naim, Dmitri Pelts, Yacob
Rahav and Assaf Sheleg play for the
Jesuit school. Israeli colleges don't
offer athletics.
Naim was the Peacocks' leading
scorer after their first 15 games this
fall. He had six goals and four assists.
Pelts was No. 3 with four goals and
two assists. Saint Peter's was 7-6-2.
❑
Send news to sports@thejewishnews.com .