Come for the Lifestyle. Health & Fitness SPORTS Let Serve Opening doors for female athletes. Steve Stein Special to the Jewish News E Stay for the Friendships. Come and experience the incredible value and comfort of The Park at Trowbridge. Settle in and feel a genuine sense of belonging and purpose with a diverse set of friends both new and familiar. Our wildly popular LiveWeRprogram offers over 200 scheduled social, cultural, educational and fitness opportunities and outings every month, so there's always something fun to do. Learn new arts and crafts, play billiards or attend one of our exciting and lively exercise classes. Whatever it is you're looking for, you'll find it all here. See for yourself why our residents love our lifestyle of simple excellence and truly believe that "life here is grand." prk Ycrieh at Trowbridge The Brightest Tomorrows Begin Here. ® For more information or to visit, call today! (248) 352 - 0208 24111 Civic Center Dr. • Southfield, MI 48033 www.horizonbay.com 41 A Cr HorazoN HAY SENIOR COnineuNirf 1449900 • • ♦••••• • ••• • ••••••• ♦ ♦ • • • ATTENTION • • • • • SNOW IL IRDS! • • • •• • • • ••••• •• ♦•• ••• ♦ • ♦ • • BenMar is pleased to announce our new year round Home Watch and Preventative Maintenance Services for both your Michigan and Florida Homes! Call today for a free consultation. Benjamin Gene 248-860-0999 ICIO.B *Rikem1ams.11 0. Mark Nestor 786-999-6567 1436790 how do you get your news? Access the news, events and opinions important to this community check us out @ JNonline.us 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 .