Steve Stein
I Contributing Writer
ric Fishman gave it his best shot.
But in the end, the former
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-
Kingswood High School and Kalamazoo
College basketball star decided business and
not basketball was in his immediate future.
Fishman went to Israel for 10 days in
August and tried out for five professional
teams, four of them from the Liga Leumit,
or the National League's second division.
They were Maccabi Be'er Ya'akov, Hapoel
Kfar Saba, Ironi Ramat Gan and Elitzur
Yavne, which had just dropped from the
first division.
Hopoel Megiddo of the third division also
gave Fishman a look.
Maccabi Beer Ya'akov and Hopoel
Megiddo offered him contracts, but couldn't
lure him to play for them.
E
"You're talking about moving your entire
life over there he said. "Then there's a new
language and a new culture to adapt to.
"It was a great experience going to the
tryouts. I visited with family in Tel Aviv I
hadn't seen since I was 5. I got to see the
country and play with professional teams
and professional athletes."
Fishman said he also enjoyed the chal-
lenge of playing with guys who don't speak
English.
"It was especially challenging to play
defense without being able to communicate
with everyone on the floor; he said.
Fishman said he was advised to go to the
tryouts, "or I would regret it for the rest of
my life. That's so true.
"Seeing Israel was very cool, and a lot
different than I expected. It's a very diverse
place with busy urban centers and ancient
cities:'
Back home, the 22-year-old Southfield
resident is looking for a job in the finan-
cial planning field. He graduated from
Kalamazoo earlier this year with a bach-
elor's degree in business.
And he's an assistant coach with the
Cranbrook-Kingswood boys basketball
team, assigned to work with the guards.
Cranbrook-Kingswood coach Shane
Finney was Fishman's coach during the four
years Fishman played for the Cranes.
"I love Cranbrook. I grew to love it more
after I left:' Fishman said. "I want to do
what I can to help take the basketball pro-
gram to another level."
Kalamazoo coach Eric Dougal thanked
Fishman for being a great ambassador for
the college.
Besides being one of the top guards to
ever play at Kalamazoo, "Eric has always
represented our school and program in a
first-class manner; the coach said in a state-
ment.
Dougal said it didn't surprise him that
Fishman was offered professional contracts,
not after the hard work and dedication that
was needed to prepare for the tryouts.
Fishman was a four-year starter at
Kalamazoo. He started 86 of the 93 games
he played for the Hornets and became just
the 21st player in school history to surpass
1,000 career points (1,025).
He averaged 10.5 points per game over
four years while also accumulating 262
rebounds, 224 assists and 113 steals.
B'nai B'rith Hoops
The B'nai B'rith Men's Basketball League
will return to the Jewish Community Center
in West Bloomfield this season.
Gary Klinger, B'nai B'rith Great Lakes
Region athletic chairman, said he's con-
fident there will be four teams, like last year.
"But we'd love to have five or six teams:'
he said. "It's a great league. It's fun and com-
petitive. It's been around for more than 40
years:'
Teams last year had nine or 10 players.
Klinger said teams can have as few as six or
seven players.
Players must be B'nai B'rith members (at
least age 18). Klinger said players last year
ranged in age from 24-60.
Games will be played on Sunday morn-
ings beginning the second week in January.
There will be a 10-week regular season and
one week of playoffs.
This will be the second year that league
games will be played at the JCC.
Interested players can contact Klinger at
(248) 229-1816 or gkslurpee@aol.com .
❑
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