COMIMP @CDCDIKI DENIAL BASED ON A TRUE STORY )pening October 14th! For tickets and showtimes, please visit themapletheater.com HOST YOUR NEXT EVENT AT THE MAPLE! Umpire Rob Landaw gets ready to make a call at home plate as Steve Achtman Are you planning a social or corporate event? The Maple Theater and Kitchen is the perfect place for a unique experience. Full catering services plus wonderful ambience. Everything is possible! Contact ruth@themapletheater.com or call 248-855-9091 tries to avoid Pete McDaniel's tag during an Inter-Congregational Men's Club Summer Softball League game this summer. Steve Stein I Contributing Writer R ob Landaw has been umpiring slow-pitch softball games since he was 16 and a student at Oak Park High School. He's now 57 and one of the most respected slow-pitch umps in the area. That respect is a big reason why Landaw will receive a Pillars of Excellence award Tuesday at the 32nd annual Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield. The Pillars of Excellence pro- gram was established in 2012 by the Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation to honor coaches, officials and others who contribute to the community sports scene. "I'm totally honored and humbled by the award:' Landaw said. Landaw has been the umpire-in-chief for the Inter-Congregational Men's Club Summer Softball League for several years. It's not just a job to him. "I look forward so much to working league games each Sunday morning; he said. "I have many friends in the league. I enjoy kibitzing with them before and after games" Landaw and Al Kaczander — a Pillars of Excellence honoree in 2012 — were the umpires for the champi- onship game of the 2012 B'nai B'rith International softball tournament in Novi. More recently, Landaw has worked benefit softball games for the Joe Kocur Foundation for Children that feature current and former Detroit Red Wings players and attract large crowds. Umpires usually don't receive awards. Landaw is an exception to the rule. He thinks he knows why. "A verb — hustle:' he said. "Players will treat you with respect if you hustle. You can't get every call right. But if you're hustling, nobody can complain. "If you stand behind the plate like a lock and don't move and blow a call, you should expect to get grief ... within reason, of course." Because he hustles, Landaw said, "I'm not afraid to make a call." Check out our new Fall Menu at The Maple Kitchen. Open for lunch and dinner daily. f v F or r, :z.t." , THE Cottuilin. GREAT LAKES COFFEE ROASTING COMPANY • 4135 W. Maple Road • Bloomfield Hills Mg.,n0c12MIRoVlbga@ag Foo Mow RI ER C I NEM N 11111111 For the BEST LUXURY movie experience... check out THE RIVIERA. cr,hts sea t 15 witting b ell 1°". FILMS COMING SOON BruTts TJV r For showtimes and to purchase tickets, please visit therivieracinema.com 30170 Grand River Avenue, Farmington Hills (off of 9 mile, just West of Middlebelt) iva liave a snail popcorn on ue 1 1 1 1 I I. 38 September 22 2016 Valid at The Maple & The Riviera Expires 10/31/16 .1 iN Retirement from umpiring isn't in Landaw's vocabulary. "I plan to be an umpire as long as I have my health and eyesight:' he said. "My wife, Shelley, tells me I have a gleam in my eye when I'm on the dia- mond working. It keeps me close to the game." Landaw earned two varsity letters in baseball when he was at Oak Park High. He attended Oakland Community College and Wayne State University after graduating from Oak Park in 1977, and he's been a manufacturer's repre- sentative in the flooring industry for 25 years. He and his wife, who live in Novi, are active volunteers with the Michigan Humane Society and Michigan Animal Rescue League. The other 2016 Pillars of Excellence award winners are Sid Fox, Dr. Bob Matthews, Don Rudick, Chuck Shapiro and Michael Shogan. Eliza Brown from Frankel Jewish Academy and Marc Sable from Cranbrook-Kingswood, the 2016 Jewish News High School Athletes of the Year, will be honored at the Hall of Fame dinner. So will the first group of Dr. Steven & Evelyn Rosen Stars of Tomorrow Scholarship winners: Cameron Berke, Jared Char, Joshua Goldberg, Michael Gould, Alexis Michael, Brendon Newman, Ryan Rabinowitz, Molly Wiener and Marc Sable. This year's Hall of Fame inductees are former Michigan State University basketball player Mat Ishbia, ex-Uni- versity of Michigan basketball player Donny Wohl, hockey player Kimberly Spaulding Shaw and sportscaster Mike Stone. U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Rosen will receive the Alvin Foon Humanitarian Award. The event will begin at 5 p.m. in the JCC lobby, and move to Handleman Hall at 6 p.m. for dinner and the Berman Center for the Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. for the program. For tickets, call the Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation at (248) 592-9323. * Send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.