sports

Kling and His Court
Are Bowling Royalty

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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June 1 • 2017

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emember the King and His
Court?
It was a four-man fast-pitch
softball team led by unhittable pitcher
Eddie “The King” Feighner that
defeated full teams across the coun-
try in exhibition games played over
several decades in front of thousands
of fans.
The Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson
B’nai B’rith bowling league didn’t have
an unbeatable team this season, but it
did have Kling and His Court.
Gary Klinger, Ben Shapiro, Aubrey
Topper and Matt Rappaport won the
league championship in their second
year as a team.
“We all won league championships
before forming our team, but this
was the first time we won competing
together,” Klinger said.
How did the four join forces?
Klinger and Shapiro had been on the
same team for a few years. Topper and
Rappaport are brothers-in-law. Each
duo was looking for new teammates.
Kling and His Court defeated
Archie’s Army 18-6 on May 15 in the
Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson playoff
championship.
Here’s how the league champion
was determined.
The 18 teams in the league — two
more than in previous years — were
divided as usual into four divisions:
Tigers, Pistons, Red Wings and Lions.
There were two halves in the
27-week season. The division champ
of each half qualified for the three-
week playoffs, with the champs of the
same division battling it out in the
quarterfinals.
Kling and His Court won the sec-
ond-half title in the Tigers Division.
They snuck past first-half Tigers
Division winner Yogi’s Rollers 13-11 in
the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, We’re Still Deciding
defeated The Gorillas 20-4 in the
Pistons Division quarterfinal, setting
up a competitive semifinal against
Kling and His Court.
Kling and His Court and We’re Still
Deciding battled to a 12-12 deadlock.
The tie was broken in a two-frame
roll-off won by Kling and His Court.
On the other side of the playoff
bracket, Archie’s Army, the second-
half champ in the Red Wings Division,
defeated first-half Red Wings champ
The Mensches 20-4 in the quarterfi-
nals.
The Purple Gang won the first-
and second-half titles in the Lions

Division, so it moved right into the
semifinals.
Archie’s Army defeated The Purple
Gang 16-8 to earn a spot in the cham-
pionship against Kling and His Court
and a chance to win a second big title
this season.
A few weeks earlier, Archie’s Army
won the team title in the 76th annual
International B’nai B’rith Bowling
Association tournament hosted by
the Metropolitan Detroit B’nai B’rith
Bowling Association at 300 Bowl in
Waterford.
The Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson
League played once again this season
at Country Lanes in Farmington Hills.
The 24-point scoring system in the
league awards seven points for each
game won and three points for team
totals.

Mark Weisberg from Temple Israel No. 1
connects with a pitch May 21 during an
InterCongregational Men’s Club Softball
League game.

HOLIDAY SOFTBALL
Inter-Congregational Men’s Club
Softball League teams usually don’t
play over the Memorial Day week-
end.
But six makeup games were sched-
uled to be played Sunday after eight
games were rained out May 21.
The 18-team league played its
annual charity game on opening
day May 7, raising money for West
Bloomfield Relay for Life and the
B’nai B’rith Youth Organization.
Each player who competed in the
exhibition game paid $10, with the
money split between Relay for Life
and BBYO.
League games are played
Sundays at Drake Sports Park and
Community Sports Park in West
Bloomfield. •

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