IN A CROWDED FIELD OF TALENT
...
Who has the Edge?
sports
Multi-Sport Athlete
Enters Hall Of Fame
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
H
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38
December 21 • 2017
jn
igh school athletes are becom-
ing more and more special-
ized. Many are focusing all
their attention on one or perhaps two
sports.
Rob Alvin didn’t specialize. What
he did in high school and even college
was simply special.
Alvin, a 2017 inductee into the
Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame,
earned eight varsity letters
at Birmingham Groves
High School in basketball,
baseball, and track and
field before graduating in
1984.
His career-high 38-point
game against Rochester
Adams when he was a
senior — achieved before
the advent of the 3-point
shot in high school bas-
ketball — is a night he still Rob Alvin
remembers.
Alvin’s basketball skills
earned him a scholarship at Oakland
University. He was a member of Coach
Greg Kampe’s first recruiting class.
While Alvin was at Oakland, a won-
derful thing happened. The university
reinstated its baseball program that
had been cut after the 1980 season.
So Alvin played baseball, too, for
Oakland. He was a rare two-sport ath-
lete in college, playing basketball and
baseball for three years.
In 1989, Alvin’s final year at
Oakland, he was named All-Region
and All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference for the baseball
team and set school records for home
runs (12) and slugging percentage
(.773). The slugging percentage record
still stands.
Alvin hit two home runs in one
inning against Siena Heights and
smacked a home run in five consecu-
tive games during the 1989 season.
“Was it difficult playing two sports
in college? Very, very difficult,” Alvin
said. “It was exhausting. I can’t tell you
how many classes I missed because
I was on the road, how many times
I was in the gym at 6 o’clock in the
morning …
“But I have no regrets, and I
wouldn’t have done things any differ-
ently. In fact, looking back, I wish I’d
have been on the track team or played
tennis, too.”
After graduating from Oakland,
Alvin played in the American Amateur
Baseball Congress’ top-level Stan
Musial Division from 1989-1995 and
later in the Detroit Men’s Senior
Baseball League.
Among his Senior League team-
mates were Andy Cohen and Rick
Loewenstein. Cohen is the husband
of 2017 Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
inductee Sheila Cohen. Loewenstein
was inducted in the Jewish Sports Hall
of Fame in 2009.
Alvin credits tennis for his ability to
play multiple sports.
“Growing up, I played
in tennis tournaments
many weekends,” he said.
“Playing tennis taught me
how to win, to see how my
opponent played and how
I could use my strengths to
take advantage of his weak-
nesses.
“That competitive mind-
set translates to other
sports. If you’re not com-
peting, you’re missing out
on opportunities to learn
how to compete.”
Alvin led his team to the 1998 U.S.
Tennis Association team tennis state
championship and a sectional title,
both while representing Peachtree
Tennis Club in Clinton Township.
Golf is another sport Alvin has
played for a long time. He’s a 3 handi-
cap, and he has two holes-in-one on
his golf resume.
He shot the aces when he was 13
and 15 years old on 202- and 158-
yard holes at Glen Oaks Golf Course
in Farmington Hills and the former
Rogell Golf Course in Detroit.
“I remember those holes-in-one,”
Alvin said. “They’re exciting no matter
how old you are.”
Now 51 and a Waterford resident,
Alvin helps coach his son’s baseball
and basketball teams and he plays golf
as often as he can.
He makes a living as a sales rep for
Prestige Energy Products, a Grand
Rapids-based commercial LED light-
ing company, volunteers with Meals
and Wheels and helps with Jewish
Community Center and American Red
Cross blood drives.
Being inducted into the Jewish
Sports Hall of Fame at the annual
induction dinner of the JCC was a
memorable night.
“It’s the greatest athletic honor of
my life,” he said.
Kampe, Alvin’s basketball coach at
Oakland, was honored at the dinner.
He was named the Shirley and Alvin
Foon Humanitarian Award winner. •
Send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.
com.