20 | APRIL 16 • 2020 

Hillel Community Remembers 
Beloved Coach and Gym Teacher

Tony Sanders, known for his contagious smile and laugh, brought a 
new perspective to all the students and parents he interacted with.

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER
T

ony Sanders, Hillel Day School 
coach of many sports and gym 
teacher for 23 years, carried his con-
tagious smile and positivity with him both 
on and off the court. He inspired decades 
worth of students, parents and Hillel com-
munity members. 
Sanders passed away on April 2, 2020, 
due to complications from the novel coro-
navirus. He was 60 years old, resided in 
Detroit and is survived by his wife, Leslie, 
and two sons, Kevin and Derek. 
“During the 23 years at Hillel, he helped 
to build various athletic programs and 
instill a love for sports. Tony valued sports-
manship and healthy competition,
” Nicole 
Miller, Hillel’
s athletic director, said in a 
statement. “Over the years Tony coached 
boys and girls basketball, girls volleyball 
and boys and girls soccer. It is estimated 
that during that time he coached nearly 
2,500 Hillel athletes.
” 
Miller recognized Sanders as not only a 
gym teacher and coach, but also as a staff 
member who “encompassed everything 

Hillel.
” He spent recess daily with students, 
attended shabbatonim and chaperoned 
field trips. Sanders always maintained his 
positive and joyful attitude, which radiated 
throughout the school. 
“He had an absolutely infectious smile 
and a big, belly laugh,
” Rabbi Jason Miller 
of Farmington Hills said. “He was a phe-
nomenal coach who really specialized in 
what I call individual coaching. Tony would 
take individual players aside and help them 
improve their game and also inspire them. 
He built players up by telling them the 
positives and then telling them what they 
should work on.
” 
Before becoming a part of the Hillel 
community, Sanders was an assistant 
coach for the Jewish Community Center 
of Metropolitan Detroit’
s varsity basketball 
team. Rabbi Miller was a player for Sanders 
during his senior year of high school (1993-
1994) and remembers the little moments he 
spent with Sanders. 
“I could always make him laugh. He used 
to say, ‘
Miller, you’
re such a clown,
’
 as he 

was just laughing hysterically,
” Rabbi Miller 
said. “It was this laugh that was a sort of a 
boisterous, big, belly laugh where his whole 
body would move when he was laughing.
” 
Janice Traison of West Bloomfield devel-
oped a great relationship with Sanders 
because he coached her three daughters, 
Liz, Rebecca and Randi, in basketball, soc-
cer and volleyball from 2001-2012. 
“He was just this giant teddy bear. Every 
time I came into the school, he always gave 
me a hug and asked me how my girls were 
doing,
” Traison said. “
All of my girls went 
to Frankel Jewish Academy for high school, 
and he would even come to their high 
school games to watch them play.
” 
Although Sanders was not Jewish, he 
brought a different perspective to the Hillel 
community and to the students he coached. 
 
“
As an African American, he showed the 
community a different world,
” Traison said. 
“He taught the kids to be a team player and 
to truly love the sport they played. There 
was never any shouting, and he wove life 
lessons into the sports he coached. The kids 

Jews in the D

COURTESY OF HILLEL DAY SCHOOL

Coach Sanders 
with Hillel’
s girls 
soccer team.

