26 | MAY 21 • 2020 

LEFT: Former Detroit Tigers pitcher Jack Morris (left) answers a question while broadcaster George Blaha and emcee Jeremy Schaap listen during the sports panel at last year’
s Hank Greenberg
Memorial Golf and Tennis Invitational. CENTER: Evan Chudnow (left),Karen Gordon and Joe Bernstein from Temple Kol Ami/Congregation B’
nai Israel team up to retire baserunner Joey Lebovic from Adat 
Shalom Synagogue at third base during a game last season. RIGHT: Softball players from Bais Chabad Torah Center and Adat Shalom Synagogue exchange high fives after a game last season.

SARI CICUREL

CHUCK FREEDMAN

CHUCK FREEDMAN

Ben Rosenblatt’
s lifelong dream has come true. 
He’
ll be playing Division I soccer.
The Berkley High School senior and Huntington 
Woods resident will play at Elon University, a private 
school with about 6,800 students located in Elon, 
N.C.
An email sent by Rosenblatt while he was look-
ing for a college to attend connected him to Elon. 
During a visit there, he said, he meshed with the 
soccer team and coaches. He plans to study pre-
law while he is playing soccer for the Phoenix.
Rosenblatt played soccer for Berkley only in his 
sophomore year. The 5-foot-10, 160-pounder is a 
product of the United States Soccer Development 
Academy, playing for U14, U17 and U19 teams over 
five years in a program based at Oakland University.
A right back and center midfielder, Rosenblatt 
said he prefers playing right back and it appears 
that will be his position at Elon.

Merv Aronoff loves to 
play golf.
 The first time he 
played this year, the 
73-year-old West 
Bloomfield resident shot 
his first hole-in-one.
The ace came May 2 
on the 153-yard par-3 
eighth hole at the nine-
hole south course at 
Tanglewood Golf Club in 
South Lyon.
Playing into a strong wind, Aronoff 
hit a 3-hybrid tee shot over a lake 
onto the green.
He said he didn’
t see his shot go 
into the hole, but his playing partner 
Larry Garfinkle saw it and Hanley 
Gurwin, his other playing partner, 
drove a golf cart to the green to verify 
what Garfinkle saw.
 Aronoff said he wasn’
t excited 

about the ace even though 
he’
s been playing golf 
since he was 15.
“I was more excited 
about getting a ‘
1’
 on my 
scorecard,” he said. “Every 
time you take a shot, it has 
to land somewhere.”
Aronoff’
s hole-in-one 
shot landed a few feet in 
front of the pin and rolled 
uphill into the cup.
 “If the ball rolled downhill, it might 
have gone past the hole,” he said.
Aronoff shot 46 on the nine-hole 
north course at Tanglewood before 
shooting 40 on the south course. That 
gave him a combined 86 for 18 holes.
Aronoff is a member of the West 
Bloomfield Parks and Recreation 
Commission. He said he plans to run 
for re-election to a third four-year term 
in November.

quick hits
BY STEVE STEIN

No Greenberg and Softball Stalled,
but B’nai B’rith Golf is a Go

Record number of teams in B’
nai B’
rith league at Links of Novi.

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
T

he 30th annual Hank 
Greenberg Memorial 
Golf and Tennis 
Invitational was postponed in 
March, then canceled a few 
weeks ago.
The 25th season of the Inter-
Congregational Men’
s Club 
Summer Softball League is in 
limbo.
The JCC Maccabi Games & 
ArtFest was canceled in March 

by the JCC Association of 
North America.
It’
s going to be a summer like 
no other for three of the most 
important events on the Detroit 
area’
s Jewish sports calendar. 
The COVID-19 pandemic is to 
blame, of course.
There is a silver lining among 
the dark clouds. The B’
nai B’
rith 
golf league teed off last week.
Competition began May 15 

at the Links of Novi among 
a league record 12 teams and 
will continue each Thursday 
through Aug. 27.

RESCHEDULED FOR 2021
The Greenberg Invitational 
was scheduled for June 8 at 
Franklin Hills Country Club in 
Farmington Hills.
It was postponed until Sept. 
14, then canceled for the first 

time in its history after Franklin 
Hills decided not to host any 
golf outings this year.
The Michigan Jewish Sports 
Foundation presents the 
Greenberg Invitational, a fund-
raiser for cancer research and 
treatment and children’
s camp 
scholarships.
Foundation Executive 
Director Sari Cicurel said she’
s 
sad the invitational won’
t be 

sports HIGHlights

NMLS#2289
brought to you in partnership with 

COURTESY OF ROSENBLATT FAMILY

Rosenblatt

COURTESY OF ARONOFF FAMILY

Aronoff