B’nai B’rith Bowling
Leagues in the Gutter
Because of COVID-19
History has been made in the
Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson and
Downtown Fox-MLZG B’nai B’rith
bowling leagues. But it’s not the
kind of history the weekly leagues
want repeated.
For this first time in each
league’s long existence, the season
has been canceled.
Blame the COVID-19 pandemic,
of course.
Capacity and other restrictions
placed on bowling alleys by the
Michigan Department of Health and
Human Services to stop the spread

of the virus made it impossi-
ble for the leagues to operate
normally, but there was a more
important reason for the cancel-
lations.
Several bowlers in each
league — at least eight or nine
in Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson
and an undetermined number in
Downtown Fox-MLZG — have been
infected by the virus.
Nobody wanted to take the
chance of turning a fun, competitive
night of bowling into the source of
a virus outbreak.
“Too much risk,” said Gary
Klinger, spokesman for the
Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson
league, when asked why the
league’s board canceled the sea-
son in December.
“It was the right decision,” Klinger
said about the board’s call.

Justin Kaplan, president of the
Downtown Fox-MLZG league, said
it would have been irresponsible
for the league to have 70-plus
members of the community bowling
weekly inside a building.
“It’s our duty and responsibility
to the community to keep everyone
safe,” Kaplan said. “As much as I
want to be bowling, and I’m sure
the league members feel the same,
we have to wait until it’s safe to do
so.”
Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson
league competition was tenta-
tively scheduled to begin Jan. 4
and continue each Monday night
at Country Lanes in Farmington
Hills, the league’s longtime home
before moving to the 300 Bowl in
Waterford the past two seasons.
No opening date was set for the
Downtown Fox-MLZG league. It

planned to bowl Tuesday nights at
its regular home, Hartfield Lanes in
Berkley.
Each league saw its 2019-20
season end early because of the
pandemic.
It was the 59th season for the
Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson
league. The Downtown Fox league
has been around for more than 100
years.
The last Brotherhood-Eddie
Jacobson bowling night of the
2019-20 season was March 9. Five
weeks of regular-season compe-
tition and three weeks of playoffs
remained for the 18 teams.
There were 16 teams in the
Downtown Fox-MLZG league when
it shut down in March.
If all goes well, each league
hopes to resume competition in the
fall.

quick hits
BY STEVE STEIN

sports HIGHlights

NMLS#2289
brought to you in partnership with

Beloved softball and hockey player has survived brain
surgeries, cancer, COVID-19, mass shooting and a tornado.

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Nothing Stops Brad Kallen

I

f there’s anyone who has the
right to say, “Why me?” it’s
Brad Kallen.
The 50-year-old West
Bloomfield resident has under-
gone brain surgery at Henry
Ford Hospital twice — in 2017
and Jan. 4 — to
remove a benign
tumor, a Stage 2
meningioma.
He underwent
surgery for bladder
cancer six years ago
at the University of
Michigan Hospital and is can-
cer-free.
He was taken down for a few
weeks in November by a nasty
case of the COVID-19 virus.
“Brad’s symptoms ran the
gamut,
” said his mother, famed
boxing manager Jackie Kallen.
“He wasn’t able to taste or
smell, he had a fever, he vomited,
he was lethargic,
” she said.

In 2017, Brad and a few
friends were in Las Vegas and
found themselves near a mass
shooting at a country music fes-
tival at the Mandalay Bay resort
and casino that killed 59 and
injured 527.
After hearing gunshots, Jackie
Callan said, Brad and his friends
saw people running from the
shooting scene.
Brad ran with the crowd, then
hid in a clump of bushes. He was
separated from his friends, but
he caught up with them later.
In 1976, when Brad was 6
years old, every window in the
Kallen house in West Bloomfield
was blown out by a tornado.
“It was at 7:15 p.m., March
20, 1976. I’ll never forget it.
We all ran downstairs just in
time,
” Jackie Kallen said. “Junk
flew into the house from every
direction. We had to move out
temporarily.
”

Also that year, Brad under-
went surgery for a double hernia.
Through it all, Brad hasn’t
stopped smiling. He’s relied on a
positive attitude and love for his
family — his wife, Molly, their
three children ages 8-12, two
dogs, two cats, a hamster and a
goldfish — to pull him through
each crisis.
“Brad doesn’t complain. He
takes his lemons and makes lem-
onade, always with a smile. He’s
a survivor,
” Jackie Kallen said.
In 2014, three years before
his first brain surgery, Brad
was named the recipient of the
Inter-Congregational Men’s Club
Summer Softball League’s Jeff
Fox Sportsmanship Award.
He was nominated for the
prestigious award by a unani-
mous vote of his Temple Israel
No. 3 teammates.
“That’s because Brad is self-
less,
” said Temple Israel No. 3

Brad Kallen scores a run for

Temple Israel No. 3 during an

Inter-Congregational Men’s Club

Summer Softball League game.

CHUCK FRIEDMAN

Brad Kallen

BRAD KALLEN

26 | JANUARY 21 • 2021