NMLS#2289
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26 | JUNE 17 • 2021 

quick hits
BY STEVE STEIN 

W

alkoffs and heartbreaks.
That was the end-of-the-
season story for the West 
Bloomfield High School and Frankel Jewish 
Academy baseball teams, which were led 
by first-year coaches Josh Birnberg and Joe 
Bernstein.
Each team rode an emotional roll-
er-coaster in the postseason.
West Bloomfield stunned Birmingham 
Seaholm 4-3 on June 5 in a Division 1 
district semifinal game at Warrior Park in 
Troy on an RBI double in the bottom of the 
seventh inning.
But the Lakers lost 8-3 to powerhouse 
Birmingham Brother Rice in the district 
championship game, falling victim to one 
bad inning.
Frankel played just one postseason 
game, but it felt like a doubleheader. The 
Jaguars lost 5-4 in 11 innings to Southfield 
Christian on June 4 in a Division 4 dis-
trict semifinal at Auburn Hills Oakland 
Christian.
The losses hurt the Lakers and Jaguars, 

but only momentarily. There was much for 
them to celebrate a year after the COVID-
19 pandemic wiped out their seasons.
Both Birnberg, a former West Bloomfield 
baseball star, and Bernstein were supposed 
to have their first season as coach in 2020. 
COVID-19 took care of that.
“This season went quickly, but I really 
enjoyed it. We had a fun group,
” Birnberg 
said. “We started out as a bunch of guys on 
a team, and it turned into a family.
“I had no idea what to expect from our 
team and the teams on our schedule we 
played because nobody played last spring.
“We ended up winning 25 games. It was 
the first time the team has won 25 games 
in a long time. We won 24 games when we 
made it to the Sweet 16 (in 2014) when I 
was a senior.
”
The Lakers finished 25-15, 9-6 in the 
OAA White Division this season, good for 
a second-place tie with Birmingham Groves 
and North Farmington behind division 
champion Farmington (12-3).
West Bloomfield led Seaholm 3-0 in the 

district semifinal, but the Maples tied the 
game with a run in the fifth inning and two 
more runs in the sixth.
A nine-pitch walk drawn by West 
Bloomfield’s Brayden Daulton followed 
by a first-pitch double by Logan Pikur off 
Seaholm ace Jimmy Love, a Wayne State 
University recruit, in the seventh launched a 
noisy celebration by the Lakers after courte-
sy runner Jamar Respress crossed the plate.
West Bloomfield led Brother Rice 3-2 in 
the top of the fifth, but the Warriors scored 
six runs after the first batter was retired.

LORI KERR

West Bloomfi
 eld, Frankel baseball teams 
celebrate despite season-ending losses.
Walking Of
 into the Sunset

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jackie Kallen Adds her Insight
to The Kings
For those too young to know what 
Thomas Hearns accomplished in 
the boxing ring and meant to Detroit 
over his long career, there’s a 
documentary just for you.
The Kings, a four-part Showtime 
documentary, focuses on how 
Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, 
Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran 
dominated the boxing world in the 
1980s.
Jackie Kallen is interviewed in the 
documentary. She has been Hearns’ 
publicist for 43 years.
“I first met a young Thomas 
Hearns when I did a story about 

him for the Oakland Press in 1978,” 
she said. “Soon, I was hired as 
his publicist, and I worked in that 
capacity for both him and the entire 
Kronk Gym boxing team for more 
than 10 years.”
Kallen began managing boxers 
at that point of her career, “but 
Thomas and I have remained as 
close as ever and continued to work 
together,” she said.
It’s not just a working relationship, 
Kallen said. It’s a friendship.
“We’ve gone through a lot 
together ... marriages, divorces, 
birthdays, and the other highs and 
lows of life. We’ve become lifelong 
friends and enjoy a rare and unique 

bond,” she said.
Now 62 and retired from boxing 
for 15 years, Hearns’ professional 
boxing career spanned nearly three 
decades.
He was 61-5-1 in 67 pro fights 
from 1977-2006, winning 48 
times by knockout. He was the 
first boxer in history to win world 
championships in five weight 
divisions.
Nicknamed the “Motor City 
Cobra,” Hearns was a proud 
ambassador for his hometown of 
Detroit.
“Every win, he won for his city,” 
Kallen told the Detroit Free Press.
The Kings debuted June 13.

SPORTS HIGHlights

 JACKIE KALLEN

Jackie Kallen and 
Thomas Hearns. Kallen 
has been Hearns’ 
publicist for 43 years.

West Bloomfield baseball coach Josh 
Birnberg (center), with district semifinal game 
walkoff heroes Logan Pikur (left) and Garrett 
Kerr. Pikur had the winning hit and Kerr was 
the winning pitcher, throwing a complete 
game.

