OCTOBER 7 • 2021 | 35

SPORTS

I

t would be tough to find a better Jewish 
bowler in Detroit bowling history than 
Phil Horowitz. Perhaps impossible.
The 2004 inductee into the Michigan 
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame was a 
gold-medal winner at the Maccabiah 
Games and National Senior Games.
He’s the holder of four Michigan Senior 
Olympics age-group state records, two for 
singles and two for doubles.
He was a competitor on the Professional 
Bowlers Association Senior Tour (now 
called the PBA50 Tour) from 1989-93. 
He never made the televised finals on the 
Senior Tour, but he did earn some cash for 
top finishes.
He bowled multiple 300 games and had 
an 849 high series. He carried a 200-plus 
average for most of his bowling career, 
including well into his senior years.
On Feb. 10, 2020, just before the 
COVID-19 pandemic shut down bowling 
centers across the country, Horowitz rolled 
a 300 game in the Brotherhood-Eddie 
Jacobson B’nai B’rith bowling league at the 
300 Bowl in Waterford.
He was 81 at the time. He’s believed to 
be the oldest bowler in national B’nai B’rith 
bowling history to roll a perfect game.
Horowitz died Sept. 7, 2021, at age 82 
after battling cancer for several months.
The West Bloomfield resident was still 
bowling and working (part time) in the 

insurance and financial planning business 
before his cancer diagnosis.
Mort Friedman of Waterford, an out-
standing bowler himself, knew Horowitz 
more than just for his accomplishments on 
the lanes.
After meeting at Lawrence Technological 
University in Southfield, where they were 
on the men’s bowling team, they became 
close friends who bowled in many leagues 
together and traveled together across the 
country for bowling competitions.
They competed on the PBA Senior 
Tour at the same time. They created the 
National Senior Bowling Association, 
which organizes tournaments for high-lev-
el senior bowlers.
They planned to be on the same team 
last season in the Brotherhood-Eddie 
Jacobson League, but the league season 
was canceled because of the pandemic.
Horowitz was planning to compete next 
year along with Friedman in the National 
Senior Games in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
“No question. Phil was going to Florida,” 
Friedman said.
So what made Horowitz such a great 
bowler?
“Phil was dedicated. A perfectionist. 
When he wasn’t bowling in two or three 
leagues, he was practicing,” Friedman said. 
“
And he knew all the rules.”
Friedman laughed when he discussed a 

few of Horowitz’s bowling successes that 
didn’t make the record books.
“Phil once rolled 13 strikes in a 300 
game,” Friedman said.
Why 13 instead of the customary 12 
strikes?
“He bowled a frame in the wrong lane, 
so he had to bowl again in the correct lane. 
He rolled another strike,” Friedman said.
Another 300 game by Horowitz was per-
fect timing.
“Phil bowled a 300 on a night his 
league’s mystery game (for a prize) was a 
300,” Friedman said.
No-tap nights were in Horowitz’s wheel-
house.
“Phil had at least two 900 series when 
his league had a no-tap night,” Friedman 
said.
On a no-tap night, bowlers who knock 
down nine pins on their first ball in a 
frame are awarded a strike.
Friedman said one of his proudest 
accomplishments with Horowitz came in 
the 1995 National Senior Games in San 
Antonio, Texas, where they won a gold 
medal in doubles in their age group.
Horowitz also won a gold medal in sin-
gles in the age group. Friedman earned a 
bronze medal for third place in singles.
Teaching and coaching bowling were 
passions for Horowitz.
Nearly 50 years after graduating from 
Lawrence Tech with a degree in industrial 
management, he returned to the college in 
2013 as its women’s bowling coach.
Besides bowling for Lawrence Tech, 
Horowitz was credited with starting the 
school’s men’s bowling team there.
Lawrence Tech wasn’t Horowitz’s first 
coaching job. He was the boys and girls 
bowling coach at Livonia Clarenceville 
High School for five years before going to 
Lawrence Tech.
His Clarenceville boys team won 
the Michigan High School Athletic 
Association Division 3 state championship 
in 2013.
Charitable contributions in Horowitz’s 
name can be made to the donor’s choice. 

Please send sports news to 

stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductee 
Phil Horowitz bowled a 300 game at age 81.

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

JN FILE PHOTO

His Legacy Was 
on the Lanes

Phil Horowitz, 
Howard Waxer 
and Mark 
Voight at a 
2017 event.

