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36 | NOVEMBER 18 • 2021 

Former Frankel Boys 
Basketball Coach 
Has a Saline Solution

Michael Marek is living a dream.
The 33-year-old former Frankel 
Jewish Academy boys basketball 
coach was named the boys 
basketball coach at Saline High 
School last month.
“It’s always been my 
professional goal to coach a 
Division 1 high school boys 
basketball team,” Marek said. “I 
never thought it would happen this 
fast. And I certainly didn’t want to 
coach at four schools in five years 
to get there.

“I will always be appreciative of 
my time at Frankel. Coaching there 
jump-started my career. While 
there were good players on my 
teams there, they’re better people. 
I’m still in contact with just about all 
the Frankel players I coached.”
Frankel went 24-18 in Marek’s 
two seasons in charge of the 
Jaguars (2017-18 and 2018-19) after 
a 4-16 finish in the 2016-17 season.
It was during the 2018-19 
season that Marek’s team made 
the most news.
The Jaguars went 7-4 and 
finished second in the seven-team 
Catholic League Intersectional 2 
Division, qualifying for the league’s 
C-D tournament.

Frankel beat every team in 
the division including champion 
Riverview Gabriel Richard at least 
once during the division season.
But the Jaguars couldn’t play 
in the C-D tournament because 
the tournament 
schedule included first-
round games and the 
championship game 
on Saturdays during 
Shabbat.
Marek was hired at 
Saline on Oct. 28, almost 
a month after former 
coach Jake Fosdick 
resigned. Fosdick had 
a 74-52 record in six seasons at 
Saline.
Because of his hiring, Marek’s 
commute was cut in half.
Saline is about a 20-minute 

drive from his home in Canton. 
Waterford Kettering, his previous 
coaching stop, was a nearly hour 
drive in good weather.
“I wasn’t looking to leave 
Kettering. But the Saline job came 
open, so I thought I’d apply 
for it,” Marek said. “The stars 
aligned for me.”
Marek was 7-10 in his lone 
season at Kettering (2020-
21). In his only season at 
Canton Prep (2019-20), the 
team went 14-7.
Marek and his wife Katie 
were engaged when he was 
coaching at Frankel. They’ve 
now been married for two years.
“Katie goes to all my games, 
she scouts with me, and she gets 
to know my players,” Marek said. 
“It’s a family effort.”

A

fter a 1½-year hiatus caused by the 
COVID-19 pandemic, the weekly 
Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson B’nai 
B’rith bowling league is up and running 
again.
And, of course, COVID-19 is part of the 
story.
Each league bowler must be vaccinated 
for the coronavirus and provide proof of 
vaccination. That was a decision made by 
the league’s executive board.
Nobody left the league because of the 
mandate, said league spokesman Gary 
Klinger.
To the contrary, Klinger said, “some guys 
said they wouldn’t bowl if people weren’t 

vaccinated,
” he said.
“I’
d say about 10% of the guys are wearing 
masks during league nights. That’s their 
decision,
” Klinger said. “We aren’t requiring 
masks.
”
The league is bowling at 7:30 p.m. 
Mondays at Country Lanes in Farmington 
Hills.
Week No. 7 of a 26-week regular season 
was completed this week. There will be 
three weeks of playoffs.
There are 22 teams in the league. That’s 
up four teams from the 2019-20 season, the 

last time the league was in operation.
Three teams have moved to Brotherhood-
Eddie Jacobson from the Downtown Fox-
MLZG B’nai B’rith league, which disbanded. 
And there are two new teams.
“We’ve had around 16-18 teams in our 
league the last 10-15 years,
” Klinger said. 
“Having 22 teams gets us closer to a heyday 
in the 1990’s when we had 28 to 32 teams.
”
Most of the 22 Brotherhood-Eddie 
Jacobson teams have four bowlers. Some 
teams have a fifth bowler who fills in as a 
substitute.
Scores haven’t been great so far, Klinger 
said, most likely because bowlers are shak-
ing off the rust that has accumulated over 
the past 1 1/2 years.
“
Averages are down considerably,
” Klinger 
said. “Some guys are higher, but not many.
”
The division leaders through six weeks of 
the season were the Rolling Stoned in the 
Pistons Division, Yogi’s Rollers in the Tigers 
Division, Mix-N-Match in the Red Wings 
Division and the Holy Rollers in the Lions 
Division.

Back on 
the Lanes

quick hits
BY STEVE STEIN 

GARY KLINGER 

Brotherhood-Eddie 
Jacobson B’nai B’rith 
bowlers must be 
vaccinated for COVID-19 
to compete

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jerry Gurwin, 87, with teammates (from left) 
Bill Zavier, Joey Schecter and Yale Weiner, 
make up the Jerry & His Kidz team in the 
Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson B’nai B’rith bowl-
ing league. Schecter is Gurwin’s grandson. 
It’s the first time they’ve bowled together on 
a team.

MICHAEL MAREK

Michael 
Marek