46 | MAY 12 • 2022 

O

ne of the most anticipated annual 
events on the area’s sports calen-
dar is returning after a two-year 
absence.
The Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame 
banquet, last held in 2019 before it was can-
celed in 2020 and 2021 by the COVID-19 
pandemic, will be held Oct. 24 at a site that 
will be announced soon.
Don Rudick, executive director of the 
Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation, which 
oversees the Hall of Fame, said this year’s 
Hall of Fame inductees won’t be separated 
into classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022. They 
will all be 2022 honorees.
So will the Pillars of Excellence recipi-
ents, Dr. Steve and Evelyn Rosen Stars of 
Tomorrow scholarship winners and Jewish 
News High School Athletes of the Year, who 
also are honored at the banquet.
The banquet will look much like it has in 
previous years.
“We want to re-start a tradition. The 
banquet is so well organized. Why change 
something that’s working?” Rudick said.
Applications for the Hall of Fame, Pillars 
of Excellence, Stars of Tomorrow scholar-
ships and Athletes of the Year are on the 
foundation’s website, michiganjewishsports.
org. The applications can be filled out 
online, which is something new.
There’s no need to fill out another applica-
tion if one was turned in the past two years.
“But you can if you want,
” Rudick said.
The 2020 banquet was a goner because of 
the virus, but there was hope the 2021 ban-

quet could be held.
“Then there was a virus surge in the 
spring,
” Rudick said. “That put the kibosh 
on the banquet. There were just too many 
risks to hold it.
”
The first Michigan Jewish Sports Hall 
of Fame class was the 1985 group of Hank 
Greenberg, William Davidson, Benny 
Friedman and Harry Newman.
Larry Stark was inducted in 1986. 
He was a tennis standout at Berkley High 
School and Michigan State University and 
a nationally ranked tennis and squash player.
Now the boys tennis coach at Frankel 
Jewish Academy, he’s taken the Jaguars to 
the Division 4 state tournament five times in 
his seven years in charge of the team.
Stark is glad to see the Hall of Fame ban-
quet return. He’s been to many of them.
“The banquet is a great event,
” he said. “
A 
lot of very interesting people are there, and it 
raises money for the foundation.
”
Rob Landaw was a Pillars of Excellence 
award recipient in 2016. That was the same 
year Rudick received the award, in part for 
his extensive involvement with the JCC 
Maccabi Games.
The award, first presented in 2012, goes 
to folks who have contributed to sports in a 
variety of ways including coaches, officials, 
administrators and media members.
Landaw has been a softball umpire in the 
area for more than 40 years. He’s been the 
umpire-in-chief for the Inter-Congregational 
Men’s Club Summer Softball League for 
many years.

He’s also glad the Hall of Fame banquet is 
back.
“I was in seventh heaven to be honored at 
such a wonderful event,
” he said. “I’m sure 
there are a lot of well-deserving people out 
there have honors coming their way this 
year and in future years.
”
Stars of Tomorrow scholarships are 
awarded to high school seniors who have 
excelled athletically and academically.
The scholarships were funded originally 
by a donation made in honor of Dr. Steve 
Rosen, a Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of 
Fame member who died in 2016. 
He was a track star at Mount Clemens 
High School and the University of Michigan.
The foundation’s 31st annual Hank 
Greenberg Memorial Golf and Tennis 
Invitational will be held June 6 at Franklin 
Hills Country Club in Farmington Hills, 
returning to its usual date after being can-
celed in 2020 and held in the fall in 2021.
Honorees include Baseball Hall of Fame 
catcher Ted Simmons, a Southfield High 
School graduate, who will receive the Hank 
Greenberg Memorial Lifetime Achievement 
Award. 
Openings remain for individual golfers 
and foursomes. The deadline is May 20. Go 
to the foundation’s website or Facebook page 
or call Rudick at (248) 390-5981 for more 
information.
The invitational benefits the Karmanos 
Cancer Institute at the Lawrence and Idell 
Weisberg Cancer Treatment Center in 
Farmington Hills. 

Please send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.

com.

Michigan Jewish Sports 
Hall of Fame banquet will 
return in October.

Hall 
Doors 
Open Again

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

SPORTS

Coach Larry Stark (center) and his Frankel 
Jewish Academy boys tennis team celebrate 
qualifying for the state tournament last fall.

Umpire Rob 
Landaw makes 
a call during a 
softball game 
at Keith Sports 
Park in West 
Bloomfield.

ROB LANDAW

RICK DORN

