JUNE 16 • 2022 | 37

quick hits
BY STEVE STEIN 

When the annual Michigan 
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame 
banquet returns this fall, it will 
be held at a familiar spot.
The banquet will be held Oct. 
24 at Congregation Shaarey 
Zedek in Southfield, its home 
during its formative years.
The COVID-19 pandemic 
knocked the banquet off the 
calendar in 2020 and 2021, the 
first times it was canceled since 
it began in 1985.
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 recipients, 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.
Applications for the Hall of 
Fame, Pillars of Excellence, 
Stars of Tomorrow scholarships 
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 application if one was 
turned in the past two years.
“But you can if you want,” 
Rudick said.

Chaben, Klinger 
Team Up to Lead 
B’nai B’rith Golf 
League

The duo of Kerry Chaben 
and Mike Klinger had a 
comfortable lead in the team 
competition of the weekly 
B’nai B’rith golf league as the 
league’s 10th season neared 
the one-third mark.
Chaben and Klinger had 
68 points, nine in front of 
second-place Larry Shapiro 
and Bob Shapiro/Chuck 
Houmaian, who had 59 
points, following the fifth 
week of the 17-week season.
Adam Vieder and Ryan 
Vieder were in third place 
among the 12 two-man teams 
with 56 points.
Ryan Vieder and Klinger 
were tied atop the league’s individual leader board, each with 35 
points.
There was a logjam behind them among David Swimmer (29.5), 
Dale Taub (29.5), Rick Spalter (27.5), Stu Zorn (27.5), Larry Shapiro 
(27) and Gary Klinger (27).
League golfers receive points for winning holes and matches.
League competition, nine holes each week, takes place each 
Thursday at the Links of Novi.

Temple Israel Dominating on the Diamond
Temple Israel teams owned the top 
spot in two of the three divisions 
of the Inter-Congregational Men’s 
Club Summer Softball League as the 
weekly league’s season entered its 
third month.
Temple Israel No. 2 was in first 
place in the five-team Greenberg 
Division with a 5-0 record through 
games played June 5.
Temple Israel No. 3 and Temple 
Israel No. 1 each had a 4-2 record 
and led the five-team Koufax 
Division.
Temple Shir Shalom No. 3 and Congregation Beth Ahm shared first 
place in the four-team Rosen Division, each at 1-5. Shir Shalom and Beth 
Ahm had played just one divisional game.
Games in the Sunday league began April 24. The regular season will 
continue through July 31, taking time off for the July 4 weekend.
Three weeks of double-elimination playoffs will follow the regular sea-
son and end with division championship games Aug. 21.
Keith and Drake sports parks in West Bloomfield are the league’s 
homes. Drake has not been available this season and probably won’t be 
until mid-June because of parking lot work being done there.
This is the league’s 27th season. 

It took the No. 1 high school base-
ball team in the country and one of 
the nation’s best prep pitchers to 
derail the West Bloomfield express.
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s defeat-
ed Coach Josh Birnberg’s Lakers 
11-1 on June 4 in the championship 
game of the Division 2 district tour-
nament hosted by West Bloomfield.
The Oakland Activities 
Association White Division champi-
on Lakers finished 32-8 overall this 
season. The 32 wins are a team 
season record, breaking the old 
mark of 26 victories in 2001.
St. Mary’s starting pitcher Brock 
Porter went 4 2/3 innings for the 
win against West Bloomfield.
The Clemson University recruit 
gave up four hits and one run. He 
had allowed three hits and one run 
all season leading into the game.
“The game was closer than 
the score indicates. We ran out of 
pitching late in the game,” Birnberg 
said. “It was a phenomenal atmo-
sphere, a great experience for our 
guys.”
Speaking of phenomenal, West 
Bloomfield senior Josh Weiss had 
a great day June 4 in his final 
games for the Lakers.
The senior went the distance on 
the mound and was the winning 
pitcher in West Bloomfield’s 5-2 
win over Troy in the district semi-

finals.
Weiss helped his cause at the 
plate with a pair of doubles.
He had one of West Bloomfield’s 
four hits off Porter, a single up the 
middle.
“Josh finished strong this sea-
son,” Birnberg said. “He hit over 
.400 in the second half and ended 
up with about a .300 batting aver-
age.”
Weiss had four pitching victories 
during the Lakers’ 16-game winning 
streak that stretched from May 
2-28.
Sophomore catcher Max Gross 
was on the West Bloomfield base-
ball team this season. His name 
was inadvertently left off a list of 
Jewish players on the team in an 
earlier Jewish News story.

GARY KLINGER

Kerry 
Chaben and 
Mike Klinger

District Loss Doesn’t Tarnish 
West Bloomfi
 eld Baseball Team’s Season

Hall of Fame Banquet Will Be
at Shaarey Zedek

