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