like we were never apart. We 
were a tight group then, and we 
are now.
”
Getman played soccer for 
Indiana University in his home-
town of Bloomington from 1978-
81, playing in NCAA national 
championship games in 1978 and 
1980.
After graduating from IU in 
December 1981, he attended try-
out camps for ASL teams.
He remembers the Express try-
out was held on a soggy, muddy 
field in February 1982, most like-
ly at Oakland University.
“I didn’t play very well at the 
Express tryout,
” he said. “But a 
month later, I found out I made 
the team.
”
After not playing much the 
first half of the 1982 ASL season, 
Getman saw the field more in the 
second half, but he rarely started.
He played the entire league 
championship game because a 
teammate had been suspended as 
a result of a red-card ejection in 
the second game of the champi-
onship series, a 2-0 Express win 
at Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City beat the 
Express 1-0 in the series opener, 
the only game the Express lost at 
the Silverdome all season.
“We were the No. 1 seed for 
the playoffs. That’s why we had 
two home games for the champi-
onship series,
” Getman said.
“Playing all our home games at 
the Silverdome certainly played 
a role in our good home record. 
Visiting teams weren’t used to 
playing there.
”
The ASL championship game 
was played Sept. 23, 1982. Three 
days later, Getman got married 
in Bloomington.
Mike and Rena Getman will 
celebrate their 40th anniver-
sary this year. They’ve lived in 
Birmingham, Ala., and been part 
of the Jewish community there 
for 30 years.
“There are more Jewish people 

living in Birmingham than you 
might think, about 5,000, and 
there are three synagogues,
” Mike 
Getman said.
He was the soccer coach at 
the University of Alabama-
Birmingham from 1992-2018, 
compiling a 280-202-47 record.
The Blazers played in the 
NCAA tournament eight times 
during his tenure as coach, mak-
ing it to the Elite Eight in 1999 
and Sweet Sixteen in 2001.
UAB was nationally ranked in 
11 of Getman’s last 13 seasons 
there, including No. 3 in 2003. 
The Blazers beat No. 1-ranked 
UCLA in 1997, North Carolina 
in 2003, Southern Methodist 
in 2006 and defending NCAA 
champion Indiana in 2013.
Harvard College was Getman’s 
coaching stop from 1987-91 
after being an assistant coach at 
Indiana from 1984-86.
Harvard was 42-26-9 in his 
five years there and made it to 
the NCAA Final Four in 1987, 
when the Crimson finished 14-1-
3 and was ranked No. 1 in the 
country at one point.
At age 28, Getman became the 
youngest coach to reach college 
soccer’s Final Four. That accom-
plishment still stands.
All in all, Getman went 322-
218-56 as a college coach for a 
.605 winning percentage.
Getman and his wife have 
three sons: Nathan, 28, Eli, 23, 
and Ethan, 22.
Nathan and Ethan are former 
college soccer players who are 
now assistant soccer coaches at 
Oglethorpe University in Atlanta 
and the University of Evansville, 
respectively.
Nathan served a stint in the 
U.S. Army before returning to 
college soccer.
Eli is a mathematician for a 
video game company. 

Send sports news to 

stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

SOCCER ROYALTY continued from page 45

AUGUST 11 • 2022 | 47

Zekelman Holocaust Center in 
Farmington Hills as a devel-
opment associate, managing 
daily fundraising donations 
and logistics and creating 
new programming to engage 
children and young adults.
“That was my first job out 
of college, and that was a 
really rewarding experience,” 
Yashinsky recalls. 
“I learned so much about 
the Jewish professional 
career path from there.”
Every day, Yashinsky, who 
grew up in Farmington Hills, 
says walking into the build-
ing and seeing the famous 
boxcar on display was a 
powerful and moving image 
that encouraged her to work 
hard to spread the message 
about Holocaust awareness.
“I got to build rela-
tionships with Holocaust 
survivors and children of 
survivors,” she explains, 
“and learned the impact the 
Holocaust had generations 
later on families.”
She even took a young 
professionals’ trip to Poland 
through Partners Detroit, 
where she saw firsthand the 
remnants of concentration 
camps and ghettos from the 
Second World War. 
“It was a very eye-opening 
place to work,” Yashinsky 
says of the museum.

A VIBRANT JEWISH LIFE
Looking back, Yashinsky feels 
grateful her career path led 
her to be so involved with the 
Metro Detroit Jewish com-
munity. It was a passion that 
began as early as her days being 
involved in BBYO as a teen.
“My whole career since 
college, I’ve only ever worked 
for Jewish organizations,
” she 
explains. “I care very much 
about our Jewish community 
and keeping a vibrant Jewish 
community.
”
In addition to her staff work, 
Yashinsky has also been a part 
of numerous Jewish boards. 
She’s a past board member 
of MSU Hillel and has been 
involved with NEXTGen 
Detroit, JFamily and Partners 
Detroit, among others.
Outside of work, Yashinsky 
enjoys spending time with her 
husband, Joey, and two daugh-
ters Elizabeth and Goldie. She 
loves to read, to be outside 
and to watch her kids grow 
up. Yashinsky is also a serious 
board gamer who loves a good 
game of Battleship.
“When I went to college, I 
was a student who took every 
major’s intro class,
” she says. “I 
had many different paths, but 
I realized once I shifted my 
path that my ultimate goal was 
to work professionally in the 
Jewish community.
” 

“I’VE ALWAYS BEEN IMPRESSED 
BY WHAT FRANKEL JEWISH 
ACADEMY HAS DONE AND 
I WANTED TO BE A PART OF IT. 
I SAW THIS ROLE, AND IT 

SEEMED LIKE A GOOD FIT.”

— JACKIE YASHINSKY

