32 | OCTOBER 20 • 2022
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The Michigan Jewish Sports
Hall of Fame needs a new
home.
The Hall of Fame plaques
are on display in the former
health club at the Jewish
Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit in West
Bloomfield, but they’re no
longer accessible to the
public because the JCC
closed the health club in
2020.
The Michigan Jewish
Sports Foundation oversees
the Hall of Fame. Foundation
executive director Don
Rudick, who was named to
that post late last year, said
alternatives for temporary
and permanent homes for
the Hall of Fame are being
explored.
The search is personal for
2010 Hall of Fame inductee
and foundation vice
president Larry Sherman.
“I can’t speak for all the
Hall of Fame inductees,
of course, but I don’t want
my plaque hanging in my
garage or living room,” he
said. “The Hall of Fame
needs a new home so
the inductees can be
remembered.”
quick hits
It’s Been a Hole-in-One
Year for Golfer JJ Modell
This has been quite a year for JJ Modell.
The Bloomfield Hills resident was on the five-member
U.S. men’s masters (age 50 and older) golf team that won
a gold medal this summer at the 21st Maccabiah Games
in Israel.
Modell also finished eighth individually on a course
in the Mediterranean coastal town of Caesarea among
about 45 golfers. Better yet, his entire family was in Israel
at the “Jewish Olympics” to watch him play.
“Playing for the U.S. was an honor, winning the gold
medal is something I will never forget, and I met some
amazing people from all over the world. But traveling to
Israel with my family for the first time and having them
with me was definitely the highlight of the experience,”
he said.
There’s more to this story. Modell will be among five
people inducted into the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of
Fame on Oct. 24 as the induction dinner, canceled for
two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, returns
to Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, its original
venue.
Modell was a golf star at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-
Kingswood High School and Brown University before
continuing his career as one of the state’s top amateur
golfers.
He advanced to the quarterfinals of the Michigan
Amateur in 2003 and has won nine club championships
at Franklin Hills Country Club, winning in the 1990s,
2000s and 2010s, the last time in 2016.
“Now that I’ve turned 50, I have aspirations of becom-
ing a good senior golfer,” he said.
BY STEVE STEIN
JJ Modell and his wife, Liz, enjoy their time in Israel
at the Maccabiah Games with their children (from left)
Skylar, 19, Nathan, 17, Ruby, 23, and Lacey, 22.
MODELL FAMILY
DEBY LEBOW
DEBY LEBOW
MICHIGAN JEWISH SPORTS FOUNDATION
The fourth annual Howard Weingarten
Memorial Baseball Outing on Sept. 18 was
a home run.
About 40 participants played baseball
on the Willie Horton Field of Dreams
at The Corner Ballpark, located in the
footprint of Tiger Stadium, enjoyed
popcorn, peanuts and Cracker Jacks and
ate lunch.
Eli’sha Stevens, Jason Johnson Jr.
and Jimmie Jones of the Police Athletic
League’s Diamond Sports’ Tiny Tots
baseball program for youths ages 4-8
received a Howard Weingarten Memorial
Award for teamwork, responsibility and
leadership, respectively. They were
nominated for the awards by their
coaches.
Outing founder and organizer Deby
Lebow presented the awards along
with PAL CEO Fred Hunter and David
Greenwood, PAL director of programs and
operations.
This was the third year for the awards
program.
Weingarten, a Bloomfield Hills resident
who loved baseball and the Detroit Tigers,
died in a car accident in 2018 at age 65.
Lebow was his longtime significant other.
Donations from outing participants go
annually to the Diamond Sports Program.
This year, about $2,800 was raised.
“I’m so happy I started this event. I
wanted to do something in Howard’s
memory that I know he would love,”
Lebow said.
“He was crazy, crazy, crazy about
baseball. He went to the Tigers’ fantasy
camp four times, he went to the Tigers’
spring training in Florida almost every year
of the 13 years I knew him, and he had a
huge baseball memorabilia collection.”
LEFT: Norm Cohen and Ilene Litt Cohen spend time with their grandson Izaac Cohen
at the Howard Weingarten Memorial Baseball Outing. RIGHT: Deby Lebow with
Police Athletic League officials and Howard Weingarten Memorial Award winners
and family members.
‘He Was Crazy, Crazy, Crazy About Baseball.’
Wanted: New Home for Hall of Fame
Michigan Jewish
Sports Hall of Fame
plaques hang on a
wall at the Jewish
Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit
in this 2020 photo.
SPORTS