32 | OCTOBER 20 • 2022 

continued from page 31

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