40 | NOVEMBER 17 • 2022

‘A Personal Mission’

SPORTS

W

hen Nikki Wald began
working in the Detroit
Pistons’ ticket office in
August 2021, she noticed a void in the
club’s season promotion schedule at Little
Caesars Arena.
It was a Jewish Heritage Night.
“Even when a Jewish Heritage Night
had been held in the past, it wasn’t very
organized,” Wald said.
Jewish Heritage Night is on the
Pistons’ schedule now. And it’s organized.
Wald put together a Jewish Heritage
Night last season. The group sales
executive has done it again this season.
It’s right there among the eight to 10
similar heritage days on the Pistons’
schedule.
“I made organizing a Jewish Heritage
Night a personal mission. I’m doing it
for our Jewish community,” Wald said.
“It’s especially important this season
with what’s going on in the world (rise of
antisemitism) these days.
“This isn’t the time for us as a Jewish
community to stand down, but stand up
and unite, and for the Detroit and Jewish
communities to show what we stand for.”

Jewish Heritage Night will be Dec.
4, when the Pistons face the Memphis
Grizzlies in a 6 p.m. game.
Ticket packages start at $25. They
include a Jewish Heritage Night
giveaway.
Kosher food and beverages will be
available as will chocolate Chanukah gelt
and mini-menorahs, and Jewish Heritage
Night ticket purchasers can take a post-
game free throw on the floor.
Students from Jewish schools will give
high-fives to Pistons players as they enter
the court and will be “anthem buddies,”
standing with Pistons players for the
national anthem.
It’s hoped that Ryan Turell, an
Orthodox Jew drafted by the Motor City
Cruise, the Pistons’ G League affiliate,
will be available for autographs and
photos (See story on page 36).
Also in the works for Jewish Heritage
Night is a Dec. 4 game between Frankel
Jewish Academy and Farber Hebrew Day
School basketball teams at the Pistons’
practice facility.
To purchase Jewish Heritage Night
tickets, go to fevo.me/jewishheritage 22.

To contact Wald for Jewish Heritage
Night information or to purchase block
seating for the game, send an email to
nwald@pistons.com or call (313) 771-
0189.
Wald is a former North Farmington
High School softball star who scored
runs as a freshman and sophomore while
playing for the University of Michigan
softball team in the 2015 and 2016
College World Series.
She played for U-M for four years.

Send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

Meet the group sales executive behind the
Detroit Pistons’ Jewish Heritage Night game

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

It will be Jewish
Heritage Night at
a Detroit Pistons
game Dec. 4 at
Little Caesars
Arena.

PHOTOS COURTESY DETROIT PISTONS

Nikki
Wald

Child's Name:______________________________________ Age:____________

Parents' Names:
____________________________________________________

Address:__________________________________________________________

City: _____________________________State:_________Zip:_______________
_

Day Phone: ________________________
Evening Phone:___________________
_

Email:____________________________________________________________

School: __________________________ Religious School: __________________

SEND TO: The Detroit Jewish News – Attn. Jackie Headapohl | 32255 Northwestern Hwy. | Suite 205 | Farmington Hills, MI 48334

MATERIALS
Anything that shows up bold and bright.

(No pencils, light blue crayons or glitter, please!
And no computer-generated artwork — must be
handmade.)

SIZE
8½" X 11", vertical format

AGE CATEGORIES

Up to age 6, Ages 7-9, Ages 10-12

GRAND PRIZE
$100 and the cover of the December 15th,
2022, issue of the The Detroit Jewish News.

OTHER PRIZES
First, second and third-place finishers in each
category win $18.

REQUIREMENTS
A fully completed entry form (below) as well
as a color photo of the artist must be taped
to the back of the original artwork and sent
to the address below by December 5th, 2022.

(Only one entry per child.)

ENTRY
FORM