50 | FEBRUARY 16 • 2023
SPORTS
A
ri Eizen hadn’t been to the David
Tanzman Memorial Tournament
at Farber Hebrew Day School in
Southfield since 2018.
That was the basketball tournament’s
first year. It was an especially meaningful
tournament for Eizen, then a Farber high
school senior, because he was one of the
tournament founders.
After graduating from Farber and
studying in Israel, Eizen is back home.
He’s a graduate student pursuing a
master’s degree in sports management
at the University of Michigan, and
he’s coaching the Farber junior varsity
basketball team.
Rick Kaczander coaches the Farber
varsity basketball team. He was Eizen’s
coach when he was on the team.
All that brought Eizen to the fifth
annual Tanzman tournament last month,
watching what he helped start and helping
Kaczander coach the Farber basketball
team.
Eizen witnessed firsthand what the
Farber community — students, staff,
administrators, alumni and alumni parents
— does every year to put on the four-day,
six-team tournament, which actually is six
years old but wasn’t held in 2021 because of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was so cool to be there. An incredible
experience,
” Eizen said.
High school basketball teams from
small Jewish day schools compete in
the tournament each year. This year’s
tournament had teams from Atlanta,
Columbus (Ohio), Denver, Pittsburgh and
Montreal, along with Farber.
Eizen said it took a year for tournament
co-founder Ari Ershler and himself to con-
vince Farber officials to put on the tourna-
ment. Ershler was a junior at Farber when
the inaugural 2018 tournament was held.
The tournament was Eizen’s idea.
The idea had its roots in his family’s
close relationship with Tanzman, one of
Farber’s founders, who died in 2016. Farber
opened in 1964 as Akiva Hebrew Day
School.
Eizen’s family attends Young Israel of
Oak Park, like Tanzman did.
“I used to call him Saba [grandfather]
Dave,
” Eizen said. “He was always asking
about how the Farber basketball team
was doing. He was engaged. That’s why I
thought a basketball tournament at Farber
would be a great way to honor him.
”
Eizen’s younger brother Micah helped
keep the tournament going as one of the
organizers. Ari said Micah convinced
Farber officials to expand the tournament
field from four to six teams in the tourna-
ment’s third year.
“Student involvement in the tournament
has been very important,
” Ari said. “The
tournament logo was designed by Chana
Fischer when she was a Farber student.
”
Send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.
FARBER HEBREW DAY SCHOOL
Ari Eizen, whose idea hatched the David Tanzman
Memorial Tournament, returns to Farber to see
how the tournament has grown.
Back Where It Started
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Ari Eizen visits with Rick Kaczander, his
basketball coach at Farber.
quick hits
BY STEVE STEIN
Ex-Tiger Ian
Kinsler Returns
to Rangers
Former Detroit Tigers second
baseman Ian Kinsler has rejoined
the Texas Rangers — the
organization that drafted him and
where he began his 14-year Major
League Baseball career — as a
special assistant to the general
manager.
Before he begins those duties,
Kinsler will manage Team Israel at
the 2023 World Baseball Classic in
March. He played for Team Israel in
the 2020 Summer Olympics. Last
summer, he was one of five torch
carriers at the opening ceremony
for the Maccabiah Games in Israel.
Kinsler, 40, spent the past three
seasons as a special assistant for
baseball operations and player
development with the San Diego
Padres.
He was a four-time All-Star, two-
time Gold Glove winner and 2018
World Series champion with the
Boston Red Sox during his playing
career and a 2022 inductee into
the Texas Rangers Baseball Hall
of Fame.
The Rangers picked Kinsler
in the 17th round of the 2003
MLB draft out of the University of
Missouri. He played for Texas for
eight seasons before being traded
to the Tigers in November 2013 for
Prince Fielder.
He was with the Tigers from
2014-17, winning a Gold Glove in
2016. He later played for the Los
Angeles Angels (2018), Red Sox
(2018) and Padres (2019).
Ian Kinsler
MLB.COM