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