50 | OCTOBER 19 • 2023 J
N

SPORTS

quick hits
BY STEVE STEIN 

The 73-year-old 
Farmington Hills resident was 
one of the Pillars of Excellence 
recipients at the foundation’s 
Michigan Jewish Sports Hall 
of Fame induction banquet.
Landaw, who has been 
umpiring softball for 45 years, 
was a Pillars of Excellence 
recipient in 2016.
“Getting a Pillars of 
Excellence award came out of 
nowhere,” Lepofsky said. “I 
was humbled to say the least.”
So where did Lepofsky get 
the “Rat” nickname? That’s 
what most people call him. 
They don’t know his real first 
name.
It’s a childhood nickname, 
he said, probably dating to 
when he was 8 years old.
His older brother Bill 
was nicknamed “Mouse.” 
Bill brought his younger 
brother along to sandlot 
baseball games when they 
were growing up in Detroit. 
“Little Mouse” wasn’t a good 

nickname, so “Rat” it was.
The nickname has stuck 
with Lepofsky all these years, 
including his time spent in 
Vietnam serving in the U.S. 
Army in 1970 and 1971.
Lepofsky has kept umpiring 
even though his softball 
playing days have ended.
“Umpiring keeps me 
participating in the sport. I 
feel l…ike a player,” he said.
So what happens when a 
player doesn’t like a call that 
Rat makes?
“I might not say anything 
or crack a joke,” he said. 
“Basically, I’m a tolerant 
person. I rarely throw 
someone out of a game. In 
fact, I can’t remember the last 
time I did. 
“Most players who get 
tossed ask to leave by their 
actions. I’m an obliging 
person, so I grant their wish.”
Lepofsky is retired. He 
spent most of his career on 
the road as a sales rep for 

Hostess.
“I made people happy doing 
that job ... until they got on 
the scale,” Leposky said.
Other Pillars of Excellence 
recipients at the Hall of Fame 
banquet at Congregation 
Shaarey Zedek in Southfield 
were JCC Maccabi Games 
coach, delegation head and 
general chairperson Franci 
Silver; Ron Levin, boys 
basketball coach at South 
Lyon East High School; and 

Oakland Press sportswriter 
Scott Burnstein.
The 2023 Hall of Fame 
inductees were former 
Kalamazoo College tennis 
team captain Randy Blau; 
1984 Canadian Olympic 
rowing team captain Jim Relle; 
former University of Michigan 
NCAA All-American diver 
Robert Silverman; and former 
U-M Big Ten track champion 
Leon Grundstein.
The Jewish News High 
School Athletes of the Year 
and the Dr. Steven and Evelyn 
Rosen Stars of Tomorrow 
Scholarship winners also were 
honored.
Noah Adamczyk, Clay 
Hartje and Ella Blank were 
the Athletes of the Year. 
Merrick Michaelson, Marnie 
Jacobs, Jenner Leib, Kaytlyn 
McPherson and Hartje were 
the scholarship winners. 
 

Send sports news 

to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

Aaron Radner’s Eighth 300 Game 
‘Came Out of Nowhere’

Four weeks into the new Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson B’nai B’rith 
Bowling League season, the league had its first 300 game.
It was rolled by someone who knows a lot about perfect games: 
Aaron Radner. At age 28, the Farmington Hills resident now has eight 
300s, seven in his six seasons in the weekly Brotherhood-Eddie 
Jacobson League.
Radner bowled 214-300-246 — 760 on Oct. 9 at Country Lanes 
in Farmington Hills. It was his first 300 since January 2022, ending 
a nearly two-year dry spell for the 300 machine. He came close to 
perfection several times during the 22-month stretch, but he couldn’t 
close the deal.
He had three 300 games in 2019, spanning two seasons and in two 
leagues. He bowled a 300 game in 2015 as a sub in the Brotherhood-
Eddie Jacobson League and another one as a regular member of the 
league in 2018.
“My first 300 game was the best, and every one has been exciting 
since then,” he said.
His latest perfect game “came out of nowhere,” Radner said. 
He wasn’t happy with his first game of the night. After a couple of 

lucky breaks early in the second game and a “tiny adjustment,” it was 
downhill from there.
The 760 series raised Radner’s early-season average in the 
Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson League from 216 to 225. His team, the 
Aristocrats, won 22 of 24 points the night of his perfect game.

Meet the Aristocrats. From left are Noah Cohen, Aaron Radner, Kenny 
Weiss and Brian Cohen.

SHERRI LEPOFSKY

Barry “Rat” Lepofsky

continued from page 48

continued from page 48

GARY KLINGER

