42 | NOVEMBER 16 • 2023 
J
N

SPORTS

S

enior moments don’t always 
have a negative connotation. 
They sometimes can describe 
athletic achievements.
Here are three recent examples of 
local Jewish athletes:
Rick Woolman, 66, bowled a 300 
game in the Brotherhood-Eddie 
Jacobson B’nai B’rith League. 
Jim Berk, 68, won three gold medals 
and a silver medal in swimming at the 
Michigan Senior Olympics. 
Steve Matz, 71, won two gold medals 
and a bronze medal in swimming at the 
Michigan Senior Olympics.
These are their stories.

RICK WOOLMAN
Woolman bowled a perfect game on his 
birthday (Oct. 16) at Country Lanes in 
Farmington Hills. The 300 came on his 
first game of the night. His series was 
300-214-185 — 699.
It was the Waterford resident’s second 
lifetime 300 game. Both have been 
bowled in the Brotherhood-Eddie 

Jacobson league. The first was more 
than eight years ago, on March 23, 2015.
Woolman had only one moment of 
concern during his most recent 300. 
After starting the 10th frame with a 
strike, his next shot was slightly off 
target.
“After that happened, I thought I got 
a bad shot out of the way and I won’t do 
that again,” he said.
Even though several years had passed 
since his first 300 game, Woolman said 
the memories from that night helped 
his mental approach last month as he 
got closer and closer to perfection.
“I was much more relaxed,” he said. “I 
remember the first time I bowled a 300, 
I could feel my knees shaking during 
the final frames. I was nervous. It was 
a surreal scene. It was so quiet because 
everybody had stopped bowling to 
watch me.
“This time was different. This 
wasn’t my first 300 I was going for, 
so I thought if I got it or I didn’t get 
it, it would be fine. Also, I tuned out 

everything. I don’t know if it was quiet 
or not. It probably was. I just focused 
on each shot.”
A split late in his third game cost 
Woodman a 700 series, but that 
disappointment didn’t cast a cloud on 
his 300.
The chiropractor was averaging 
214 in the weekly Brotherhood-Eddie 
Jacobson league through competition 
Oct. 30. 
That was his average at the end of 
the last league season. The 214 was his 
highest end-of-season league average 
since joining the league in 1985, taking 
a five-year break, then returning in the 
2014-15 season, when he bowled his 

STEVE MATZ

Rick Woolman, Jim Berk and Steve Matz 
prove that in sports, age is just a number.
Three for Three

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Rick Woolman (right) and his 600 
Club teammates Mike Lieberman, 
Rob Greenfield and Hassan Fatouhi.

GARY KLINGER

Jim Berk won four swimming medals 
— three gold and one silver — at the 
Michigan Senior Olympics.

JIM BERK

Steve Matz won two gold medals in swim-
ming at the Michigan Senior Olympics.