JANUARY 4 • 2024 | 31
J
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ne of the top events 
on the area’s Jewish 
sports calendar each 
year is the annual induction 
dinner for the Michigan 
Jewish Sports Foundation’s 
Michigan Jewish Sports Hall 
of Fame.
The 37th annual dinner, 
held last fall at Congregation 
Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, 
was no exception. 
Leon Grundstein, Randall 
Blau, Jim Relle and Robert 
Silverman were the Hall of 
Fame inductees. 
Grundstein, who has lived 
in Mercer Island, Washimgton, 
near Seattle since 1990, was 
a track star at the University 
of Michigan and a two-time 
track gold medalist (1969 
and 1973) for the U.S. at the 
Maccabiah Games in Israel. 
Blau, 52, of West 
Bloomfield was a four-
year tennis standout at 
Kalamazoo College, where 
he was a member of three 
NCAA Division III national 
championship teams (1991-
93).
Relle, 62, a Bloomfield 
Hills resident who was born 
in Toronto, competed in 

rowing for Canada at the 
1984 Olympic Games in Los 
Angeles. The previous year, 
he was a member of the U.S. 
national collegiate champion 
Harvard rowing team.
Silverman, an active 
member of Congregation Shir 
Tikvah in Troy, was an All-
American diver as a member 
of the U-M swimming and 
diving team, and he helped the 
Wolverines win four Big Ten 
Conference championships.
For each new Hall of Fame 
member, their induction was 
meaningful beyond being 
recognized for their sports 
accomplishments.
Grundstein was born in 
Washington, D.C., moved 
to Detroit when he was 
nine months old and lived 
in the Motor City through 
ninth grade, when his family 
relocated to Pittsburgh.
He flew across the country 
to attend the Hall of Fame 
induction dinner near his 
childhood home.
“If you would have told me 
at the start of last year that 
I would be inducted during 
the year into the Michigan 
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, I 
wouldn’t have believed you,” 
he said. “It was a humbling 
honor. Not expected at all.”
Bob Alpiner, one of 
Grundstein’s childhood 
friends, told him about 
the Hall of Fame early last 
year. Grundstein found the 
Hall of Fame application 
on the Michigan Jewish 
Sports Foundation website 
last summer, filled it out, 
and about two months later 
learned he had been selected 
for induction.
“It was great meeting all 
the other inductees and 
people from the foundation,” 
Grundstein said. “They 
were all very friendly and 
welcoming. And I was 

SPORTS

Join the Club!

Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of 
Fame inductees took different 
paths to the top of their sports.

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

PHOTOS BY MASSERMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Michigan Jewish Sports Hall 
of Fame inductee Jim Relle
Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of 
Fame inductee Randall Blau

Michigan Jewish Sports 
Hall of Fame inductee 
Leon Grundstein

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