MARCH 21 • 2024 | 49
J
N
the early 1960s because they
made for a good starting
point. Michigan’s national
championship in 1989 made
for a good ending.”
Two free throws with three
seconds left in overtime by
Rumeal Robinson gave U-M
an 80-79 win over Seton
Hall in the 1989 NCAA title
game.
U-M athletic director Bo
Schembechler fired Freider
as the Wolverines’ coach
just before the start of the
1989 NCAA tournament
and replaced him with
top assistant Steve Fisher
after Frieder announced he
was leaving U-M to coach
Arizona State at the end of
the season.
Rice was the star of the
1989 NCAA tournament.
He scored a record 184
points in the postseason
and was named the Most
Outstanding Player of the
tournament.
One of the stories in
Rosenbaum’s book that
was a revelation to him
involves Rice, a star at Flint
Northwestern High School
who joined the Wolverines
before the 1984-85 season.
Rosenbaum said Rice was
recruited by Frieder only
after Frieder failed to lure
three other Midwestern
players to U-M.
“In the book, I call
Frieder’s recruitment of Rice
his Plan D,” Rosenbaum said.
Plan D almost didn’t
happen. Rosenbaum said
Rice was ready to commit to
Central Michigan University
when Frieder came calling.
Rosenbaum has another
historical book on the U-M
basketball team in the works.
He said this one most likely
will start in 1990, cover the
Fab Five years, and end with
the Wolverines’ 82-76 loss to
Louisville in the 2013 NCAA
championship game.
While Rosenbaum has
a full-time job as a copy
editor, he considers himself
“a sportswriter at heart.”
The Jewish News is among
the publications he’s written
for.
Send sports news
to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.
Around the horn with two baseball notes:
— Ryan Lavarnway, who played for the Detroit
Tigers’ Triple-A team in Toledo in 2022 before
being traded to the Miami Marlins, has written a
children’s book, Baseball and Belonging, that talks
about his life and how playing for Team Israel in the
World Baseball Classic in 2017 helped him discover
Judaism. Larvarnway, who has retired as a play-
er, grew up in an interfaith family (Jewish mother,
Catholic father) and said he didn’t feel connected
to either religion until he was recruited to join Team
Israel.
— David Vinsky had a great baseball career at Northwood University,
knocking in a school record 161 runs. That and other gaudy hitting sta-
tistics led to the Farmington Harrison High School grad being selected
by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 15th round of the 2019 Major League
Baseball Draft. Vinsky’s Northwood career RBI record was broken early
this season. Vinsky played for the New York Boulders in the indepen-
dent Frontier League the past two seasons after being released by the
Cardinals.
A Book about Baseball and Judaism
and a Record is Broken
Harris Gurfinkel had a night for
himself earlier this month in
the weekly Brotherhood-Eddie
Jacobson B’nai B’rith Bowling
League.
He came within three pins of
a perfect game, rolling a 297
on March 4 at Country Lanes
in Farmington Hills. That game
and his 708 series (201-210-297)
were lifetime bests. He also had
the league’s highest game over
average (plus 105 for the 297) and
series over average (plus 132) for
the night, which raised his average
to 194.
Aaron Radner, Dave Shanbaum,
Lyle Schaefer, Isaac Pickell and
Brian Hacker also had a big night
March 4.
Radner rolled his season
high series (268-255-268--791).
Shanbaum shot a 289 in his third
game. Schaefer continued his
streak of not rolling a series under
650 in three months (206-215-247-
-668). Pickell had a lifetime-best
278. Hacker had a lifetime-best
192.
The last night of the second
half of the league season is March
25. Playoffs will begin April 1 and
continue to April 15. League
bowlers are competing virtually
and simultaneously once again
in the annual International B’nai
B’rith Bowling Association national
tournament.
So Close ... Bowler Rolls a 297 Game
in Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson B’nai
B’rith League
Don Rudick is a big fan of Mike
Stone, the Detroit sports talk radio
icon who recently retired as a full-
time morning show host on WXYT-
FM (97.1) The Ticket.
Rudick is the executive
director of the Michigan
Jewish Sports
Foundation. Stone is
a 2016 inductee into
the Michigan Jewish
Hall of Fame, which
is overseen by the
foundation, and a
member of the foun-
dation’s board.
Stone’s relationship with
the foundation goes beyond that.
“We used to ask Mike if he
was available to be the emcee
of the sports panel at the Hank
Greenberg Invitational and the
Hall of Fame induction dinner,”
Rudick said. “Now we don’t have
to ask him. He asks us the dates
of the events to make sure he has
cleared his schedule.”
Stone’s connections in the
Detroit sports world have benefit-
ed the foundation.
“Mike’s experience
in Detroit sports radio
has enabled us to
ask him to get Detroit
sports team athletes
to attend our events
or in some cases
honor a Detroit athlete
with one of our awards,”
Rudick said.
Stone and his wife, Cyndi, live
in West Bloomfield and attend
Temple Israel. Korman Hall at
Temple Israel is named for his
wife’s maternal grandparents,
Harry and Anna Korman.
Hall of Famer Mike Stone is a Friend of
the Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation
Harris Gurfinkel’s teammates on
the Mertz’s Bakery team turned
their backs on him here, but
he earned the spotlight with a
lifetime-best game (297) and
series (708).
GARY KLINGER
Ryan Lavarnway
DETROIT TIGERS