44 | APRIL 11 • 2024
J
N
A
ge is just a number for Bob
Tarnow.
The nearly 60-year Southfield
resident is 84 years old and still going
strong, competing in multiple sports. And
winning, too.
He won three gold medals in pickle-
ball last month in the Michigan Senior
Olympics Winter Games.
The competition was held at Life Time
— Rochester Hills. The medals were in
men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed
doubles in the 85-89 age group.
Tarnow has participated in most of the
Michigan Senior Olympics Winter Games
and Summer Games pickleball competi-
tions since 2014. He’s won several medals
through the years.
“I like the competition, exercise and the
social part of it,” Tarnow said when asked
why he plays pickleball.
Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport
in the U.S., according to the Sports and
Fitness Industry Association, and can best
be described as a combination of tennis
and table tennis.
A pickleball player hits a perforated hol-
low plastic ball — that bounces less than
a tennis ball — with a large paddle over a
34-inch high net on a court that’s 44 feet
long and 20 feet wide.
The paddle is bigger than a table tennis
paddle.
Points are scored when a shot isn’t
returned or when there’s a rules violation.
“I’m a competitive person,” Tarnow said.
“But I don’t like competing against myself.
That’s why I really enjoy pickleball.”
Tarnow is the proud owner of a T-shirt
that reads, “Pickleball the Kosher Sport,”
and is adorned with pickles and paddles.
The sport has nothing do with pickles
the food. It was the name of a founder’s
dog.
Tarnow said he first learned about pick-
leball in 2014, when he attended drop-in
pickleball sessions offered by the Troy
Recreation Department after a volleyball
league he was playing in switched sites so
he stopped playing in the league.
Tarnow was a good volleyball player.
Good enough to be selected an alternate
for the U.S. men’s volleyball team for the
1965 Maccabiah Games in Israel. He didn’t
get to compete in Israel.
“I had never heard of pickleball before
I went to those drop-in sessions in Troy,”
said Tarnow, who played more table tennis
than tennis before he took up pickleball.
Tarnow is a legendary pitcher in the
Inter-Congregational Men’s Club Summer
Softball League.
In 2022, he was named one of the inau-
gural winners of the league’s Steve LeVine
Award, presented that year for longevity.
LeVine, who died in 2021 at age 58, was
a former league player who played several
sports despite losing his dominant arm to
cancer at age 14.
The Inter-Congregational softball league
played its 28th season last summer.
Tarnow said he began playing in the
league for Temple Shir Shalom about the
time the league began in 1996 and contin-
ued full-time until 2023, when he was a
sub after his team folded.
He’s also playing softball in a senior
league in Warren. He plays in the infield
sometimes in that league.
He still bowls in a league, even though
he no longer has his lifetime best 160-165
average.
Tarnow played in a 35-and-over hockey
league for 25-30 years until he turned 70.
“God willing, I’ll keep playing sports as
long as I’m able to,” he said.
After working at several jobs, Tarnow
wrapped up his work career by being a
substitute teacher in Southfield Public
Schools for 15-20 years. He said the pan-
demic brought an end to his teaching days.
“I would say I was a happy-go-lucky
sub,” he said. “If the teacher left a lesson
plan, of course I followed it. I like math,
so if any of the students needed help with
that, I tried to help.
“I pretty much let the students do what
they wanted to do, within reason, of
course, or needed to do.
“I’ve met adults who remember when I
was a sub for them when they were a stu-
dent. I guess that’s a good thing.”
Tarnow is a Detroit Mumford High
School graduate. He and his wife, Kathy,
have been married for 58 years. They have
five children and six grandchildren.
Send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.
At age 84, Bob Tarnow is playing America’s
fastest-growing sport and other sports, too.
Pickleball Prowess
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
SPORTS
PHOTOS: BOB TARNOW
ABOVE: Bob Tarnow shows off the three
gold medals in pickleball he won last
month at the Michigan Senior Olympics
Winter Games. LEFT: Here’s Bob Tarnow’s
favorite pickleball T-shirt.