26 | OCTOBER 31 • 2024 J
N
T
he Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
Class of 2024 is a special one.
Not just because the five newest
members joined luminaries like Hank
Greenberg, Bill Davidson, Aaron Krickstein and
Jackie Kallen when they were inducted Oct. 29 at
the 37th annual Hall of Fame banquet at The J in
West Bloomfield, where the Hall of Fame plaques
are displayed.
They were inducted the same year as the
Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation, which
founded and sponsors the Hall of Fame, is
celebrating its 40th anniversary.
At age 95, Seymour Brode is the lone living
foundation founder. The other founders were
Alvin Foon, Billy Jacobs, Myron Milgrom,
Mickey Fishman and Robert Sternberg.
“I remember Al Foon coming into my office
at Franklin Racquet Club one day and saying he
wanted to start a Hall of Fame for Jewish athletes
who were either from Michigan or competed in
the state,” Brode said.
“I told him that sounded good, but it’s crazy.
After Hank Greenberg, who’ve we got? I was
so wrong back then. There are more than 100
wonderful people in the Hall of Fame and we’re
still going strong.”
The Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame was
the foundation’s original name and purpose in
1984. The name was changed to the Michigan
Jewish Sports Foundation in 1998 so it would
more accurately reflect the organization’s events
and fundraising efforts.
The foundation also presents the Hank
Greenberg Memorial Golf and Tennis
Invitational each June. This year’s event was the
33rd annual.
More than $1.5 million has been raised
through the years at the Greenberg Invitational
and Hall of Fame induction banquet for cancer
research and treatment.
Earlier this month, the foundation made a
$25,000 donation from the 2024 Greenberg
Invitational to the Karmanos Cancer Institute —
Lawrence and Idell Weisberg Cancer Center in
Farmington Hills.
This year’s Hall of Fame inductees were
Nathan Edmunds, Eric Fishman, Jacob
Friedman, Nicole Meisner and Eric Weberman.
Edmunds is a former tennis star at Bloomfield
Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood High School who
went on to play at Middlebury (Vt.) College and
helped the Panthers win the NCAA Division
III national championship when he was a
sophomore. He was a three-time All-American
singles player at Middlebury.
Fishman, the all-time leading scorer in
Cranbrook-Kingswood boys basketball history,
also was a basketball standout at Kalamazoo
College.
He holds Kalamazoo’s single-game records for
assists and 3-point field goals and, in 2013, he
became the 21st player in school history to score
more than 1,000 career points.
Friedman was a hockey star at Cranbrook-
Kingswood, where he won two state
championships and the Most Valuable Player
award in all sports at the school in 2008.
After playing junior hockey, he played
hockey at Penn State University. He was on the
silver medal-winning U.S. hockey team at the
Maccabiah Games in Israel in 2013.
Weberman played men’s soccer for four years
at Northwestern University. During that time,
the Wildcats won two Big Ten championships
and played in the NCAA Tournament four times
including a Sweet 16 appearance.
He was on the gold medal-winning U.S. men’s
soccer team at the 2013 Maccabiah Games in
Israel. It was the first men’s soccer gold medal
won by the U.S. at the Maccabiah Games.
He was a four-year starter on the boys soccer
team at North Farmington High School before
heading off to Northwestern.
FORMER TRACK STAR TURNED
INVESTIGATOR
Meisner is a former Berkley High School and
University of Detroit Mercy track and field star.
She also won several gold medals in the 100,
200, 400 and relays at the JCC Maccabi Games,
and she earned medals at the Maccabiah Games
in Israel in 2009 and 2013.
“It’s such an honor to be rewarded for all the
hard work I put in and to be recognized even
though I didn’t go as far as I wanted to my with
40 Years of Philanthropy
The five newest members of the Michigan Jewish Sports
Hall of Fame are inducted during a special year for the
Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation.
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
SPORTS
LEFT: Rick Brode, Louise Gabe, Seymour
Brode and Harrison Brode show off a
plaque Seymour received at a celebration
this spring recognizing the 40th
anniversary of the Michigan Jewish Sports
Foundation. Rick is Seymour’s son and
Harrison’s father. Gabe is Seymour’s friend.
MICHIGAN JEWISH SPORTS FOUNDATION