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