40 | NOVEMBER 21 • 2024
J
N

I

t’s been quite a year for former
sports broadcaster turned per-
sonal trainer/exercise coach and
senior swimmer extraordinaire Jim
Berk.
In addition to turning 70 on Sept.
13, the West Bloomfield resident
won three gold medals at the Pan
American Masters Games and four
medals including three golds at the
Michigan Senior Olympics during
the summer, and he was a Pillars of
Excellence recipient at the Michigan
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame banquet
last month.
“It’s been a spectacular year for
me,” Berk said. “I’m so blessed to
have won those races and top it
off with the Hall of Fame honor. I
couldn’t ask for anything better. I’m
so grateful to God for giving me
the strength and stamina to achieve
those goals.”
The swimming medals came in the
70-74 age group.

He took first place in the 50-meter
breaststroke (:43.42), 100 breast-
stroke (1:40.59) and 200 breaststroke
(3:44.60) at the Pan American
Masters Games in Cleveland.
The swimming competition there
was held in a 50-meter pool at the
Robert F. Busbey Natatorium at
Cleveland State University.
Berk had never raced in a 50-meter
pool before he did it in Cleveland. It
was an eye-opening experience for
him.
“There are less turns in a 50-meter
pool than in a 25-meter pool,” Berk
said. “
And it seems like the pool goes
on forever.”
Shortly after the Pan-American
Masters Games, Berk dominat-
ed again at the Michigan Senior
Olympics at Oakland University.
He won three gold medals and one
bronze medal in four events, quali-
fying in each event for the National
Senior Games next summer in Des

Moines, Iowa.
The medal haul increased his
medal totals in the Michigan Senior
Olympics to 26 gold, eight silver and
two bronze. He started competing
in the Michigan Senior Olympics in
2008 and has done it every year since
2014.
His latest Michigan Senior
Olympics golds came in the 50
breaststroke (:38.20), 100 breast-
stroke (1:26.37) and 200 breaststroke
(3:18.99).
He won a bronze medal swimming

breaststroke in the 500 freestyle. He
did that in 2023 and earned a silver
medal.
“I’m not sure I’ll do that again,” he
said, noting that the 200 breaststroke
and 500 freestyle were held only 10
minutes apart this year and “I was
exhausted during the 500 free. I was
toast.”
Berk has swum in 12 events since
2015 in the National Senior Games
and finished in the top 10 in all of
them.
He won a silver medal in the 100
breaststroke in the 2015 National
Senior Games in Minneapolis and
he’s accumulated nine ribbons for
fourth- through eighth-place finish-
es.
He placed fourth in the 200 breast-
stroke in the 2019 National Senior
Games in Albuquerque, N.M.
The swimmer who beat him out
for third place and the bronze medal
in Albuquerque was Gary Abbate.
Five years after that happened,
Berk gained his revenge this summer,
finishing in front of the second-place
Abbate by more than three seconds
in the 200 breaststroke at the Pan
American Masters Games.


Send sports news to stevestein502004@

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Gold Medals Galore

BY STEVE STEIN

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Senior swimmer Jim Berk won six races at the
Pan American Masters Games and Michigan
Senior Olympics.

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jim Berk shows off one
of his Pan-American Masters
Games swimming gold medals.

SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS
SUB DEPARTMENT

quick hits
Max Sasson’s Jewish Teammate
Sidelined After Scary Hit

Max Sasson of Birmingham and Mark
Friedman of Toronto are Jewish teammates
on the Abbotsford Canucks hockey team,
the top minor league team of the NHL’s
Vancouver Canucks.
Friedman suffered a scary injury during
an Oct. 29 game. He was hit in the head by
Tucson’s Montana Onyebuchi while he was
skating through the slot and remained on the
ice for several minutes.
He was taken away on a stretcher and
transported to a hospital, but he was released
the next morning. He hadn’t returned to
action as of mid-November.
Sasson, a 6-foot-1, 181-pound center, is in his third season with
Abbotsford, a member of the American Hockey League. In his first 13
games this season, Sasson had three goals and four assists.

ABBOTSFORD CANUCKS

Max Sasson

Colgate University wom-
en’s hockey star Elyssa
Biederman from Franklin
was named the ECAC
Forward of the Week
twice in three weeks.
The latest honor,
announced Nov. 12, was
bestowed on the junior after she
helped Colgate win back-to-back
road games the previous week

over No. 14 Brown and Yale. She
had multi-point efforts in each
game, including the game-winning
goal against Yale on a power play
with seven minutes remaining.
It was Biederman’s
fourth power-play goal
of the season and her
sixth career game-winner.
Earlier this season, she
reached the 100-point
mark in her Colgate career.
She’s the 20th player in
program history to achieve
the feat.
Biederman is a Birmingham
Groves High School grad.

Elyssa Biederman Wins
League Honor Twice,
Reaches 100-Point
Plateau

Elyssa Biederman

COLGATE UNIVERSITY