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@

yahoo.com.

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

