Blog
Instant Replay continuing with Quality sports programming
On Sunday, June 24th, the Washington State Jewish Historical Society teamed up with the Summit at First Hill and made a Triple Play!
The Play at First was a showing of the Stephen Sadis’s documentary, The Seattle Rainiers. The film was introduced by its producer and SJHS board member Stephen Sadis of Sadis Film Productions. The well-researched and well-presented documentary was not only educational, but was also responsible for bringing many in the audience down their own personal memory lanes of the Rainier games, celebrations, players and managers. We also had a Seattle Rainiers display prepared especially for our event by David Eskenazi, a prominent and knowledgeable sports memorabilia collector, who was also credited with assisting in the production of the documentary.
The Play at Second was the collection of stories for our website and our soon-to-be published book on our noteworthy Washington State Jews who contributed to sports here or elsewhere. Our researcher and writer, Dan Aznoff, a former sportswriter, worked with Ben Harris and Sylvia Azose Angel to collect their stories and accomplishments.
We want you to know that we are getting close to closing the collection of sport figure stories that can appear in the upcoming book, as the publication date comes near, so please contact either Dan Aznoff or Eugene Normand with your submission. You can download the submission form and read some of the stories at www.WSJHS.org.
The Play at Third was the second installment of our Sports Trivia Contest. Marco Speer, of Kirkland Sports, prepared the challenging and fun questions, including a section on athletes who were “MOT.” Ariel Schneier prepared and projected the Jeopardy-style power point. Board member Michelle Keler kept score and her daughter, Courtney Keler monitored the questions. The contest was won by the team of Jack R. Policar and Sylvia Azose Angel. The other “well-versed in sports of all kinds” contestants made up the team of Joe Saxon and Joshua Normand, and the team of Dave Zimmerman and Jack Schaloum.
Learn more about the WSJHS and their upcoming events.
Big scores at sports trivia contest
On April 29, twelve of our community’s most prolific sports mavens gathered at Mike Morris’ Fuel Sports Bar in Pioneer Square for the first round of the WSJHS’ Sports Trivia Contest. By all measures, it was challenging but also a fun and entertaining event for the contestants and the audience. Marco Speer of Kirkland Sports, one of the area’s most well known sports memorabilia collector and trader, and Board Member, Michelle Keller prepared the questions in the format of the TV show, Jeopardy. The PowerPoint questions were prepared by Ariel Schneier.
The MC was KCPQ’s sports commentator Aaron Levine, who hosts Q It Up Sports on Channel 13.
The questions ranged from relatively easy (for these sports mavens, anyway) to some that were hard (even for them). The twelve contestants formed six teams of two and answered sports realted questions.
Contestants included: Jeff Miller, Phil Miller, Josh Normand, Jason Schneier, Ken Muscatel, Albert Israel, David Israel, Joe Saxon, Ken Kranseler and Jim Meisner. The first round was won by the Miller Team who answered some of the most esoteric and obscure questions, followed by an equally impressive team effort by Joshua Normand and Ken Kranseler. Sports oriented prizes were awarded to all the contestants. Round Two, titled Triple Play will take at the Summit at First Hill Sunday June 24.
Not one, not two, but Tripleplay!
On June 24th starting at 1:45 pm, WSJHS's Instant Replay will be sponsoring a community wide TRIPLE PLAY event at the Summit at First Hill, 1200 University Street from 1:45 to 4:30 pm. Come for one event or all of them.
The Play at 1st: Collecting your sports stories, pictures and memorabilia. We will have our laptops and scanners ready to document you or any person you know who contributed to any sport in the state of Washington. Each participant will have their own 15 minutes to share a person's contribution to sports in or outside the state of Washington.
The Play at 2nd: We will have a showing of Stephen Sadis' wonderful documentary film "The Seattle Rainiers", the entertaining story of the Seattle Indians turned Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League, the first major professional sports team in Seattle. You will hear the crack of the bat, hear Leo Lassen call the plays, see Dewey Soriano and Fred Hutchinson as players and then managers and Dewey's bringing the Pilots to Seattle for a brief one year stint.
The Play at 3rd: Our Sports Trivia Contest continues. This is our second tournament. If you know sports or know someone who knows sports, they need to be in this Jeopardy like contest. The first run of sports trivia was a great success. But it is not too late to enter it now. Newcomers are invited to test their sports knowledge. The top contestants will be eligible to play in the finals at our major event, the Tailgate Party in late October. Prizes will be awarded to all contestants. Fun to compete and fun to watch.
What a great family activity. Don't miss out. Tell your friends and family about this. There will be something for everyone. Sign up today!
Reaching for the Moon
Doug Smart (14) of Garfield had the ball on his fingertips as he and teammate Stan Sidell out-jumped O'Dea's Tony Long for control of a rebound in the state championship came last night in Edmundson Pavilion. Garfield won the game, 46-39. Times photo by Howard J. Vallentyne, Jr.
January 2012
The programs of the Washington State Jewish Historical Society stick to its mission: To collect and preserve the stories and artifacts of Washington's Jews to be used for research and to create a link between the past and future generations. We also try to make our programs community builders. If you attended any of our exhibits, like Who's Minding the Store? or if you bought a copy of Yesterday's Mavens, Today's Foodies: Traditions in Northwest Jewish Kitchens, you would agree that the WSJHS has stayed true to its mission with enthusiasm, passion and a lot of fun.
This year, when the WSJHS rolls out an exciting series of programs devoted to Washington Jews in sports called Instant Replay: Featuring Washington State Jews in Sports, will be no exception. Our goal is to collect the history of Washington State's Jews who participated in every kind of sport, not only as athletes but also as team owners, managers, coaches, media figures, collectors of memorabilia, physicians, trainers, sports psychologists and fans as well as leagues, teams and programs ranging from Maccabi to high school and college, from semi-professional to professional sports. "Participation" can be in any sport imaginable.
We know that there are hundreds of worthy stories from across our great state and we cannot wait to hear them, be it your own story, your children's or from someone no longer be with us. If you have a lead for us, we will track it down. We want stories, photos, articles, programs and awards. We will be presenting it on the website in a way that is searchable, entertaining and most of all geared to the permanent preservation of our sports heritage as an educational and research base. Fill out our submittal form or contact us at jewsinsports@wsjhs.org. We know that this gargantuan project will only be successful if you give us the necessary information.
Please stay tuned for emails and articles with information on upcoming sports programs, including a progressive sports trivia contest, a day at the horse races, a baseball event, a basketball event, a golf tournament and a major commemorative event on October 28, 2012 to culminate the year of Instant Replay.
Know These Guys?
If you know who these players are, please email assistant@wsjhs.org.
Play it Again!
November 2011
Instant Replay is the Society's 2012 theme year, featuring Washington's Jews in sports. We are "on deck" to set up the website for collecting your own, your relatives' or friends' sports stories, articles and photos. This will be a permanent, entertaining and educational resource. Watch for the submission forms in the next Nizkor and on the website.
We are also planning a number of exciting events commemorating Washington Jews in sports including a progressive sports trivia contest, a Day at the Races (Emerald Downs), a softball players' reunion, a golf tournament and a 3 on 3 basketball event. All of these will culminate, at the end of this fun and exciting year, in a major community-wide celebration featuring many of our most illustrious sports personalities with a surprise renowned Jewish sportsperson as our keynote speaker.
Stay tuned sports fans!
Ralph Maimon
Chair
Pre-Game Planning
June 2011
We are getting a great response to our initial requests for information on our 2012 Jews in Sports theme year. We have heard from you about all sorts of sports related personalities, including amateur, league, scholastic and professionals. They cover almost as many sports as you can think of. But we need more, lots more.
If you haven't replied to our inquiries to identify sports personalities because you haven't had the time or think that you or your candidate is not significant enough to mention or participated too recently, please, don't wait any longer. In this project, we are trying to fulfill the mission of the Washington State Jewish Historical Society, to collect history and we want to be as complete and thorough as we can be. This means from folks who participated back to the turn of the century (or before) to today. We are interested in as many sports or athletics as there are, including boxing, baseball, horseracing, wrestling, track, equestrian, swimming, polo, soccer, football, tennis, table tennis, billiards. You name it! Please send your responses to me identifying the person, league or team along with the name or other descriptive information and what their contribution was and a contact, if someone other than you, who has background information. You can email me at rmaimon@wshjs.org and someone from our committee will get back to you soon. Not every story will be featured but we will record every entry.
If you are interested in working with us to plan events and collect history, we want to hear from you. In the meantime, please mark your calendars from now for a day at the races (Emerald Downs) on Sunday, May 6, 2012 which falls on Kentucky Derby weekend; an organized run/walk/track event at Seward Park on Sunday, September 9, 2012; and our Annual Fundraiser in the spring of 2012 (date to be announced in the near future). More details to follow in upcoming e-newsletters. Stay tuned!
Ralph Maimon
Chair
