Blog
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
