Six athletic legends were honored for their accomplishments on and off the playing fields as the JCC MetroWest Jewish Sports Hall of Fame held its Fourth annual induction ceremony and dinner May 30 at the Crystal Plaza in Livingston.

Amid backslaps and bear hugs from more than 300 friends and family members, the honorees — Marjorie Gantman, Marc Roberts, Sandy Salz, Stephen Sobel, and representatives of the late Bucky Harris and Dr. Max Novich — reveled in reliving past glories.

The Hall of Fame selection committee went through about 100 applications before selecting the current group of inductees. The plaques for the 25 honorees inducted since 2004 will eventually be placed in the new atrium at the Leon & Toby Cooperman JCC, Ross Family Campus, in West Orange. Cochairs Roy Greenman and Arnold Budin said they hoped the work could be completed by next year's ceremonies.

"Why are sports so important to us?" Greenman asked the audience. "It's because they bring families together through shared memories."

At the dinner are, from left, Brian and Richard Harris, sons of hall of fame inductee the late Bucky Harris, and committee member Larry Stempler. Photo by Brooke Lagstein

NJ Jewish News caught up with the honorees during the ceremony:

* Marjorie Gantman, a graduate of Columbia High School in Maplewood, competed in tennis at the JCC Maccabi Games in 1988, 1990, and 1991 (where she won the gold medal). She continued her award-winning play at Northwestern University, where she became the first woman to reach 100 career victories and received Academic All-Big Ten honors from 1995 to '97.

After graduation, she worked for Billie Jean King at World Team Tennis and is currently director of marketing at SportsNet New York.

She told NJJN her connection with the Jewish community stemmed back to her grandfather. "He used to walk around in East Orange with a tzedaka box, collecting money for the local community. His efforts led the way for my parents' involvement with Jewish federation and have given me a sense of belonging that I have and I feel a part of." The Gantman family has belonged to Congregation Beth El in South Orange for almost 40 years.

"This night is about my love of sports, but it's also about friendship and giving back," she said.

* Bucky Harris played football and baseball for Newark Central High School, winning All-City and All-Essex County honors as a guard in his senior year. He received a football scholarship to Seton Hall University and also played at Upsala College. After his graduation in 1935, Harris became the football coach at West Side High School, leading his team to a Newark City League Championship in 1943. He also served as head coach for Weequahic High School and later became the recreation director of Newark's Chancellor Playground.

After excusing himself to buy his grandson a baseball from a silent auction of sports memorabilia, Harris' son, Brian, returned to tell NJJN, "It was a wonderful night for all of us, a great honor. We've always cherished my father's memory, and this is wonderful for him."

"The Weequahic neighborhood was all Jewish, and sports was very important, so guys like Novich and my father served as an example," Harris said. "Everyone looked up to them, and when they passed, someone took their place."

* Sandy Salz was a Weequahic High School alumni who excelled on the basketball court, becoming the Newark school's first athlete to receive a full scholarship to a Division I college when he attended Syracuse University from 1959 to 1961.

The Watchung resident, who was inducted into the Newark Sports Hall of Fame in 1995, told NJJN, "It's hard to describe…but to be recognized by the Jewish community not only for sportsmanship but for civic responsibilities is something special. At this point in your life, it's like a last hurrah, and it's nice to be remembered."

The dapper Salz sported a unique lapel button: a Syracuse basketball pin. "I only take it out on special occasions," he said.

Like several other inductees and guests, Salz wanted to talk about the late Les Fein, Weequahic's legendary basketball coach, and the influence he had on Salz's development both as an athlete and a person.

(Fein died March 2. A memorial will be held at the Cooperman JCC on Sunday, June 24.)

"[Fein] was very special in my life, and I was friends with him for 50 years," Salz said, "so this has particular significance for me. I wish he was here and I hope he is here, looking over me."

* Max Novich was captain of the University of North Carolina boxing team and an Olympic trials quarter-finalist in 1936.

Judge Leo M. Gordon accepted the award for Novich on behalf of the late physician's family.

"Max and my father were old and dear friends" from their days in Newark and as undergraduates at the University of North Carolina, Gordon told NJJN.

He recalled Novich's love for boxing and his desire to teach suburban kids the art of self-defense so they could stand up to neighborhood bullies. "Max was a tough Jewish guy from Prince Street. [He] fought in the literal and figurative sense every step of the way to achieve what he achieved in life."

Novich was a pioneer in the field of sports medicine, concentrating on making boxing safer. In 1988, he helped establish the American Board of Ringside Medicine and Surgery and was a founder of the sports medicine program at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

"He was ahead of his time," Gordon said. "Headgear, thumbless gloves, mouth guards — all sorts of things to protect athletes. His legacy continues long after he's been gone."

* Although he excelled as a basketball player at West Orange High School and later at American University in Washington, DC, Marc Roberts, 47, made his impact in the area of sports management. At 19, he became the youngest person ever to promote a professional boxing match. His companies include Triple Threat Enterprises and World Wide Entertainment and Sports Corp. He is also involved in real estate developments in Florida, Nevada, and Arizona.

With hall of fame inductee Marc Roberts, second from left, at the May 30 dinner are, from left, committee cochair Roy Greenman, member Jeff Greenman, and cochair Arnie Budin. Photo by Brooke Lagstein

A resident of Jupiter, Fla., since 2001, Roberts relished the opportunity to return to his roots. "It brings back great memories," he told NJJN. "I keep close contact with all the people that have meant anything to me. That's very important." His comments were interrupted by a constant stream of well-wishers.
Being inducted into the Hall of Fame was "special because it's [my] hometown, it's the Jewish community, and the Jewish Community Center where I learned to play basketball."

Roberts has a long association with MetroWest participation in the JCC Maccabi Games. He sponsored the MetroWest contingent at the 2006 games in Vancouver and Phoenix and in 1996 sponsored the entire swimming competition for the games, held that year in MetroWest.

* Fencing luminary Stephen Sobel is still involved in his sport. A graduate of Columbia College and Columbia Law School, where he was an NCAA champion in the 1950s, he is a member of the Columbia Fencing Advisory Committee and is on the school's Fencing Wall of Fame.

A law professor at Long Island University, Montclair State University, and Berkeley College, Sobel is also president of the Garden State Games and associate counsel of the U.S. Fencing Association.

Before receiving his award, Sobel told NJJN, "Everyone should participate in sports, whether it's as an athlete or as a volunteer because sports teach valuable life lessons like hard work, teamwork, and dealing with disappointment. Not everything goes according to plan and people have to adjust."

In addition to the six "old-time" athletes, Evan Kleinberg, an All-Essex County soccer player from Columbia High School, and Alisha Prystowsky, an All-Essex County and All-State softball player from Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, received awards as student athletes of the year.

The celebratory mood was severely curtailed when Clifford Jackson, a former boxing trainer, was stricken by an apparent heart attack. Jackson had accompanied Albert Mills, an ex-prize fighter and friend of Roberts. The dinner was delayed for almost half an hour while several guests administered CPR before EMT workers arrived and transported Jackson, 74, to Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, where he was pronounced dead.