Last week, in this column, the picture above was featured. It showed two of our more prominent members back in the middle of the last century and their involvement with basketball in our community. On the left is Ben Newman and on the right is Harry Tomarin. These two cousins got a group of young Jewish boys together, got them uniforms and they quickly became involved in a church league in St. Catharines. In the picture, we can see at least three Jewish young men but you, the reader, might recognize several others. In the bottom left is Len or Wilf Herzog and in the middle on the top line is Jack Katzman and to his right, our left, would be Harold Nash. In those years, change came quickly to our community. A new Jewish Community Centre was erected with a basketball court / gymnasium on the top floor and classrooms underneath that. In addition, at the end of the hallway the classrooms were on was a change room, complete with hooks and benches, a shower room, and a washroom. There were steps leading up to the gym for easy access. During the period of planning and construction, the church league still was embraced by the community. The picture below shows another team and this time the players were sponsored by the local men’s B’nai Brith lodge and they even had a mascot.
This time, the coach is in front, to the left, and it was Harry Tomarin and his son Larry is the mascot in the front. Once again Jack Katzman is in the picture at the top left. And in that row moving along is Albert Adelstein, Lennie Herzog, and below Wilf Herzog and Harold Nash. If anyone wants to add the other names, please contact the office and we’ll correct.
Sadly, even though some of the high schoolers at the time the building was first actively used would come down on a school night and suit up and play basketball, it became too noisy for the activities taking place below and the basketball hoops fell out of use. But for a while, BBall was very important to us all.