In 1950, the City of Detroit’s population
was at its highest, with 1,849,568 people, and 83.68 percent were white.
By 1960, the population had dropped to
1,670,144, and it fell each year until it had plummeted to 713,777 in 2010.
That year, the black population represented 82.69 percent of Detroit’s
residents.
In the 1950s when I was in high school,
inner-city Detroit basketball players reflected the population as a whole, and
were mainly white.
Those who lived in Detroit’s Jewish
neighborhoods were most likely to attend Detroit Central High, Cass Technical
High, or Northwestern High. Each year, Jews moved further north, trying to
escape the inevitable, and the upstart pink and blue Mumford High became the
public school to attend. This was just before the Jewish exodus to the safety
of the near suburbs and beyond.
Among those high school basketball
players who happen to be Jewish, were the Four Gees. Those of you from the Detroit area were sent an
email letter with clues, and now we will make it easier for you by telling a
story about each of them.
If you have any recollections of your
own, send them our way. The winning entry will receive the admiration of all of
the other Detroit-area recipients, along with a special prize — two tickets to
the next Saturday matinee at either the Dexter or Avalon movie houses.
THE FOUR GEES
Ralph Goldstein played for Central High,
and was a First Team PSL member. He was captain of the University of Detroit
Titans in 1955-56. He died on June 30, 1988 at the age of 53.
Jerry Greenberg played for Central High
from 1949-1952, and was a Third Team PSL selection in 1952. He was a member of
the Wayne University Tartars (now the Warriors), who won 17 and lost only one
game in the 1955-56 season. The team made it to the sweet sixteen before losing
to the University of Kentucky.
Fred Goldberg was a varsity basketball
and baseball player at Northwestern High, and was awarded a scholarship to
Detroit Institute of Technology. He became a coach and an athletic director,
and died in Arizona.
Walter Godfrey played basketball and
baseball for Cass Tech, and was a Second Team All-State basketball selection in
1952. He was a starting guard for
Michigan State University from 1954-1956. He was also the starting pitcher on
the Spartan's Big 10 championship baseball team in 1954.
Find my recent and
semi-regular writings here on
the new Ho-Ho-Kus Cogitator blog, and there are current essays
here, on What I Have to
Stay.
You can also find earlier
writings here
on the original Ho-Ho-Kus Cogitator blog, and other
writings here on
the Huffington Post.
If you like, add bookmarks
for these writings.
When you want to relax, try
the calming exercise movements while learning Yiddish, found in his book The
Oy Way — Following the Path of Most Resistance, by going here. Then click on YOU TUBE on the left side, and
you will begin to find di zakhtkayt — tranquility.
