Last night, a friend of mine invited me to a wonderful Hall of Fame induction dinner and ceremony.
The organization is called:
The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
This was advertised as the 22nd Induction Ceremony.
Of the 16 inductees, five had UCLA connections and many had attended Hamilton High.. And in their acceptance speeches, they spoke proudly and earnestly about their years past and present.
They are:
Josh Rosen - Football
Ted Sobel - Media
Aurelia Nattiv - Sports Medicine
Larry Nagler - Tennis
Dwight Stones - Track & Field.
Stones, who converted to Judaism many years ago appeared to be the most Jewish of all the recipients. He attends synagogue regularly and is close to his rabbi. He also said that Rafer Johnson thought of himself as being Jewish.
It was a wonderful joyous evening.
The only problem was the chicken was very tough.