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Page 20 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN September-October 2007 Schwartz on Sports Andy Lipman was born in 1973 with cystic fibrosis (CF). It’s a debilitating, incurable, and usually fatal disease that attacks thousands of youngsters. CF causes the body to produce abnormally thick, sticky mucus, due to the faulty transport of sodium and chloride within cells lining organs such as the lungs and pancreas. Doctors told Andy’s parents that he’d be lucky to live to age 25. The same disease killed Andy’s sister, Wendy, who lived only 16 days. On his 25th birthday, Andy picked up a pen and began writing his story, Alive at 25: How I’m Beating Cystic Fibrosis. At age 34, he’s living an active life as a husband, father, son, and brother. He’s met 34 years of challenges with courage and determination, and I’m proud to be able to tell a small part of his story in The Jewish Georgian. I first heard about Andy Lipman from Susan Andre of the Wish For Wendy Foundation. She thought his story would be an inspiring one for The Jewish Georgian readers. After meeting and talking with Andy and reading Alive at 25, I agreed that Susan was completely right. Andy grew up in the Dunwoody area, graduated from Dunwoody High School, and attended the University of Georgia, where he was a member of the TEP fraternity and graduated with a degree in business administration with a minor in Spanish. His story could be similar to that of hundreds of Jewish boys, except that Andy had to fight daily a disease that, as Boomer Esiason put it, is ugly and fatal. Andy realized he was different from other kids. He coughed all the time. His parents had to give him daily therapy, spending 30 to 60 minutes pounding on his chest and back to break up the thick mucus in his lungs that could literally suffocate him. There were no overnight camping trips, and playing the typical kids games was difficult. Andy couldn’t be like anyone else. He knew he had a terminal disease, and that was tough emotionally. He read at age seven about CF in an encyclopedia and learned that he BY Jerry Schwartz might not live to 25. Now, what would you say if I told you that this sickly boy is not only 34 but has run 11 Peachtree Road Races, the most recent in July 2007 with his wife Andrea, who has run the race five times? Andrea’s story is also an inspirational one of courage. She has beaten thyroid cancer and lives with multiple sclerosis. Along with 18month-old daughter Avery, they call themselves the “the A Team.” Andy was selected to carry the Olympic torch in December of 2001, after his wife and friends nominated him. His 2/10-mile run was in Athens, near his fraternity house at UGA. He said that next to getting married and becoming a father, it was the greatest experience of his life. Andy then nominated his wife, and she was selected to carry the Olympic torch in 2004. I wonder how many other husband-and-wife teams have shared this honor. Not only did Andy start writing his book at age 25, but he also found out at that time that his sister, Wendy, died in infancy from CF. Her death, although tragic, probably saved Andy’s life, because when he was born, he was immediately diagnosed with CF and started receiving treatment. In honor of Wendy, the Wish For Wendy Foundation was formed in 2001, with its major goal to raise awareness of CF. His sister’s memory has been an inspiration to Andy all of his life. Andy is also the organizer of a yearly softball tournament that has raised over $400,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This year’s tournament will be held on November 3 at Alpharetta Park. There will be 16 teams involved, corporate sponsorships, the Atlanta Falcons Cheerleaders, a silent auction, and celebrity guests. ENTERPRISES, INC. Shopping Centers Leasing • Management • Development (770) 451-0318 Shirley Halpern Jack & Lynn Halpern Carolyn & Steve Oppenheimer Andy told me that there have been many challenges and setbacks along the way. His lowest point was probably at age 20, when he was at college. He stopped taking his medication, was sick all the time, and dropped down to 120 pounds. He was depressed and had about given up, but something happened to change that. A basketball game at his fraternity needed one more player. He was the only person available, and so he tried to play. He was knocked down, and one guy made a derogatory remark—”Joining any weight-lifting contests anytime soon?” At that low point, Andy made a determined effort to take better care of himself. He started lifting weights again and running. Six months later, during a basketball game, he knocked down the guy who taunted him. His whole attitude about life, physically and emotionally, changed drastically. Andy’s second book, A Superhero Needs No Cape, is a story about dreams, dedication, and desire. The book is dedicated to his parents, Eva and Charles, “who taught me how to step up to the plate on and off the field.” Andy is planning book number three, which will center on CF as it relates to the parenting experience. If it’s like his first two, it will be well worth reading. I asked Andy what he does daily to take care of himself. He gets up at 5:00 a.m., takes his 40 pills, goes through 30-60 minutes of therapy, works out with weights in his home gym for 30 minutes, and tries to run at least once a week. Then he gets dressed and goes to work as a purchasing director for a heating and air-conditioning company. Andy told me his inspirational message: “Live your dreams, love your life.” It’s a message that he’s lived for 34 years. When he was in 6th grade, a fellow student asked him if he was going to die. He didn’t have an answer then, but he has one now. “Sure, I’m going to die—when I’m done living.” Andy Lipman is an inspiration for all of us. Andy Lipman, holding his book, stands in front of the sculpture Winning at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta. A JEWISH GEORGIAN AT THE NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES. It used to be that when I thought about Louisville, Kentucky, I thought about Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), Rick Pitino, Rich Petrino, Freedom Hall, Churchill Downs, and the Louisville Slugger bat. That was before this June. Now I have another memory: the National Senior Games, which were held in Louisville, June 22-July 7. I was a member of the Atlanta Classics, which participated in the 3X3 half-court basketball tournament, one of 17 sports events. We qualified by winning the Georgia Golden Olympics in September 2006. The basketball competition was held at the Kentucky Exposition Center, right next to Freedom Hall, where the University of Louisville plays. There were 16 courts set up, and basketball was played from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. every day. Our age group, 65-69, participated during a four-day span in which we played nine games, finishing with a record of seven wins, two losses. We made the “Elite Eight” and finished 6th in the country. It was great competition and a great experience. Luckily, our seven players were Roger Kaiser, two-time All American at Georgia Tech; Jimmy Pitts and Alan Johnson, who started at UGA; Paul Vickers; Bill Ide; Dave Hinderliter; and myself. It was good that we had a 7-player team, because we played nine games in four days. Most of the guys brought their wives, and we had a great time eating out together. The wives—Martha Vickers, Janice Pitts, Judy Johnson, Beverly Kaiser, and Nancy Schwartz—were our cheerleaders and fan club all rolled into one. Our team is moving in the right direction. In 2003, at the games in Hampton Falls, Virginia, we didn’t win a game. In 2005, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, we made it to the “Sweet Sixteen” and now the “Elite Eight.” Our goal for San Francisco in 2009 will be a “Final Four,” that is, if we can find a 65-69 year old guy who is 6’ 7” and can still play basketball! Louisville is a great city, very tourist friendly, and we had a chance to tour the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory and get some souvenir bats for our grandkids. We even saw bats from Braves Jeff Francoeur and Andruw Jones on display. (Andruw’s had a hole in it....just kidding.) Also, if you ever get to Louisville, you have to eat at Proof, which is downtown. It is a unique experience, one you’ll never forget. The Atlanta Classics: (from left) Alan Johnson, Paul Vickers, Roger Kaiser, Bill Ide, Jimmy Pitts, Dave Hinderliter, and Jerry Schwartz Hope you enjoyed reading this edition. Until next time, drive for the bucket and score.
September-October 2007 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 21 The Blumberg Report The Days of Awe—High Holy Days, as we have come to know them—are a time for reflection and renewal. They are like an extended annual Shabbat in which we try to catch up with all of the Sabbaths that we have missed during the year. We attend services, sit quietly listening (or not listening) to the rabbi, praying or not praying as the liturgy indicates, singing or not singing with the cantor and the choir. We greet friends, many of whom we haven’t seen since the last High Holy Days, exchange comments on the rabbi’s sermon, and hopefully internalize some of the ideas from it. Observant or not, we take time to think. We come away from the sanctuary mindful of what has been, invigorated for what will be. Scholarly conferences are something like that. They give us an opportunity to relax and reflect, to listen and learn, to gain inspiration, to schmooze with friends whom we haven’t seen since last year’s conference, to retool our intellect for tomorrow’s challenge. That is why I look forward each year to the annual conference of the Southern Jewish Historical Society. I anticipate its meeting this year and next with special pleasure, because this year it will be in Washington, D.C., where I live, and next year it will be in Atlanta, my hometown. Both events promise exciting programs in cities replete with unique offerings in terms of history and community. As chair of the host committee for the upcoming 2007 conference in D.C., I have been blessed with a superb group of friends who generate ideas and expedite them enthusiastically. Most members, like me, are transplants from farther south, and a few, such as former Texan Maryann Friedman, who serves as host committee co-chair, are longtime members of SJHS. Conference details The Southern Jewish Historical Society will welcome the nation’s preeminent scholars of Southern Jewish history to a historic gathering, November 2-4. The three-day conference, “Honoring the Past for the Sake of the Future,” will be the society’s 32nd and the first to be held in Washington, D.C. The SJHS, whose membership is determined by scholarship and not geography, defines its focus as the study of Jews from Baltimore to mid-Texas and the Caribbean. In addition to its academic journal, Southern Jewish History, it also publishes a quarterly newsletter, The Rambler, and offers grants for research and travel and an annual book prize. The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington, co-sponsor of the conference, expects some 150 scholars and students to participate in the three-day meeting, which will feature provocative discussions on topics ranging from the Jewish response to Hurricane Katrina, to “failures and successes” among East BY Janice Rothschild Blumberg Other Georgians on our team are Carole Ashkinaze and Rabbi Michael Safra from Atlanta and Mary Beth Schiffman from Columbus. While it is the host committee’s duty to make everyone welcome and supervise operations, the real tachlis—the meat of the meet—is in the capable hands of another Atlantan, Mark K. Bauman, and his Program Co-Chair Stephen Whitfield. Bauman shares another distinction, however, as editor of the society’s annual journal, Southern Jewish History, now celebrating its 10th consecutive year of publication. Beginning with a slim volume in 1998, with very few illustrations and no advertising, its latest issue is almost twice that size, includes book reviews, offers numerous illustrations with each of six essays, and proudly displays eight pages of advertising by notable publishers. This success is due not only to the quality of its peer-reviewed contents, which Bauman nurtures with professorial discipline and discrimination, but also, in great part, to the diligence of Managing Editor Rachel Heimovics. Together, they have made Southern Jewish History a gift eagerly anticipated each October by SJHS members, who receive it automatically. Copies are available for purchase through Heimovics at 954 Stonewood Lane, Maitland FL 32751 or by e-mail at journal@jewishsouth.org. A glance at the subjects dealt with dur- European Jews in Texas, to a consideration of mid-twentieth-century quotas and institution building in the U.S. Organizers are also planning a special briefing at the Israeli Embassy, a behindthe-scenes tour of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and a reception at the home of the celebrated Jewish cookbook author Joan Nathan, featuring some of her favorite recipes. Conference headquarters will be at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland, with opening sessions at the 6th and I Synagogue and the Library of Congress, and Shabbat dinner and services at the Washington Hebrew Congregation. The community is invited; advanced registration is required. For further information, contact Stephen J. Whitfield, stevewhitfield@ juno.com or 781-736-3035; Janice Rothschild Blumberg, jorb@verizon.net or 202-362-3047; or Mark K. Bauman, markkbauman@ aol.com, 404-366-3306, or 678-428-3622. ing these ten years of publication tells much about the enormous diversity of Southern Jewish history and the widespread interest among scholars who research it. Geographical and chronological gamuts run from the memoir of a Jewish woman on the Florida frontier to Kinky Friedman in contemporary Texas; from a study of Alsatian Jewish immigrants in the Mississippi Delta by Anny Bloch of Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg, France, to anti-Jewish violence in the New South by Patrick Q. Mason of Notre Dame and Jewish response to civil rights by British historian Clive Webb. Southern Jewish History also provides interesting profiles of Jewish Georgians. The story of noted Atlanta educator Annie Teitlebaum Wise and the city’s school system, by Atlanta educational consultant Arlene G. Rotter, appeared in 2001. In the most recent issue, there is a well-illustrated essay on Rabbi David Marx and Atlanta’s religious diversity in the early 20th century, written by George R. Wilkes of Cambridge University in England. My own work on Rabbi Edward B.M. (Alphabet) Browne and his founding of the South’s first Jewish newspaper in Atlanta was featured in the 2001 volume—and, likewise, in the 2006 volume, one about his wife, Sophie Weil Browne of Columbus, describing the ongoing activities of the Century Club, which she founded there in 1900. It would be presumptuous to claim Southern Jewish History as the bible of its field, but, thus far, it has no rivals for that exalted position. We invite you to decide for yourself. Join us for the upcoming Washington Conference (registration includes 2007-2008 dues for new members) and, in addition to receiving Southern Jewish History, you will get all the benefits of that once-a-year intellectual invigoration that follows your spiritual reinvigoration of High Holy Days at shul.
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