Scholastic Roundup: When Shorty took to Broadway

April 21, 2023 Andy Furman

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Dave (Shorty) Newmark will be inducted into the Jewish Sports Heritage Association Hall of Fame this Sunday for basketball – but there was a time the Lincoln High – and later Columbia University star – took his talents to the Broadway stage.

The seven-foot Newmark was an understudy to Murray Tanenbaum in “The Roar of the Grease Paint, the Smell of the Crowd,” a musical that played at the Shubert Theater.

Tanenbaum, who is 7-3, played plenty of basketball himself and because of his size proved perfect for the role of “The Bully,” in this play, according to a New York Times report, October 31, 1965.

Finding an understudy for a man 7-3 is not the easiest casting problem than can arise on Broadway, The New York Times reported. However, one theatrical agent who knew Newmark called him – and he decided to give it a try.

“I’d never given anything like this any thought at all,” he told The Times. “It just seemed a way to make some extra money.”

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Newmark told The Times: “Maybe I’m not as struck by the glamour of being in the theater every night, as much as I was at first – I’m getting used to that – but I’m enjoying being out on the stage more.

“What I do is supposed to be funny, and it’s simple. You certainly don’t have to be a great actor to do it, but I get a real satisfaction out of having the audience laugh and respond to what I do.”

According to The Times report, “The Bully” is on stage for about five minutes altogether, late in the second act. He has about five lines. Newmark has played the part several times when Tanenbaum has been indisposed, and because most of the show can be spent in his dressing room, he gets a lot of study time there.”

Newmark told The Times, “It is a rewarding experience. If you can get out there in front of an audience dressed in a ridiculous costume, and do the things you’re supposed to, other things shouldn’t be too frightening after that.”

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Stu Kerzner, the former Erasmus Hall High and later Providence College star had some comments about his teammate – Dave Newmark – on the 1966 Pan American Maccabiah Team.

“Dave and Barry Leibowitz were my teammates on a team that won a gold medal by beating Brazil in double-overtime in the championship game in front of 100,000 fans on a court constructed in the middle of a soccer stadium in Sao Paulo,” he said.

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It’s being called, The Last Hurrah – this Saturday, April 22nd – Head Coach Tom Giovatto and the St. Francis, Brooklyn men’s soccer team are set to host “Legends Day” honoring the Terriers’ great tradition of success and giving the current roster one more opportunity to take the pitch on Pier Five at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Terrier Alumni will play a friendly against the 2023 squad starting at 11 am on Pier Five. The St. Francis, Brooklyn athletic program will cease at the end of the school year.

The Terrier men’s tennis team defeated FDU 4-2 to win the Northeast Conference Championship for the first-time in program history. Graduate student Luis Foix Sotos, the tournament MVP, captured the victory Sunday, with his singles win. “It’s an incredible feeling,” said Head Coach Chad Davis.

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The top-seeded LIU women’s tennis team won the NEC postseason championship and clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament with a 4-0 win against second-seeded Sacred Heart, Sunday. Leo Boisseau’s 6-2, 7-6 win at second-singles closed out the match. Earlier, Victoria Erechtchenko at first singles and Saki Oyama at third singles also won in straight sets.

The NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships will be held May 17-27 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.

LIU’s softball team completed a series sweep at Stonehill Saturday with a pair of victories. The Sharks defeated the Skyhawks, 12-2 and 6-1.

In Game 1, Gabby Padilla and Alexia Castro homered. Kira Buckner limited Stonehill to one earned-run on three hits in a complete game.
In the nightcap, Alyssa O’Donnell struck out nine while limiting Stonehill to one run and four hits in a complete game.

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Craig Pazarecki has been named the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Men’s Tennis Player of the Week. Helping Brooklyn College to a 2-0 mark on the week with both wins in conference play, Pazarecki was undefeated in both doubles and singles.

Brooklyn College sophomore pitcher Danielle Guzzardi has been named the conference’s Pitcher of the Week and shortstop Melanie Millan won Rookie of the Week honors. Both helped the Bulldogs to a 4-0 mark on the week with four straight wins over York College.

Guzzardi was 4-0 last week against the Cardinals, pitching a perfect five-inning game on the road and two no-hitters at home last Friday. She finished the week with a 0.00 ERA and struck out 36 batters in 19 innings pitched.

Millan went five-for-nine on the week, with a double and triple while hitting .556.

Brooklyn’s men’s volleyball team closed their 2023 season with a pair of sweeps at York College. The Bulldogs end their season with a 10-16 overall mark, surpassing last season’s win total by four. Freshman outside hitter Jiaian Flanders, was named to the CUNYAC Sportsmanship Team.

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Outside hitter Sebastiann Perez was selected a Second-Team CUNYAC volleyball All-Star from Medgar-Evers College, while setter Austin Romeo earned the conference’s Sportsmanship Award.

Perez was a dominant force in the CUNY Athletic Conference – he was ninth in CUNY in digs (145) and the outside hitter breached double-digit kills in 13 of the Cougars’ 20 matches this season, notching 20 or-more kills four times.

Romeo earned the Sportsmanship award as co-captain during the 2023 season. He was one of the top setters in the CUNY Athletic Conference (418 assists, fourth in the conference).

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Christina Sancho-Spore collected a top-10 finish taking ninth in the women’s 1500 for a collegiate best (5:11.00) for Pratt Institute in the Middlesex College Invitational, Saturday. Fernanda Alatorre nearly matched her personal best in the 1500 with a time of 5:47.71.

Ella Ambroggio bested her discus mark with a heave of 22.2-m. Kayla Galvan posted a time of 21:.37 in her first-time competing in the hurdles.

For the men, Daniel Bhopaul ran his first sub-5:00, 1500-meter of the season (4:55.36). David Valentine ran a near-matching time (4:55.77). Bruce Westgate paced the pack with a time of 4:37.00.

Evan Wu posted a 3.93-m in the long jump. The 4×100 relay of Devaun Longley, Wu, Ian Chen and Aaron Nisbett had a time of 50.19.

Pratt’s women’s tennis team suffered their second loss of the season falling to Empire 8 Champion Hartwick College, 9-0 Sunday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

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St. Edmund Prep grad Louis Lombardi belted a three-run homer to help Brooklyn’s St. Joseph’s University to a 7-5 Game 1 victory over the United States Merchant Marine Academy, Sunday.

The Bears dropped the nightcap, 9-5.

James Madison High grad Justin Conaty pitched the seventh inning and secured his first save of the year.

In Game 2, rookie Matt Arcati from Brooklyn’s Williamsburg Prep, scored a run and went three-for-four at the plate.

Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected] Twitter:” @AndyFurmanFSR