Herman Fishman (March 7, 1917 – December 14, 1967) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player and the founder of the sports camp, Camp Michigama. He played

and

for the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

from 1935–1938 and was selected for the All Big Ten basketball and baseball teams. He was inducted into the

University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor The University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan#Athletics, University of Michigan sportsperson, athletes, Coach (sports), coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to t ...

in 2002. He was also inducted into the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1987.

Early years

Fishman grew up in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, and attended Detroit Northern High School where he was named to the All-City teams in basketball,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, and baseball. He also won the state tennis championship while in high school.

University of Michigan

Fishman enrolled at the

where he played for the varsity basketball and baseball teams and quarterbacked the freshman football team. He earned six

varsity letter A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met. A person who ...

s at Michigan, three in basketball (1936–38) and three in baseball (1936–38). In basketball, Fishman played guard and played in 54 games for Michigan. He led the Big Ten Conference guards in scoring, and was selected for the All Big Ten basketball team. He was also named to the

Jewish Telegraphic Agency The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) is an international news agency and wire service that primarily covers Judaism- and Jewish-related topics and news. Described as the "Associated Press of the Jewish media", JTA serves Jewish and non-Jewish news ...

's Jewish All-American team. In baseball, Fishman was a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

who helped Michigan win the Big Ten baseball championship in 1936. He was selected to the All-Big Ten baseball team. In 1936, he set a Big Ten conference pitching record with an

ERA An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

of 0.86; his record was not broken until the 1950s. He and his three brothers Ben, Manny, and Mickey are the only four brothers in the history of the University of Michigan to all earn varsity letters. His son Steve also was a varsity letterwinner in basketball, playing at U-M from 1967–70.

Professional baseball and World War II

After graduating from University of Michigan, Herman pitched in the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

minor league organization, and advanced to their Triple A team. Upon the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

entry into

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Fishman enlisted in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

. During the war, Fishman played on a military all-star team that was managed by

Mickey Cochrane Gordon Stanley "Mickey" Cochrane (April 6, 1903 – June 28, 1962), nicknamed "Black Mike", was an American professional baseball player, manager and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and De ...

and included

Bob Feller Robert William Andrew Feller (November 3, 1918 – December 15, 2010), nicknamed "the Heater from Van Meter", "Bullet Bob", and "Rapid Robert", was an American baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Clevel ...

. He went overseas in the Navy and was a World War II intelligence veteran.

Camp Michigama and sports promoter

After the war, Fishman and his brother Mickey Fishman founded a sports camp called Camp Michigama. The camp was staffed by former college athletes and became a popular summer camp for Michigan's best Jewish athletes. Fishman and his brother ran the camp from 1946–1966. During the 1950s and 1960s, Fishman was active in Sports for Israel, an organization that raised money to stimulate sports in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. He also served on the board of directors of the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

from 1957–1967.

Death and posthumous honors

Fishman died in 1967 at age 50 at the Jewish Community Center in Detroit after playing

squash Squash most often refers to: * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (plant), the fruit of vines of the genus ''Cucurbita'' Squash may also refer to: Sports * Squash (professional wrestling), an extr ...

. He was posthumously inducted into the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2002, he was also inducted into the

. In a profile written about the 2002 Hall of Honor inductees, the ''

Michigan Daily ''The Michigan Daily'', also known as "''The Daily''", is the independent student newspaper of the University of Michigan published in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Established on September 29, 1890, the newspaper is financially and editorially independe ...

'' called Fishman one of the university's "most versatile athletes." In 2008, Fishman was selected by Bounce Magazine to the Detroit All-Decade basketball team for the 1930s.

Notes