MIKE ZUSMAN

Mike Zusman,Steve Srhoy and John Ravlich after their 2006 State Triples win

June 22, 2011

Mike Zusman remembers his first meeting with the maestro, Peter Sardelic.

"I'd played eight games of pennants and, with my mate Alan Faigen and Darryl Gilbert, entered the State Triples, where we ran into Sardy, Bin Jeffries, and Steve Srhoy," he recalled. "Alan and I did OK for a couple of new bowlers, but it was the weighted shots from Peter that destroyed us....

Early in the game I commented to our skip: "this bloke has no weight control, he's been a bit lucky so far." "After losing by fifteen, we found out that we'd been up against an Australian representative. "Sorry, mate, I didn't think you could play," wasn't the best line I could have come up with at the time, but it was graciously accepted by Sardy."

Mike also played in a State two bowl singles event at Manning that year. "I had a bag with four bowls, a piece of chalk, and a measure," he said. "It pelted down, I got drenched, so I rang my father in law, a member of Alexander Park, asking: "what happens now?"

Zusman ran into Sardelic a short time later when Peter was playing for Australia against New Zealand at Bedford, and was surprised to receive an invitation to join him at Cockburn. "Cockburn?" was Mike's incredulous reply. "You blokes are too good for me." "We always have room for good players," said the astute Sardelic.

It was to be the beginning of a long and memorable association, with the pair successful both nationally and internationally, Zusman gaining a permanent place in the strong Cockburn top division red sixteen after just four games in one gold.
A fierce competitor himself, Sardelic undoubtedly recognised the same qualities in the younger man. Talented in many fields of endeavour, Michael Zusman's success in each has been achieved through many hours of single minded dedication and practice. Anyone driving past Alexander Park Bowling Club at 6.00 am any morning in late 1986 or early 1987 would have spotted the lonely figure practicing his drawing skills.

As a ten year old pianist, Zusman won the junior section of the WA Music Festival over a hundred and ninety contestants, in consecutive years winning from third to seventh grade before beating all comers at open level at the age of fourteen.

At the same time he was showing promise on the tennis court, beating Wally Foreman in the final of Mt Lawley Tennis Club's under ten championships before being ranked number four in the State at under eleven level, winning the under fifteen championship later at Wesley College, and was runner up in the doubles with Trevor O'Sullivan.

A promising footballer, Mike played for Alexander Park in the Temperance League under coach Laurie Bandy, with Trevor Jenkins, Peter, Jeff and Brian Daniel, and John Bandy among his team mates. Used as a rover throughout his football career, he teamed with Kerry McCarthy in each under age year and eventually at East Perth with reserves and thirds, where team mates included Hans Verstegen, Ian McCulloch, Gary Bygraves, Grant Dorrington and Mark O'Donoghue.

While at the Royals, the club advised some of their players to join the Naval Reserve at Leeuwin to avoid being sent interstate if called up for National Service, and along with others including Mal Brown and Brad Smith, Mike did so, winding up playing the clarinet with the Royal Australian Naval Reserve Band.

Zusman's grandparents owned a drycleaning business in Fremantle, and it was at their request that he moved to Melbourne, effectively ending his flirtation with East Perth, but after only four months the eighteen year old was thrust into the running of the shop, which employed a staff of thirty.

Lining up with Old Wesley in the Amateurs, Mike was selected in the State squad, coached by Peter Tannock, but was forced to withdraw due to an injury, with Alan Quartermaine, later to win a Sandover Medal, taking his place. Quartermaine went on to gain a place in two All Australian Amateur teams. Zusman later went to Southern Ports, who had a cosmopolitan mix of Slavs, Portuguese, Italians, a couple of smart aboriginal boys, and South Fremantle players Ray Stewart and Tony Amoroso. He played his last game in 1981 at Osborne Park, with a fitting one point premiership win over Hamilton Hill. "It was played in a colossal wind, with only one point being scored at one end," he recalled.

"I was sports mad," Mike said, and that was an understatement, because while all of this was going on he found time to excel at cricket, where he was a leading wicketkeeper and opening batsman. A Darlot Cup representative at Wesley, he later played with Maccabeans and was selected for the Western Australian Cricket Union team that went to New South Wales, where he hit a hundred and seventeen against the home side.

With a guarantee of playing in their top side, Mike went to Fremantle Cricket Club, and was part of a resurgence from bottom to a flag, with Ross Edwards, Ross Ditchburn, Peter Gonnella, Darryl Smith, Graeme Wood, Graham Porter, David Boyd and Tim Cusack some of the members of the premiership side. Zusman won the club batting averages and aggregate in 1981, and was runner up to Porter for player of the year.

TAILENDER PIC
.......................


He still holds the Fremantle record for most dismissals as a wicketkeeper, and his effort of four catches and three stumpings in an innings against Melville stood as a State benchmark for many years.

It was Zusman's rivalry with Faigen that was the catalyst for him turning his attention to the bowling green after retiring from cricket in 1986 at the age of thirty eight. Alan had joined Alexander Park Bowling Club the previous season, and was doing well. "I thought: "This bastard's no better than me," said Mike, and rang his father in law, Harry Saker, who was a member of the club. Saker invited him down one Sunday morning and after drawing a popsicle and learning the drill, Zusman decided that he liked the game.

Self employed at the time, he spent every available minute at the club, and was soon asked by Frank Shortill and Fred Carter to lead for them, the trio haunting Mt Lawley, Sportsmens, Bayswater, and Bedford clubs in everything that was going. Mike was thrust into first division as lead for Leon Bell, and won the club pairs with Faigen, as well as the triples with Faigen and Bell. His career gained momentum at Cockburn, and within four years he was in the State side for the first of his eighty five games in Western Australian colours.

A member of the Australian contingent at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, Zusman was fortunate to survive the catastrophic accident. The failure of a pedestrian bridge over the Yarkon River in Tel Aviv, Israel, on July 14, 1997 killed four and injured 60 Australian athletes who were visiting Israel to participate. One of the athletes died during the collapse, but the other three were killed afterwards by infections caused by exposure to the polluted river water.

He was invited to the United States to play in the US Bowls Open soon after the disaster, and teamed with Sardelic and Ben Wainstein from England to win the triples that year. Returning two years later, the trio were successful again, while Sardelic and Zusman won the pairs as well.
There were aspects of the game in America that perplexed Sardelic, including the occasion that he called for an umpire's measure. "Out came a carpenters measure, the bloke put a thumb on the end of it, and pulled a bowl out in two seconds," Mike recalled. "That's a cowboy measure if ever I've seen one," observed Peter, much to the chagrin of the home official, who, when politely advised of Sardelic's bowls qualifications, announced: "Ah doan care who you are, any more outta you man and you're outta here!"

It was in 1997 that Zusman joined the bowls forum on radio, and was later approached by BowlsWA to host the Channel 31 show with Neville Faulkner and Beryl Godfrey. It has been a fourteen year association with the media, and his dulcet tones are still gracing the radio waves.

..............L/R: Colin Minson and Mike Zusman at Holdfast Bay in Sth Australia 2010
............

A former vice president of Fremantle Cricket Club, Mike has served in several capacities at Cockburn Bowling Club. He has three children, all of whom are lawyers, with Michael in America, Darren in Perth, and Natasha in Sydney.
Zusman made a comeback to the cricket arena four years ago, playing with Maccabi in a one day game when they were a man short. " I bowled two overs for one for ten, made six not out off five balls, and did a hammy," he laughed. He still puts his musical talents to good use, singing with the Synagogue Choir at the Perth Hebrew Congregation, and is a member of the combined choir that performs at concerts.

Mike Zusman's achievements at bowls are many. He has won three Masters Fours, a Masters Pairs, a State Triples, as well as runner up in a State Fours and equal third in two State Pairs, a Mt Lawley Consistency Singles, Manning Open Mixed Singles(twice), a WA Indoor Singles, United States Triples(twice) and Pairs, was a member of three Alley Shield winning sides, every club event at Cockburn, and was a member of sixteen first division pennant champion sides.

Mike considers his singles win against the great Peter Bellos in the Ford Open on the Gold Coast in the late nineties as his greatest achievement


Other sporting highlights include WA Jewish Sportsman of the Year seven times, two premierships with Fremantle Cricket Club, and a member of Australia's Maccabi Games Team on three occasions.

--------Premiers L/R: , Graham Porter, Peter Gonnella, Mike Zusman, Daryl Smith
..

Best bowler for Mike was Peter "Mr Magic" Sardelic, a brilliant skipper, king of the draw Dennis Katunarich, with a special mention for Anthony Provost...

A man of many talents, and one who has been successful in getting the most from his abilities in several sports, he is still a leading light on the Western Australian bowls scene, not only on the green but as a promoter of the sport. It may have rained on Mike Zusman's parade at Manning that day in 1986, but his career since then has been anything but damp.

RON HEAD