DATE: Saturday, May 3, 1997                 TAG: 9705030317

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Bob Molinaro 

                                            LENGTH:   70 lines

30 YEARS LATER, GOLDBLATT FINALLY RECOGNIZED

The idea was Abe's. Has there ever been any question of that?

On Jan. 8, 1967, in the pages of The Virginian-Pilot, Abe Goldblatt wrote of the need for a Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. It should be established, he wrote, in Portsmouth, his home town.

``He was the original spark,'' his oldest son, Danny, says today. ``It's a matter of public record.''

The son can show you his father's yellowed newspaper clippings. He can enter into evidence the earliest correspondence between his father and members of the House of Delegates, in which a plan for the Hall of Fame is first discussed.

``He introduced the idea,'' says Danny.

But as the Hall of Fame took shape, as committees were formed, artifacts collected and athletes honored with their special niches, Abe Goldblatt ``was pushed aside,'' says his son.

``To my knowledge,'' Danny, 43, says, ``he was never given credit when he was alive. That has always troubled my family.''

``I don't think,'' Danny added, ``you can deny forever where the idea came from.''

No one is denying it anymore. Thirty years after Abe Goldblatt publicly proposed the idea, 2 1/2 years after his death at 79, the long-time sports writer and Hampton Roads institution has been recognized by officials of the Hall of Fame.

``I applaud them,'' Danny says. ``It's a step forward.''

Friday night, at a banquet at the Holiday Inn Olde Towne, the Hall of Fame presented Marie Goldblatt a special media award in honor of her late husband.

In the program notes it is written that Abe Goldblatt ``was also credited with the idea of creating a Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, and was instrumental in its eventual establishment in Portsmouth.''

Were Abe alive, what would he have said on such a momentous occasion?

Says Danny, ``He would have said, `I haven't gotten this much attention since I was circumcised.' ''

That was Abe. For 63 years, the newspaper business was his calling. But his avocation was making people laugh. A popular banquet speaker, this Porch-muth original had the timing of a Borsch Belt comic.

He once wrote a column, ``Famous Jewish Athletes I Have Known,'' in which he included the great African-American basketball player Julius Erving.

``With a name like that,'' Abe reasoned, ``he should have been Jewish.''

But behind the smiles and the one-liners, Goldblatt harbored a resentment. He never felt he was given his due when it came to the Hall of Fame.

``I know that it bothered him,'' Danny Goldblatt says.

Today, we applaud the Hall of Fame for finally coming around, but offer a suggestion: Honor the sportsmen and sports writers while they are still here to enjoy it.

No wonder Danny Goldblatt says of his father's award: ``It's overdue.'' And, he believes, underdone.

``There is a rightful place for the person who originally conceived the idea,'' he notes.

And that place, he contends, is among the athletes and coaches in the Hall of Fame.

Neither Abe, nor the four other sports writers and editors honored, have been inducted into the Hall. They will be recognized in a media wing.

His father ``shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame for working 63 years as a sports writer,'' says Danny. ``But the work he did in inspiring the Hall of Fame qualifies him.''

Still, as Danny himself said, this is a step forward. Lingering, nettlesome questions about the origins of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame have been put to rest. And it took only 30 years. ILLUSTRATION: In 1967, Abe Goldblatt wrote of the need for a

Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

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