Three Israelis lead the 2022 class of Inductees into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Two recent Israeli Olympic gold medalists and a basketball legend help make up the 2022 class of inductees into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place on July 12 at Wingate Institute where the Hall of Fame is located. They are Rhythmic Gymnast Linoy Ashram, Gymnast Artem Dolgopyat, and Israeli Superstar Basketball’s Mickey Berkowitz.
This class also includes six Americans – Soccer star Jeff Agoos, Pro Bowling Hall of Famer Barry Asher, Baseball legend Thelma “Tiby” Eisen, Tennis great Brad Gilbert, NBA star Ernie Grunfeld, and Baseball standout Ian Kinsler. Australian Canoeist Jessica Fox rounds out the field, following her Olympic Gold Medal performance in Tokyo.
Grunfeld is the only NBA player in history to be the child of Holocaust survivors.
The Hall of Fame is also honoring the 1972 Israeli Olympians who were murdered at the Munich Olympics, commemorating the 50th anniversary of this tragedy.
This year’s Award of Excellence is being awarded to Maccabi World Union (MWU) and its CEO Eyal Tiberger, for their work in organizing the Maccabiah Games, the Jewish Olympics. The Maccabiah Games are the second largest international sports event held, behind the Olympics. This year’s Maccabiah will host more than 10,000 athletes from 80 countries. MWU has more than 400,000 members in 80 countries.
Election results are announced jointly by IJSHOF Chairman Jed Margolis (Dresher PA) and Honorary Chairman, R.Stephen Rubin of London.
The IJSHOF museum is currently in its 43rd year having recognized 430 athletes and administrators. The museum is located at Wingate Institute in Netanya, Israel. For information contact Jed Margolis at jed@jewishsportshof.org
We mourn the passing of Ike Berger, Lenny Rosenbluth, and Bob Spivak.