The first executive director of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Dr. Simri is recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities and educators on physical education and physical culture.

The Austrian-born Simri is the author of more than 20 books, an international lecturer, and governmental advisor. He has served as president of the Society of the History of Physical Education and Sport in Asia and secretary-treasurer of the International Society for Comparative Physical Education and Sport.

Since 1961, Dr. Simri has been associated with Israel’s Wingate Institute of Physical Education and Sport, the only physical education campus in the Middle East. He has held various key positions at Wingate, including terms as deputy director and scientific director. In 1963–64, the Israeli government assigned him to Ethiopia, where he served as director of athletics
at Haile Selassie University of Addis Ababa.

An international basketball (FIBA) referee from 1954 to 1962, Simri was the first-ever Israeli selected to officiate Olympic Games competition as a basketball referee at the 1956 Melbourne Games.

Simri immigrated to Palestine in 1934.