Monday, December 19, 2016

Richard Broer to Receive the 2017 Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award

FORT LAUDERDALE – The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) will recognize Richard Broer, for his extensive contributions to the administration of open water swimming with the 2017 Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award.  The Award will be presented to Richard, on Saturday evening, during the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies, on April 22nd at “The Chapel”, part of the Beaumont Estate in Old Windsor, England (close to Heathrow Airport).  The Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award is presented annually by International Swimming Hall of Fame to the organization or individual who has contributed the most to the administration of open water swimming.
This year’s award honors Richard Broer who played a major role in developing open water swimming for the last twenty years including the role as Chairperson of the Technical Open Water Committee of Royal Netherlands Swimming Association.   He is responsible for the yearly open water publication with all (association) events nationally, an extensive brochure on the ins and outs of open waters swimming nationally.   Richard brought the sport in the Netherlands to the web in 1998 with www.noww.nl which further promotes the events and the sport in general.   One indicator of the success of open water (including marathon) swimming in the Netherlands are the double Dutch marathon swimming gold medal winners in Rio in 2016:  Sharon Van Rouwendaal and Ferry Weertman.
His other internet initiative www.openwaterswimming.eu is a website for the European area. It concentrates on the event calendar for Europe. It is a proven instrument in attracting vacationing swimmers to swims in their holiday destination.
Broer also coaches: twenty IJsselmeer (13.5 mile/22 km swim) relay team over the years and a solo winner of the event plus a 100% success record for seven English Channel (21 mile/35 km swim) relay teams including two world speed records.
Richard is also an accomplished swimmer – continuing today: 1978 he won the Netherlands national competition with a still unmatched time and raced 1500m in under 16 minutes. He completed several solo marathons including Gibraltar Straits (9 mile/14.4 km swim), Flanders Marathon twice (9.9 mile/16 km swim) and the IJsselmeer (13.5 mile/22 km swim) three times.

For additional information, please call Ned Denison in Ireland at (+353) 87-987-1573 or ISHOF at (954) 462-6536, or visit http://www.ishof.org

About the ISHOF

The International Swimming Hall of Fame & Museum was established in 1965 as a not-for-profit educational organization in the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and was recognized by FINA, the international governing body for the Olympic aquatic sports, in 1968. The Mission of ISHOF is to PRESERVE and CELEBRATE aquatic history, to EDUCATE the general public about the importance of swimming as the key to water safety, drowning prevention, better health and a better quality of life, and to INSPIRE everyone to swim. ISHOF’s collection of swimming memorabilia, art, photos and films, along with archival documents and rare books in the Henning Library, make ISHOF the premier repository and academic research resource for swimming and aquatic history in the world. www.ishof.org

Friday, December 9, 2016

Sammy Lee, diver who became first Asian American to win Olympic medal, dies at 96

by Valerie J. Nelson, and Nathan Fenno

Dec. 3, 2016

Sammy Lee learned to dive at Pasadena’s Brookside Park pool, which until 1940 allowed people of color to use the facilities only on Wednesdays, the day before it was drained and refilled. His most reliable place to work out was waterless — a diving board installed over a sand pit he dug in his coach’s backyard.
The inescapable racism “inspired me to perform,” Lee, the son of Korean immigrants, once said. “I was angered, but I was going to prove that in America, I could do anything.”
Lee overcame discrimination to become the first Asian American to win an Olympic medal and the first diver to win back-to-back gold medals in two different Olympics — in London in 1948 and Helsinki in 1952.
In a Facebook post Saturday announcing Lee’s death, his daughter-in-law, Gina Lee, described him as a “true giant, a fearless leader, a magnificent and loving family man and a hero amongst the Olympic and Medical world....he dove into our hearts and will be truly missed.”
At 12, he was exposed to the Olympics while riding in his father’s Model T truck through Los Angeles streets decked out for the 1932 competition. When his father explained that the Games crown “the greatest athletes in the world,” Lee vowed to become an Olympic champion.
That summer, while playing at a Highland Park pool, a friend challenged him to do more than a single flip off the diving board. With his friend jumping behind him to provide extra lift, Lee immediately did a 1 1/2 somersault and ran home to tell his family he had found his sport, the Journal of Olympic History reported in 2002.
His Olympic quest began in earnest in the summer of 1938, while he was sneaking in practice dives between meets at the Los Angeles Swimming Stadium near the Coliseum. He looked over to see a bear of a man named Jim Ryan, who needled him to do a swan dive.
“I did what I thought was this perfect dive,” Lee told the Journal. “He said, ‘Who taught you that?’ When I told him, he said, ‘I want you to go over and kick him right in the butt. He’s trying to ruin you.’ ”
Ryan was nursing a grudge that rivaled his huge frame. He had coached Farid Simaika of Egypt to the gold at the 1928 Olympics but because of a “scoring error,” Simaika took home the silver instead, the Journal recounted. The gold went to Pete Desjardins, an American.
Cursing the judges, Ryan vowed to return with a nonwhite diver who could win without question.
“You are that diver,” Simaika told Lee. “That is why he is so tough on you. You will have to earn that gold by doing dives so well that they will not notice your color but only your diving.”
While attending Occidental College, Lee had become the 1942 national champion in platform and 3-meter springboard diving and won the platform title again in 1946. But World War II canceled the 1940 and 1944 Games, delaying his Olympic debut.
He finally reached the Games in 1948. As a 28-year-old lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps, Lee feared he had belly-flopped on his last dive at the London competition, a then-unprecedented 3 1/2 somersault, but he emerged from the water to discover it had been rated almost perfect.
“I just walked on water out of that pool,” he later recalled. He already had won the bronze medal in the 3-meter springboard.
Conflict again nearly kept Lee from competing in his second Olympics when he felt duty-bound to serve in the Korean War. His military superiors thought otherwise.
“Major Lee, we’ve only got one doctor who can win an Olympic gold medal. We’ve got hundreds of doctors who can repair the wounded. You can go, but you better win,” one of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s staff members told him, The Times reported in 2000.
At the Helsinki Games in 1952, the 5-foot-1 Lee won his second gold medal in platform diving on his 32nd birthday. The next year, he received the Sullivan Award, given to the nation’s outstanding amateur athlete.
As a diving coach, Lee was known as a great but insistent teacher.
He coached Bob Webster, the second U.S. diver to win two back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the platform, and four-time American gold medalist Greg Louganis, who lived with Lee’s family before winning a silver medal in the platform at at the 1976 Olympics when he was 16.
Lee also coached the 1960 U.S. Olympic diving team and the 1964 Japanese and Korean Olympic teams.
As a coach, he paid it forward. He never asked for payment, he told The Times in 1966, because his coaches had never charged him.
“He gave me one of the greatest gifts an individual can give another. He gave me self-esteem and a belief in myself,” Webster said. “Without Sammy, I don't know what I would’ve done in diving or went on to do in life.”
Just out of high school in Santa Ana, one of Webster’s friends suggested Lee give him a chance. Lee watched Webster dive at the Memorial Park pool during a lunch break.
“I was nervous as can be,” Webster said. “After one or two sessions, he said, ‘I think you can make the Olympic team.’ I said, ‘What?’ ”
Webster visited Lee last week at Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach. Lee couldn't speak, but he opened his eyes wide and recognized Webster.
“I wanted to make sure I was able to tell him how much he meant to me in my life,” Webster said.
Louganis said he, too, was shaped by Lee’s mentorship, learning “at a very early age the responsibility of being an ambassador not only to my sport of diving but to the world.” 
“At a time of intolerance, being Korean, he broke down racial barriers, setting an example of what it meant to be an Olympian,” Louganis said.
He was born Samuel Rhee on Aug. 1, 1920, in Fresno to Soonkee Rhee, a farmer, and the former Eunkee Chun. His father decided his son should use the surname “Lee” because “so many Americans believe I mean Lee when I say Rhee,” his father said in “Not Without Honor,” Lee’s 1987 biography.
After a fire destroyed their farmhouse, his family moved to Los Angeles in 1925, eventually opening a grocery and a chop suey restaurant in Highland Park.
At Franklin High School, Lee was the L.A. city diving champion when he ran for student body president against the advice of the vice principal, who warned that a nonwhite student had never won.
“My fellow classmates do not look at me as Korean,” Lee later recalled responding. “They look at me as a fellow American.” He won the election.
He went to Occidental on scholarship and graduated six months after his father died in 1943.
Lee joined the Army Reserve, which paid his USC medical school tuition. But he had trouble keeping up with his studies.
“Every time I did poorly on an exam, I would go to the pool to dive and relax,” he told the Journal. He said he became a great diver and an average medical student.
Salvation came from an unlikely source — students in fraternities that barred minorities from joining but invited him to their study groups.
Because the military needed doctors, Lee sped through medical school in three years, graduating in June 1946.
Assigned to an Army hospital in Pasadena, he was given a month’s leave to train for the 1948 Olympic tryouts. He finished his residency as an ear, nose and throat specialist at Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco.
The military stationed him outside of Seoul, South Korea, during the last two years of the Korean War. When he was discharged from the Army in 1955, he and his Chinese American wife, Roz, tried to buy a house in Garden Grove, but the agent had been told not to sell to nonwhites, Lee said in his biography.
The ensuing media coverage elicited outrage in the community. A Jewish developer who said he had known discrimination sold the Lees a model home in another Garden Grove tract and threw in the furniture for free.
Eventually, the family bought a house with a pool in Santa Ana so Lee could coach at home.
As a doctor, Lee practiced in Santa Ana into his early 70s, when he retired to golf, swim and play tennis — often all on the same day.
In 2013, Lee disappeared briefly after a routine afternoon excursion to the Los Caballeros Racquet & Sports Club in Fountain Valley. Lee, who suffered from dementia, was reported missing after he failed to return home. He drove through three Southern California counties in his Mercedes — license plate “2 GOLDS” — before being found the next evening disoriented, but unharmed, in Pico Rivera. 
While he was serving in Korea, Lee was summoned to treat Syngman Rhee, a family friend who was then president of South Korea. For years, Rhee had wanted to ask Lee to dive for Korea in the Olympics, The Times reported in 1988.
Lee said he replied: “I was born an American. I think like an American. Only my face is Korean.”
In addition to his wife, Lee is survived by a daughter, Pamela; a son, Sammy; and three grandchildren.
Copyright © 2016, Los Angeles Times

Monday, November 28, 2016

New Aquisition - Gurney Godfrey Scrapbooks, donated to ISHOF by, Liz Mader

Gurney Godfrey was a well-known swimmer and diver at the Buffalo (NY) YMCA in the early
1920’s.  The scrapbooks contain a treasure trove of photos and news articles from the era, not only locally, but nationally and internationally, with many original photos and articles of the stars of the day. An example is this studio photo of Gurney, with his “friend and Pal,” the sensational George Young, winner of the 1927 William Wrigley Ocean Marathon.

“My grandfather, Gurney J. Godfrey, swam in high school and at the local YMCA.  He lived in Buffalo, NY and swam and dived against a lot of Olympic swimmers. He made a scrapbook of articles and when he died, my mom got the books.  She died in 1993 and I found the books in her closet. They were in a box and had fallen apart. The box sat in my closet since then and I decided to donate it to the Swimmers Hall of Fame.  Hope you can use these articles. I also have some medals.  You will see pictures of him diving and swimming. My mother said he could have gone to the Olympics (1928), but he married my grandmother instead.  He and my grandmother became famous flyfishermen and went all of the world.  Hope this helps, Liz” 

Friday, November 18, 2016

Obit Conrad Wennerberg

Wennerberg left with Greta Andersen
 after her Luke Michigan 50 mile swim
Wennerberg was born in Chicago on June 20, 1932 and was introduced to swimming in Lake Michigan at the age of four. He was accepted into medical school at the University of Chicago, with an interest and focus on what would later become known as sports medicine, before he became interested in marathon swimming. 
He moved to Hyde Park, in Chicago in 1969. He held night manager jobs, at the Illinois Athletic Club and the local Walgreens, so he could swim four to five miles each day. Beyond working and taking his daily swims, he was coach and trainer to IMSHOF swimmers Ted Erikson  (the first double-crosser of the English Channel) and Dennis Match and ISHOF/IMSHOF hall-of-famer Jon Erikson., Wennerberg also traveled to Canada’s La Tuque, where he coached and explored marathon swimming. He developed a keen interest in cold water swimming, which is an element he brought to his coaching. Cold water swimming became a norm for him, as he had swum in Lake Michigan every single day of the year for many years. He was so devoted to his daily regimen that he would take an ice pick or axe to chip away ice from the lakefront, to gain access to the water.

In 1974, he wrote “Wind, Waves, and Sunburn,” a book chronicling the history of marathon swimming. He was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1977. 

Marie Kelleher, dies at 103, First US 100+ USMS Swimmer

Posted: Tuesday, November 15, 2016 10:30 pm
By JOHN REID BLACKWELL and CAROL HAZARD Richmond Times-Dispatch

Whether it was keeping things in order at the family business or setting
records in competitive swimming, age was no obstacle for Marie Krafft Kelleher.   Even after she reached age 100, Mrs. Kelleher blessed with good eyesight and a spotless driving record drove to work daily at Kelleher Corp., the Richmond-based heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical business.  
A swimmer since her childhood in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Alexandria, Mrs. Kelleher took up amateur competitive swimming at age 65 to keep herself physically sharp after retiring from her first professional career.
She continued to swim and participate in amateur meets for another 35-plus years and, in 2012, became the first woman in the U.S. to swim competitively in the 100-104 age group.
Mrs. Kelleher who died Monday at her home in the CrossRidge community in Henrico County, about one month shy of her 104th birthday was remembered by friends and family on Tuesday as an inspiring but humble woman.
She had a tough last year, but 103 good ones, said Ed Kelleher, one of her four sons and former deputy news editor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
While raising a family of five children in Richmond, where she moved in 1938 after marrying her husband, Mrs. Kelleher worked at the Muscular Dystrophy Society, the American Cancer Society and the Easter Seal Society.
She retired as regional director of the Easter Seal Society in 1977 but remained active with the Kelleher family business, where she had always served as corporate secretary and handled correspondence and most of the paperwork. When her husband died in 2006, she was voted chairwoman of the company.
It was her daughter who encouraged Mrs. Kelleher to take up amateur competitive swimming, signing her up for her first swim meet.
I got hooked, Mrs. Kelleher said in a 2013 interview with The Times-Dispatch. Often with her children and grandchildren cheering her on poolside, she continued to compete in Virginia and through U.S. Masters Swimming, a nonprofit group that organizes swim meets around the country.
Mrs. Kelleher set several national and international age-group records.
The people you meet (in masters swimming) are so nice; theyre wonderful people, Mrs. Kelleher said in a 1998 profile in The Times-Dispatch. Id have to say I enjoy that part of it the sociable part as much, if not more, than I enjoy the actual swimming.
In August, Mrs. Kelleher was among the first five people inducted into SwimRVAs Hall of Inspiration at its aquatic complex in Chesterfield County.
What Marie meant to us is you can accomplish anything you want to accomplish no matter what your age might be, said Adam Kennedy, executive director of SwimRVA, a nonprofit that owns and operates the Collegiate School Aquatics Center in Chesterfield.
Mrs. Kelleher was a total hero for many of us, said Nancy Miller, a Powhatan County resident who coached her in swimming for about 20 years as part of a masters swimming group at what is now the Weinstein JCC. Mrs. Kelleher also often rose early in the morning to swim at the Tuckahoe YMCA off Patterson Avenue.
She was mild-mannered and wonderful to everyone, until you put her on a starting block (at a swim meet), and then she was a tremendous competitor, Miller said. She was no holds barred. She would just go after it with all she had.
She was an excellent athlete, Miller said. It wasnt just because she was older that she got the records. She was a beautiful swimmer. She was light and graceful in the water. She could do all the strokes very well. She paid attention to technique to make herself as efficient as possible.
Mrs. Kelleher was the sort of swimmer who did it for personal satisfaction rather than awards or attention, said Dave Holland, past chairman of the Virginia Local Masters Swimming Committee.
Here she was, swimming at the age of 100, and she was not complaining about it, he said. I just thought she was really tough.
In 2012, Mrs. Kelleher suffered a mild stroke but, after weeks of rehabilitation, got back into the pool, and back to work.
I was frankly amazed that she was able to come back from the stroke and swim at that level, Ed Kelleher said.
He described his mother as a strong woman with a super-positive attitude. She never smoked, never drank, never even drank cola or coffee, he said. She liked milk, orange juice and water. She believed in a healthy lifestyle, and she lived it and it served her well.
She enjoyed life and all aspects of it spiritual and business, Ed Kelleher said.
Besides her four sons, survivors include her two brothers, Joseph Krafft of Alexandria and Frank J. Krafft of Dumfries, and a sister, Dorothy ODonnell of Alexandria; and 13 grandchildren, two stepgrandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren.

A memorial Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 26 at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, 4491 Springfield Road in Henrico.

Friday, October 28, 2016

International Swimming Hall of Fame Aquatics Show Hosted by Santa Clara Aquamaids

Alice in Waterland themed exhibition to include Gold Medalist Swimmer, Cirque Du Soleil performers and Top Aquatics Professionals from Around the World


WHAT:         AS part of this years ISHOF Induction Weekend, and the celebration of aquatics, ISHOF and the Santa Clara Aquamaids will bring back the the Water Shows so popular in years gone by with Alice in Waterline.  Performed to honor this years class of inductees, which includes US Swimming Greats Dara Torres and Aaron Peirsol, the Hungarian Mens National Water Polo Team, and Russian Synchronized swimmer Elena Azarova, the show will feature performances by  the Aquamaids, Cirque Du Soleil (including World synchro champions Bill May and Christina Jones) and internationally known comedy diving team of Dana Kunzes Watershow productions. Other aquatics professionals from around the world, including a secret guest gold medalist swimmer, will be in attendance to promote water sports. Organized by the Aquamaids award-winning head coach Chris Carver, the exhibition will feature intricate and exquisite routines that incorporate plots and themes from Lewis Carroll's famous childrens novel Alice in Wonderland.

WHEN:         Saturday, October 29, 2016
11:45 a.m.

WHERE:       Santa Clara International Swim Center
2625 Patricia Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95051

WHY:            Currently located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the International Swimming Hall of Fame is planning to relocate its world-renown museum to the proposed Santa Clara International Swim Center. One of the features of the new facility will be an aquatic stadium capable of serving as an ideal venue for bringing back the water shows popular in the era of Esther Williams. Alice in Waterland will provide a glimpse of what is envisioned for the Santa Clara International Swim Center.

Media:         Swimmers and coaches will be available for media interviews after the show.
                        For more information or if you are interested in covering this exhibition please contact Tina Walker at Tina@singersf.com or (415) 227-9700.


Tickets:        Contact Meg Keller Marvin at meg@ishof.org or 570-730-2546.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME Featured on Travel Channel’s “Mysteries at the Museum”

Fort Lauderdale - Host Don Wildman examines the Host Don Wildman learns about a woman's quest for athletic glory in an episode filmed at the International Swimming Hall of Fame, in Fort Lauderdale. The story features the famous two-piece swim-suit on display at the Hall. Entitled “Swimming the Channel,” the episode is about Gertrude Ederle’s two-year quest to prove that a woman was capable of swimming the English Channel.  Check your local TV guide for time and channel.
Series Synopsis: Host Don Wildman scours the world’s greatest institutions, unearthing extraordinary relics that reveal the secrets from the past. From preeminent museums to unexplored archives, Wildman delves into extraordinary tales of intrigue, daring and wonder.
About the ISHOF
The International Swimming Hall of Fame & Museum was established in 1965 as a not-for-profit educational organization in the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and was recognized by FINA, the international governing body for the Olympic aquatic sports, in 1968. The Mission of ISHOF is to PRESERVE and CELEBRATE aquatic history, to EDUCATE the general public about the importance of swimming as the key to water safety, drowning prevention, better health and a better quality of life, and to INSPIRE everyone to swim. ISHOF’s collection of swimming memorabilia, art, photos and films, along with archival documents and rare books in the Henning Library, make ISHOF the premier repository and academic research resource for swimming and aquatic history in the world.

For more information contact Bruce Wigo at 954-462-6536 ext. 201, or email bwigo@ishof.org

Monday, October 10, 2016

ISHOF ANNOUNCES LULU CISNEROS AS 2016 VIRGINIA HUNT NEWMAN INTERNATIONAL AWARD RECIPIENT

FORT LAUDERDALE - The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) today announced that Lulu Cisneros will be the 2016 recipient of the Virginia Hunt Newman International Award.  The award will be presented on Friday evening, October 28th during the Paragon Awards Night during the International Swimming Hall of Fames 52nd Annual Enshrinement weekend. Sponsored by Kiefer, the Keep em Swimming Company founded in 1947 by Hall of Fame swimming great, Adolph Kiefer, this award annually recognizes outstanding individuals who have made significant contributions in the field of infant and young child swimming instruction in the name of the Mother of Infant Swimming, Virginia Hunt Newman.

The career of Monterrey Mexicos Lulu Cisneros has flowed from competitive swimmer, to teacher, to coach, to model swim school owner/director, to spokesperson around the world for joyful aquatic programs for babies and young children. 

Lulu began teaching at 13, was a state and national champion in 100 and 200 butterfly and as an exchange student swam for  Clearwater High School in Florida USA.

While working toward her degree in business administration she was became the first swim coach at University of Monterrey and lead her team to a national championship among private universities. There she met her husband to be, Mauricio Hernandez, during this time and together they founded Lulu Cisneros Educación Acuática in 1989.

A life changing trip to San Francisco for the 1991 National Swim School Association (NSSA) Conference made a big difference in her professional life. With much excitement she began making friends and exchanging teaching-learning strategies with other owners including Beatriz Esesarte from Oaxaca Mexico and Robert Strauss in Miami all became her teachers. More travels to conferences, and exchanges followed.

In 1997, Lulu brought the World Aquatic Babies Congress conference to her home country which sparked much interest and growth in baby swimming. She followed that by hosting the 2002 Annual NSSA Conference to Monterrey the only time it has been held outside the United States to date.


Lulu has conducted teacher training and certification courses as well as being a featured speaker at conferences in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala and Costa Rica.  In  1996, her swim school received the Nuevo Leon Quality Award (Mexico), being the first swim school to receive this honor. This gave Lulu the opportunity to meet with Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. In 2002 Lulu received the Guiding Light Award from the USSSA, and in 2011 she received the Kelly Ogle Memorial Safety Award from the World Waterpark Association (WWA).

She still finds time to train as a masters competitive swimmer and is a state, national and world champion. Recently she participated in her first triathlon.

For tickets or more information, call 954-462-6536 or visit www.ishof.org

About the Kiefer Company
Gold medalist Olympic swimmer Adolph Kiefer founded Kiefer in 1947.  As the official aquatics supplier to the 1948 U.S. Olympic Swim Team, the company introduced the first nylon swimsuit as a lightweight alternative to wool and cotton suits and a low cost alternative to the silk suits of the time. Since then, Kiefer has provided the swim community with many innovative aquatic performance and safety products including the original Wave Eater racing lane, fully customizable starting blocks, lifeguard equipment and apparel, and a complete line of national brand and Kiefer brand competitive swimsuits, swim goggles and training aids.   Although now retired, Adolph Kiefer continues to dedicate his life to helping swimmers of all ages and abilities. Visit www.kiefer.com for more information.
About ISHOF

The International Hall of Fame, established in 1965, is a not-for-profit educational organization located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Its mission is to promote the benefits and importance of swimming as a key to fitness, good health, quality of life, and the water safety of all adults and children.  It accomplishes this through operation of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, a dynamic shrine dedicated to the history, memory, and recognition of the famous swimmers, divers, water polo players, synchronized swimmers and people involved in life saving activities and education whose lives and accomplishments inspire, educate, and provide role models for people around the world.For more information contact Bruce Wigo at 954-462-6536 ext. 201, or by email bwigo@ishof.org

INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME TO RECOGNIZE HUNGARIAN MAGNIFICENT SEVEN 3-PEAT OLYMPIC WATER POLO CHAMPIONS

Santa Clara, Calif. - The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF), recognized by FINA, the international governing body for the Olympic aquatic sports as its official Hall of Fame, has announced that TEAM HUNGARY will become the first team in the history of the Hall to be recognized as an Honoree, and that the seven members of the team will join 14 other athletes, coaches, contributors and pioneers - representing five aquatic disciplines (swimming, marathon swimming, synchronized swimming, diving and water polo) from ten different nations as the CLASS of 2016, at ISHOFs 52nd Annual Honors Weekend, October 28 - 30, 2016, in Santa Clara, California.  Masters of the ceremonies will be Olympic greats John Naber and Agnes Kovacs.
During a ten year period, from 1998 to 2008 the Hungarian mens water polo team dominated international water polo like no other team in history, winning back-to-back-to-back Olympic titles - eating an Olympic three-peat at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. The teams will be represented by three-time gold medalists Tamas Molnar, Tamas Kasas, Tibor Benedeck, Gergely Kiss, Peter Biros, Zoltan Szecsi, and Coach Denes Kemeny (already a member of the Hall of Fame) - and will be honored as the greatest team in water polo history.
The ISHOF Class of 2016 also includes American swimming greats Aaron Peirsol and Dara Torres, swimmer Camille Muffat (FRA); Diver Dmitry Sautin (RUS); Synchronized Swimmer Elena Azarova (RUS); Marathon Swimmers Desmond Robert Des Renford (AUS) and Monique Wildschut (NED); Contributor Sir Peter Heatly (GBR); Pioneers, Simeon Boychenko (RUS), Horst Gorlitz (GDR/ITA/FRG), Frank Gorman (USA), Hilda James (GBR), and Leonid Meshkov (RUS) and Gold Medalion recipient, Tod Spieker, (USA).
For tickets and event information, please visit www.ishof.org or call 954-462-6536.
About ISHOF
The International Swimming Hall of Fame, Inc. (ISHOF), established in 1965, is a not-for-profit educational organization located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. Recognized by FINA, the International Olympic Committees recognized governing body for the aquatic sports in 1968, its mission is to preserve the history of swimming, celebrate the heroes, promote the benefits and importance of swimming as a key to fitness, good health, quality of life, and the water safety of all children and adults, and connect older generations of swimmers to youth.  For more information please visit http://www.ishof.org