Save the Date: October 14 and 15, 2022 for ISHOF Honoree Induction Ceremonies
Mark your calendars now! The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) has selected the dates for the 2022 Honoree Induction Ceremonies and the Paragon/Awards Weekend.
The 57th Annual ISHOF Honoree Induction weekend will be held Friday, October 14 and Saturday, October 15, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Make your plans now to attend!
The Class of 2022 will include the international honorees from the Class of 2021, that were not able to be inducted last year, due to Covid travel restrictions. Those honorees will include: Swimmers: Michael Klim (AUS), Daichi Suzuki (JPN), Jon Seiben (AUS), Diver: Matthew Mitcham (AUS), Water Polo Player, Mirko Vicevic (YUG/MON), Coach: Ursula Carlile (AUS), Open Water Swimmer: Marilyn Bell (CAN), and Contributor: Peter Huerzeler (SUI). The remaining Paragon and other award winners that were not honored in 2021 will be honored in October as well. Join our E-mail list or keep checking www.ishof.org or www.swimmingworld.com for more information or all the latest aquatic news!
The Induction weekend will begin Friday evening, October 14, 2022 and will celebrate the Paragon Award winners, which typically honor six stellar aquatic men /women from the following categories: competitive swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo, recreational swimming and aquatic safety.
The other specialty awards honored on Friday evening include: The Buck Dawson Authors Award, The Virginia Hunt Newman Award, The John K. Williams Jr. Adaptive Aquatics Award, The Judge G. Harold Martin Award, The ISHOF Service Award, and others.
On Saturday, October 15, 2022, ISHOF will host, the 57th Annual Honoree Induction Ceremony and Dinner. The event will once again be hosted at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Resort and Spa, located one quarter mile south of ISHOF on beautiful Fort Lauderdale Beach. There may be some additions to the Class of 2022, so keep checking back for any announcements.
The ISHOF Honoree Induction and Dinner will also host its annual silent auction. If you have anything you might want to donate to this year’s silent auction, please contact Meg at meg@ishof.org
*Ask about our Honoree weekend sponsorship opportunities, email ashleigh@swimmmingworld.com for more information
Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center Update by Manager Laura Voet
As 2021 comes to a close, much has been accomplished over the last year with the pool renovations, and most significantly in this month of December. 2022 is going to be an exciting year for our community and the aquatic center with water in the pools!
Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center
Renovation Project Photo Gallery December 2021
South Building, 2nd Floor Interior December 17, 2021
South Building Exterior, along Service Road
Dive Well Curb, Concrete Pour December 28, 2021
The dive well will have a sparger “bubbler” system; the curb works to retain the water
Dive Well Pool Deck concrete pour; Pool decks must slope away from the pool to the drain; this work requires technical skill and detailed calculations
South Building, Pool Deck Level
Water and Sewer connection lines to support the South building
December 30, 2021 – Final Workday on the Year!
See you in 2022 for more exciting developments!
ISHOF Paragon Award Winner and USA Swimming Veteran Official Carol Zaleski Awarded FINA Order
by DAVID RIEDER
18 December 2021, 03:26pm
Veteran Official Carol Zaleski Awarded FINA Order
Veteran official Carol Zaleski has been awarded the FINA Order. Zaleski, who is chair of the FINA Technical Committee, a longtime official with a consistent presence on deck at major international competitions and a major figure in swimming in the U.S. for many years, was given an honor considered one of the highest within FINA.
Zaleski was named a Paragon Award winner by the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2009 . She was recognized as the first female on-deck official at the World Championships and Olympics.
Read the full press release below:
Carol Zaleski (USA), FINA Technical Swimming Chair & Past President of USA Swimming is the recipient of the FINA Order presented by FINA President Husain Al-Musallam in Abu Dhabi.
The FINA Order is the honor granted by FINA to individuals such as Heads of State, Ministers, Persons of high dignity including Presidents of Organizing Committees for FINA World Championships, Presidents of companies or networks, FINA sponsors, etc.
Only those who have illustrated the ideals, aims and objectives of FINA in the spirit of sport, and with morals, ethics and/or fair play through his/her action, who have achieved remarkable merit in the world of swimming or have rendered an outstanding service to FINA’s cause, either through his/her contribution in the development of swimming, may be admitted to the Order.
The FINA Order will consist of a golden chair in the form of a laurel wreath holding the FINA logo. A diploma and a gold lapel pin, which features a laurel wreath surrounding the FINA logo will accompany it.
Passages: IMSHOF Honoree Ted Erikson, First Man to Cross Lake Michigan and Hall of Famer, Age 93
by MATTHEW DE GEORGE – SENIOR WRITER
02 December 2021
Passages: Ted Erikson, First Man to Cross Lake Michigan and Hall of Famer, Age 93
Ted Erikson, a member of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame and the first man to cross Lake Michigan, died on Dec. 1. He was 93 years old.
Erikson was inducted to the IMSHOF in 1978. He made his legendary crossing of Lake Michigan in 1961 in difficult conditions. It took 36 hours and 37 minutes for him to get from McCormick Place in Chicago to Michigan City, Indiana. The anticipated journey of 37 miles covered an estimated 43 miles. Erikson lost 17 pounds during the journey.
Ted Erikson; Photo Courtesy: IMSHOF
His open-water feats include becoming the second person to swim the English Channel round-trip when he did so in 1965 over more than 30 hours. He also swam through shark-infested waters in 1967 over 28 miles from the Farallon Islands to the Golden Gate Bridge. (Erikson’s wife was told that he had died due to hypothermia during that swim, though that report was premature.)
After his initial Lake Michigan swim, he also did a 50-mile crossing from Chicago to Kenosha, Wisc. In 35 hours, 37 minutes in 1962, and a 60-mile swim from Chicago to St. Joseph, Michigan, in 37 hours, 25 minutes in 1963.
Born in Montana, Erikson served in the Navy and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He worked at the university as a research chemist for 21 years and taught math, physics and chemistry at Hammond Technical High School.
He arrived at open water swimming late in life for the health benefits, swimming his first marathon at age 33. He made his first English Channel crossing in 1964.
Erikson was swimming until recently, according to an obituary in the Chicago Sun-Times. He was living in a retirement community in Hyde Park at the time of his death. According to his daughter, Pam Perkins, Erikson’s wish was to have his ashes scattered in Lake Michigan.
Erikson passed on his love of swimming to his, Jon Erikson, a 1981 IMSHOF inductee and a 2014 inductee of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Jon died in 2014. Jon overtook Ted’s record for fastest double crossing of the English Channel in 1979, one of four proteges Ted helped cross the Channel.
Ted Erikson is survived by his daughter, former wife Loretta Bacskai, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Frank Elm, one of the top coaches in U.S. history has died. He was 92.
by DAN D’ADDONA — SWIMMING WORLD MANAGING EDITOR
01 December 2021
Frank Elm, one of the top coaches in U.S. history has died. He was 92.
Born on Oct 30, 1929, Elm was the head coach for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team. He also was an assistant coach for the 1968 and 1976 Olympic Games.
Elm, who also coached the 1967 U.S. Pan American Games team, and two U.S. National Teams that toured Japan in 1975 and the Soviet Union in 1981, was elected to the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Hall of Fame in 2004.
Elm coached at Rutgers for 31 years and was elected to the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998. He developed the women’s program at the school and fought for facilities worthy of the talent and hard work he and his swimmers put in at Rutgers, where he developed 10 Olympic swimmers- two gold medal winners, several Pan Am Games swimmers, five of whom won gold medals. He also tutored several individual and national championship swimmers as well as national relay champions.
He oversaw the development of the women’s swimming and diving program at Rutgers, a team that went undefeated from 1973-75.
Near the end of his career, he was able to help oversee the construction of the Sonny Werblin Recreation Center, one of the finest swimming and diving facilities in America. Elm received the Master Coaches Award from the Swimming Coaches’ Association of America in 1973 and was bestowed with the honor of Loyal Son in 1992 by the Rutgers Alumni Association.
“It is so antiquated it’s disgusting,” Frank Elm told the New York Times about the old facility. “With only four lanes, it limits the size of our teams and our training. Other state schools like Tennessee, with its 32 available lanes, and Penn State, with 12 lanes, make the Rutgers facilities look sick.”
Rutgers has hosted a Frank Elm Invitational in his honor at the Sonny Werblin Recreation Center.
Elm came to Rutgers as a successful AAU Coach, New Jersey Interscholastic Champion, All-American from Indiana University and a swimmer-coach in the Marine Corps. His Rutgers team won 39 dual meets in a row, Summit Y Men’s team won 68 meets in a row, and the Summit Y Girls team won 70 meets in a row (never losing a dual meet). Another club Frank Elm coached in the 1950’s won 60 meets in a row and never lost while he was coaching. Frank Elm served on several National Committees and was selected as a Loyal Son of Rutgers in April of 1992.
Frank Elm led the Scarlet Knights at Rutgers from 1961 to 1972 stamped 11-straight winning seasons, with an overall 79-42 record. In 1965, the creation of the Eastern Seaboard Championships brought Rutgers University to a new level, with swimmers such as Bill Clark (’63), Larry Jones, John Wasylyk (’64), Don Galluzzi, Marty Flickenger (’65), and diver Roy Nicholas (’64 – Eastern Champion and NCAA top-eight finisher) as the top performers.
But one of his biggest pioneering roles came when women joined the college swimming ranks.
The 1970’s at Rutgers were best known for the inclusion of the women into the Rutgers program. Olympic swimmer Judy Mellick (’77) became the first female members of the Rutgers team and the first woman to compete with men. She was one of the pioneers as Rutgers transformed into a successful women’s athletic program. The Rutgers women’s swimming program blasted onto the scene under Frank Elm with three consecutive undefeated season (1975-77), with a fierce dominance at the Eastern Championships. The women’s team went on to be the only Eastern team to place in the top ten at the 1977 Nationals. Frank Elm coached 15 swimmers on to earn All-American recognition and many to be come stars of their era, including Mellick, Ellen Wallace, Debbie Franks, Maureen Mortell and Robin Locklair. Wallace went on to represent the USA at the Pan-Am Championships. Frank Elm finished the women’s program in the 1970’s with a 70-20 record.
Elizabeth Fry to Receive the 2022 Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Elizabeth Fry to Receive the 2022 Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award
FORT LAUDERDALE – The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) will recognize Elizabeth Fry, for her extensive contributions to the administration of open water swimming with the 2022 Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award. The Award will be presented to Elizabeth during the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Induction and Award Ceremony in Naples Italy on Saturday May 7th 2022. The Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award is presented annually by the International Swimming Hall of Fame to the individual who has contributed the most to the administration of open water swimming.
This year’s award recognizes Elizabeth Fry, an open water swimming administrator from Connecticut, USA who has served the sport for more than 30 years. She has also been the marathon director for 13 years of the 25 km St. Vincent’s Foundation Swim Across the (Long Island) Sound which raises more than $2 million EACH YEAR. Prior to her leadership in 2007 the event raised approximately $40,000 annually. Liz created a detailed safety plan that allows the event to host up to 65 escort boats and created separate team and two-person relay categories to expand fund raising and provide open water experience to local swimmers. Donations to the event have grown to over $2 million each year to help cancer patients and their families. In 2008, Liz expanded the fund raising to include multiple sclerosis (MS) with an event named the “January Jam”. This event encourages participants from around the world to track their yardage for the entire month to see who can “jam” the most yards into 31 days.
Elizabeth is an accomplished marathon swimmer: Oceans Seven; set the record for the oldest person to do a two-way English Channel crossing; and other firsts including two-way Ederle Swim, 35-mile swim from Manhattan to Sandy Hook, New Jersey and two-way S.C.A.R. She was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Swimmer in 2014.
#imshof #honoree #Legend #halloffame
For additional information, please call Ned Denison in Ireland at (+353) 87-987-1573 or ISHOF at (954) 462-6536, or visit https://ishof.org
Beth Yudovin to be inducted as an Honor Administrator into the International Marathon Swimming Hall Of Fame (IMSHOF), Class of 2022
Beth Yudovin will be inducted as an Honor Administrator into the International Marathon Swimming Hall Of Fame (IMSHOF), Class of 2022. The ceremony will take place in Naples Italy on Saturday the 7th of May 2022.
Beth has a 30+ year involvement in the sport, since 2015 as a member of IMSHOF Executive Committee. She served initially as Chair and later took over finance and hosted the 2015 and 2016 Induction and Awards Ceremonies in San Pedro California.
Prior to this Beth’s prior involvement in the sport was generally as her husband’s (David Yudovin Honor Swimmer in IMSHOF and ISHOF) manager and crew chief. Together over 25+ years they completed first ever marathon swims in Japan, Mexico, Indonesia, New Zealand, Portugal, Azores, California’s Channel Islands and in Africa: Cape Verde plus São Tomé and Príncipe. They also completed previously established marathon swims in Tahiti, Hawaii and across the English Channel and Straits of Gibraltar.
Ned Denison, Chair of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, explains the reasoning behind her induction. “Beth brought success, class and dignity to the sport. On the Executive Committee of IMSHOF she showed masterful diplomatic skills and kept us heading upmarket – especially with generous contributions including attending the last eight Induction and Awards Ceremonies. Because of her commitment and dedication, the organization and hence sport is in a much better place.”
She received the Dale Petranech Award for service to the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2020.
#honoree #imshof #halloffame #legend #HallOfFamers
International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame
Shelley Taylor-Smith to receive the 2022 Poseidon Award
Saturday, November 27, 2021
Shelley Taylor-Smith to receive the 2022 Poseidon Award
FORT LAUDERDALE –
The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) will recognize Shelley Taylor-Smith for her high-level achievement in marathon swimming with the 2022 Poseidon Award. The Award will be presented to Shelly during the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Induction and Award Ceremony on Saturday May 7th 2022 in Naples Italy. The Poseidon Award is presented annually by the International Swimming Hall of Fame to the organization or individual for high level achievement from personal effort or initiative in a field of endeavor that contributes to the performance of marathon swimmers or to the development and status of Marathon Swimming to the world.
This year’s award honors Shelley Taylor-Smith. Shelley Taylor-Smith was one of the top elite swimmers of her generation. She won 7 majors (marathon world championships), set world speed records, beat all the men in 9 races and scored 51 victories in National, Regional and International races.
Shelley was the Honorary Secretary of the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and had oversight of the FINA 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup circuit, the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix series, the FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships, the 10km Marathon Swim at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2012 London Olympic Games.
She has been an active coach since 2009, and her swimmers have been successful in 9 solos and 2 relays across the 33 km English Channel and more than 700 solos and relays across the 19.75 km Rottnest Channel.
Finally, Shelley was on the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (IMSHOF) Board of Directors from 2011 to 2014 and was one of the most dedicated Honorees in attending the Induction and Awards Ceremonies in 2011 (New York, USA), 2012 (Los Angeles, USA) and 2014 (Bute, Scotland). Her involvement helped IMSHOF establish a successful ceremony tradition.
She was inducted as an Honor Swimmer in IMSHOF in 1990. In 2008 she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and also received The Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award.
For additional information, please call Ned Denison for IMSHOF in Ireland at (+353) 87-987-1573 or ISHOF at +1 (954) 462-6536, or visit https://ishof.org
SOLD OUT ISHOF’s 56th Annual Honoree Induction Ceremony Huge Success
Swimming Hall of Fame complex might be in line for stunner of a makeover. The cost: $90 million.
Article from the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE — An extreme makeover could be coming to two International Swimming Hall of Fame buildings that perch like bookends on either side of Fort Lauderdale’s aquatic center.
The $90 million project would bring two sleek new towers — a five-story museum and a five-story welcome center — to the city-owned parcel between the Intracoastal and Seabreeze Boulevard, just south of Las Olas Boulevard.
The deal still needs city approval but received an initial nod from the Fort Lauderdale commission last week.
Commissioner Steve Glassman argued in favor of the project, saying it would dovetail with the city’s $47 million renovation of the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center, which broke ground in April 2019 and is expected to wrap up in September.
The plan to revamp both Hall of Fame buildings would complete the 5-acre peninsula, Glassman said.
“Folks love the conceptual design,” he said. “The entire aquatic community is thrilled about returning to Fort Lauderdale and seeing this project happen. I think it’s a must.”
The two-story welcome center on the east end of the man-made peninsula would be knocked down. So would the two-story museum on the west end overlooking the Intracoastal. Both buildings were built in the mid-1960s and are in dire need of repair, according to the developer.
Big change is in the works for the International Swimming Hall of Fame, which shares space with the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center on a 5-acre man-made peninsula that juts into the Intracoastal Waterway. The nonprofit hopes to bring a new museum to town. (Arquitectonica/Arquitectonica)
New look by 2025
If the project gets the green light, the new towers would open by 2025, says Mario Caprini, CEO of Capital Group P3 of Florida.
The financial model hinges on space for tenants. Under the current proposal, the developer would pay for construction with the city guaranteeing the loan for both buildings and contributing $5 million over the course of a 30-year master lease.
Final approval is likely months away. If commissioners kill the deal, taxpayers will be on the hook for $2.4 million to reimburse Hall of Fame Partners LLC for preliminary work done on the site. Commissioners agreed to those terms last week.
City officials first got a look at the plans in September 2020, when the Hall of Fame Partners — a partnership between Capital Group P3 and Hensel Phelps Construction Co. — submitted an unsolicited proposal to redevelop the buildings at the Hall of Fame complex at 501 Seabreeze Blvd.
Hensel Phelps is the contractor handling the renovation of the aquatic center.
RELATED: Pool for the stars: New Hall of Fame complex on the way with dive tower to the sky »
A tall five stories
Here’s what’s planned: Though only five stories, the museum would stand 105 feet high — equal to 10 stories — on the west side of the peninsula close to the Intracoastal. The welcome center would be slightly shorter at 94 feet and sit on the east end near Seabreeze Boulevard.
The two new buildings would stand even higher than the aquatic center’s new dive tower, the western hemisphere’s tallest at 27 meters, or 89 feet.
The design for the west tower calls for a new 20,000-square-foot museum, a large ballroom and a rooftop restaurant with outdoor dining, as well as a covered teaching pool. According to the developer’s pitch, visitors would have breathtaking views of the Intracoastal to the west and the aquatic center and the ocean to the east. The plan would also create enough parking for 202 cars and a public promenade at the western end of the peninsula lining the edge of the Intracoastal.
A rendering of the two new International Swimming Hall of Fame buildings that would sit on either side of the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center. City commissioners have not yet signed off on the $90 million project. (Arquitectonica/Arquitectonica)
The east tower would serve as a gateway to the aquatic center and would feature a street-side café, new offices for the city’s lifeguards and leasable commercial space. Two outside terraces would let visitors enjoy their coffee while taking in views of both the beach to the east and the aquatic center to the west.
The Hall of Fame’s current lease ends in 2049.
According to the developer, if the existing buildings were to be left standing, they’d need $18 million in work to stay open beyond the next decade. And the city would be required to make those upgrades under the current lease. The cost to taxpayers would increase to $33 million if the city were to borrow the money through a 20-year bond.
If the project gets built, the city would take ownership of the buildings in 30 years for $1.
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @Susannah_ Bryan