New Maccabi Victoria Hall of Fame inductees
At the fifth Maccabi Victoria Hall of Fame induction ceremony, held on March 8, 10 new inductees were named, in recognition of their sporting achievements.
Also, three Hall of Fame members were elevated to ‘Legends’ status, and two people received inaugural Life Achievement Awards.
The keynote speaker at the induction ceremony – which is usually held only every 5 to 10 years – was Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott, and a guest presenter was Sydney Olympics gold medal winner Cathy Freeman.
Mazal tov to all 15 people who received Maccabi Victoria Hall of Fame honours at the 5th induction, and to all 21 people who were nominated.
NEW MACCABI HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva (rhythmic gymnastics)
When Kiroi-Bogatyreva had just turned 16, she won two rhythmic gymnastic bronze medals for Australia at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, in her Commonwealth Games debut.
She won the 2018 and 2019 national championship titles, and has so far represented Australia at seven World Cup events, and two World Championships, ranking first in Oceania.
She also supports many projects advocating for women in sport.
Jemima Montag (race walking)
Montag is only 24, but she already has a 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medal for winning the women’s 20km race walk.
She also has several national championship gold medals and national records, a 10th place finish at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, and in her debut Olympic Games in Tokyo last year, she came 6th overall, finishing just 42 seconds behind the bronze medalist, in scorching heat and humidity.
Montag balances her athletics career by studying science at Melbourne University, supporting girls’ and women’s participation and achievement in sport, and charities that help the under-privileged.
Melissa Maizels (football)
Maizels progressed to the highest level of women’s football in Australia as a goalkeeper, playing for W-League clubs for the past seven years, including Perth Glory, Canberra, and currently, A-League Women’s premiers, Melbourne Victory.
She is also founder and CEO of Absolute Soccer Academy, technical director at Mount Martha Soccer Club, she was goalkeeper for Australia’s women’s football team at the 2017 Maccabiah Games, and she will be player/coach at this year’s Maccabiah Games.
Barak Mizrachi (table tennis)
During his para table tennis career, Mizrachi represented Australia at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the 2016 Paralympic Games, four Maccabiah Games, the World University Games, and many other international tournaments.
He won gold in men’s singles at the 2015 Oceania Para Table Tennis Championships, was 2017 Table Tennis Victoria men’s para player of the year, and won the Maccabi Australia President’s Award in 2016 and 2018.
David Zuker (sports medicine)
Zuker was the first physiotherapist to be appointed to an Australian Olympic Team and to a VFL footy team.
He received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1987 for service to sports medicine.
In 2000, Zuker received an Australian Olympic Committee Award.
Gary Zimmerman (sports medicine)
Zimmerman has been club doctor at Essendon and Richmond AFL clubs, and for the past 26 years, senior sports physician at the Western Bulldogs.
He has also served in the role of team doctor for Australian teams in different sports, including International Rules.
Marco Papo (basketball)
Papo played for AJAX Basketball Club from 1963 until the late 1980s, and helped lift the standard of the club enormously.
He also played for top division clubs in Melbourne and Sydney, and won many top point-scoring awards.
Papo was also the flagbearer for Australia at the 1981 Maccabiah Games opening ceremony.
Peter Braun (sports medicine)
As an outstanding sports and exercise physician for more than 24 years, Braun has led the Australian Winter Olympic medical team six times, and may be chosen for his seventh Olympic Games.
He has been on the Australian Olympic Committee’s medical commission for 15 years and was awarded an Australian Sports Medal in 2000.
Peter Kagan (footy)
After joining AJAX Football Club’s committee in 1998, Kagan has held positions of secretary, treasurer and VAFA liaison officer.
He has been instrumental in the establishment and development of AJAX’s senior women’s team, and is a staunch supporter of the club’s men’s religious team that plays on Sundays.
He also served in committee leadership positions with Maccabi Squash Club, he managed Australia’s Maccabiah open basketball teams in 2013, and has competed for Australia at the 2005 Maccabiah Games, winning a silver medal.
Reuben Sackville, deceased (golf)
Sackville was a founding member of Cranbourne Golf Club, and a mentor to many young golf, tennis, cricket, football and squash players.
From 1934-1940 he was the Hakoah/AJAX A grade cricket champion, from 1946-1955 he was president of St Kilda Footy Club, and from 1951-1961 he was SJTC A grade tennis champion.
In 1980, Reuben was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
INDUCTEES ELEVATED TO ‘LEGENDS’ STATUS
Three Maccabi Victoria Hall of Fame members were granted the elevated status of ‘Legend’, two of them posthumously.
Daryl Cohen (deceased) was first inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000.
In weightlifting, Cohen was Victorian, and Australian, senior middleweight champion in 1958, and Australia’s team captain at the 1958 Commonwealth Games.
He became inaugural president of the AJAX Weightlifting Club, and when competing for Australia at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Cohen came 16th overall.
After retiring, he was awarded Life Membership of the Australian Weightlifting Federation.
In footy, Cohen played a major role in establishing AJAX Footy Club in 1957, and was awarded Life Membership of the club.
He played 108 games for AJAX, was vice captain for three seasons between 1957 and 1961, and was on the club’s committee for 24 years, including stints as inaugural vice president, and president.
As a coach, he guided AJAX to an E Grade premiership in 1975, and a 19-match winning streak.
Ben Sternfeld (deceased) was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000, he served as Maccabi Australia president for 4 years, vice president for 3 years, and in 1969, he was Australia’s team manager at the Maccabiah Games.
Sternfeld participated in the Maccabi senior carnival 15 times as an athlete, he was Victorian Carnival Team manager 10 times, and served as Maccabi Victoria president for 8 years.He was awarded Life Memberships by Maccabi Cricket Club, and AJAX Footy Club.
For the former, Sternfeld competed for 17 years, was selected as Second XI captain, and was club president for 3 years.
For AJAX Footy Club, he was the club runner from 1968-1979, and chairman from 1975-1979, culminating in a golden era for the club, which rose from E to A Grade.
Sam Parasol was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000. He began playing table tennis for Maccabi Victoria in 1961 and still does today, and this July, he will represent Australia in the sport at his 9th consecutive Maccabiah Games.
Parasol continues to be an effective fundraiser for Maccabi Victoria (since 1985) and for the Maccabi Junior Carnival, for which he participated in 19 carnivals, including 4 as Victorian team manager.
He was Maccabi Victoria president, and vice president, for 5 years each, and for Maccabi Australia, he was a board member for 12 years, Maccabiah fundraising director, and Australian delegate to Maccabi World Union’s conference in Israel 20 times.
Parasol holds Life Memberships with Maccabi Victoria Table Tennis Club, Maccabi Victoria, and Maccabi Australia.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
The inaugural two recipients of Maccabi Victoria Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement awards are George Oshlack and Inge Sommer.
George Oshlack is an icon of Jewish sport in Victoria, involved in Maccabi since the 1950s. And at 93, he still plays golf and squash each week.
In the 60s and 70s, he played pennant squash, and helped establish what became Maccabi Squash Club. He represented Australia in the Maccabiah Games in masters squash 5 times, winning numerous medals and trophies, and won gold medals in 2001 and 2005 at the World Squash Masters.
In golf, Oshlack was a founding member of Cranbourne Golf Club, and he won medals representing Australia in masters tournaments, and the Victoria Jewish Golf Championships.
He was also a member of Maccabi Victoria Lawn Bowls Club for 30 years, and has played locally, nationally, and internationally.
Oshlack has received many Maccabi awards, including Maccabi Australia and Maccabi Victoria Masters Sportsperson of the Year (both in 2005), and Maccabi Victoria’s President’s Award (2007).
Inge Sommer has been an active and committed member of Maccabi, as an athlete and an administrator, for more than 70 years.
After the war, she helped reform the Judean Girls’ Sports Club, as a 15-year-old athlete, and then a committee member, and president.
She was also a foundation member of the AJAX Tenpin Bowling Club, and an AJAX board member for decades, including serving as president of the Ladies’ Auxiliary, heavily involving herself in fundraising for the establishment of a home for Jewish Victorian sport at 97 Alma Road. She even established, and managed, the kiosk there for many years.
Senior Maccabi carnivals also benefitted from Sommer’s involvement through her volunteering in many roles.
Sommer joined the Maccabi Victoria Lawn Bowls Club in 1981, serving in leadership positions, and playing lawn bowls right up until 2016.
She has maintained her commitment to Maccabi by assisting Maccabi Victoria with their archives collection, and regularly attending Friends of Maccabi events.
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