Jewish Sports Hall of Fame 2025 Honorees

When people think of prominent Jews, comedians, writers, actors, singers, and scientists often come to mind. One area is that is not talked as much is sports.

That’s where the New International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame comes into play. The organization, which has been around for over 40 years, releases a list of Jewish athletes and those involved in sports around the world to honor every year. Over 500 honorees from more than 30 countries have been acknowledged over the past four decades.

This year, there are 14 honorees. Some of these highly accomplished individuals are currently on teams and participating in sports, while others are retired or passed away but left an enduring legacy.

Let’s take a look at some of the honorees included on this year’s list.

Amar’e Stoudemire

Amar’e Stoudemire, an American basketball player, was part of the Phoenix Suns and a National Basketball Association Rookie of the Year in 2003. He also played in six NBA All-Star games and achieved an average of more than 20 points per game throughout seven NBA seasons.

A proud convert to Judaism whose Hebrew name is Yahoshafat Ben Avraham, he moved to Israel in 2016 to play for the team Hapoel Jerusalem, which he co-owns. While living there, he decided he wanted to convert to Judaism, and he went to a yeshiva in Israel for two years. His days consist of waking up early to learn Torah, do his Hebrew studies, work out, pray, and look after his children. In a profile for GQ – in which Amar’e was discussing how Moses was reluctant to become the leader of the Jews even though God called his name twice at the burning bush, he said, “There’s always a duality, there’s always two sides to something… And when you choose a righteous side, you then end up becoming greater than what you thought you’d be.”

Hellen Plaschinski Farca de Finkler

Hellen Plaschinski Farca de Finkler is a freestyle Mexican swimmer who holds a world record for swimming the English Channel crossing from England to France round trip with her team in 18 hours and 59 minutes. In 2008, the team made it into the Guinness World Records. Not only did she set the new Mexican record for swimming; she set the new Jewish record as well. That same year, she won first place in a swimming relay race around Manhattan.

When Hellen was only 14 years old, she competed in the 1977 Maccabiah Games in Israel – and then went on to compete again in 1981. In each competition, she won gold medals in the 100 and 200 m freestyle. In 2019, she was the torch bearer for the opening ceremony of the Pan American Maccabiah Games, which was held in Mexico City.

Robert Berland

Robert “Bobby” Berland is an Olympic athlete who finished second in the middleweight division during the 1984 Olympics. He won the first American silver medal for judo and was a five-time U.S. champion throughout the 1980s. He served as the president of USA Judo and won a bronze medal during the 1983 World Judo Championships.

Yves Dreyfu

Yves Dreyfus was a Holocaust survivor and three-time fencing Olympian who won bronze medals during the 1956 and 1964 games. The French fencer, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 90, survived the Nazi occupation of France by changing his last name to Doucet at the time. Along with winning bronze medals at the Olympics, he also won four gold medals at the Maccabiah Games that took place between 1961 and 1977, and, in 1967, he was awarded France’s National Order of Merit.

Sarah Poewe

World champion swimmer Sarah Poewe represented Germany and South Africa at the World Champions and the Olympics. During the 2004 Olympics, she was part of a medley team that won a bronze medal. She was also the first Jewish athlete to win an Olympic medal for Germany after World War II. At the World Championships in 2000, she won gold medals in the 50-meter and 100-meter breaststroke events.

Andrés Cantor

Andrés Cantor is a sports broadcaster who is known for enthusiastically yelling “Goooooooooooal” after goals are scored during soccer games. Since he started his career in the 1970s, he’s won six Emmy Awards for broadcasting several Olympic games and World Cup tournaments for both Universo and Telemundo. In 2020, he was named the National Soccer Hall of Fame’s Colin Jose Media Award recipient for significant long-term contributions to the game of soccer in the United States. Andrés, who was once featured on “The Simpsons,” is the grandson of Polish and Romanian immigrants who fled the Nazis and came to Argentina. Cantor has won six Emmy awards for sports broadcasting.  

Gary “The Kid” Jacobs

Gary “The Kid” Jacobs is a Scottish welterweight boxer who won the European, Commonwealth, and British championships, and participated in a world title fight. The World Boxing Council named him the world’s No. 1 welterweight contender in 1995. He won 45 times – and only lost eight times – throughout his career. In 2011, he was inducted into the Scottish Boxing Hall of Fame.

Gary was known for wearing a Star of David on his fight shorts to showcase his Jewish pride. He joked to the Glasgow Times, “It helped that I was Jewish in the west of Scotland, because both Catholics and Protestants supported me, although I did sometimes get asked whether I was a Catholic Jew or a Protestant Jew.” On a more serious note, he told the paper, “I’m proud of my heritage. My children are Jewish and it’s a big part of my life.” He has said, “I am Jewish first and foremost.”

Leah Goldstein

Leah Goldstein, who was born in Canada but raised in Israel, became the women’s world kickboxing champion in 1989. She is talented in several sports: she was the Israeli national women’s road cycling champion twice, in 2008 and 2009, and in 2021, at 52 years old, she became the first woman to win Race Across America, an intense 3,000-mile cycling competition.

Leah Goldstein, right

Three decades ago, Leah served in the IDF. After pro-Palestinian activists found out about this, Leah’s speaking gig at the women’s group INSPIRE was cancelled. Instead of being angry, she spread a message of love – staying true to the Jewish mission to be a light unto the nations. “For now, I can only live in hope,” she said. “I hope for peace. I hope that humans can learn to treat each other with respect and love.”

The other honorees for 2025 included: Abraham Kurland, Hanoch Budin, Oren Smadja, Ralph Klein, Stan Fischler, and Shahar Pe’er. You can learn more by visiting the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame website.

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