Inducted: 1997
Location: United States
Alan Sherman has been one of the most significant
Americans engaged in Israel-United States sports
relations. A
long-time vice-president of Maccabi USA/Sports For
Israel since 1973, the Potomac, Maryland businessman
is primarily recognized for his leadership of U.S.
participation in the quadrennial World Maccabiah
Games.
Serving from 1973 to 1989 on the International
Maccabiah Committee (Maccabiah equivalent of
the International
Olympic Committee), Sherman was all-sports chairman
of U.S. teams organized for the 1977 and 1985 Maccabiah Games, and was the
U.S.
team’s general chairman from 1977 to 1979. He introduced the heralded
Maccabiah “Pre
Camp Program”in 1985 at Rutgers University; and four years later, with
MUSA president Bob Spivak, initiated an expanded version of Jewish-Israel orientation
for all American athletes that has become a staple of the Maccabiah “experience”.
Sherman co-founded the North American Maccabi
Youth Games (for athletes 16-and-under) that
made its debut in 1982. The event currently registers
more than 6,000
participants annually. He was also instrumental in the early development
of the Israel Tennis
Centers.
In 1978, Sherman organized a basketball exhibition
tour of Israel by the NBA World Champion Washington
Bullets. He later organized two U.S. tours
by the
amputee volleyball team of Israel’s Beit Halochem, and initiated USA/Sports For
Israel’s support for the Israel Sport Center for the Disabled.
For many years Sherman was United States liaison
to the Israel Olympic Committee and Israel Sports
Federation. Since 1989, he has been Chairman
of the International
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and has served as president of American Friends
of Wingate Institute since the early 1990s. He is a member of the executive
committee
of Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel and the United States organizing committee
for the Maccabiah Games.
