Uriel Simri

Uriel Simri was inducted into the College of Applied Human Sciences Hall of Fame in the fall of 2025. He was previously inducted into the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Hall of Fame in 2010.

Born in Vienna, Austria, Simri immigrated to Palestine in 1934 and later served in the Hagana and Israel Defense Forces. He completed a bachelor’s degree at the City College of New York and earned a master’s and a doctorate in physical education from West Virginia University in 1966.

Simri served as a FIBA basketball referee in more than 50 international contests and was the first Israeli selected to officiate Olympic basketball, working the 1956 Melbourne Games. He was recruited by Israel’s Ministry of Education in 1960 to direct training for physical education educators from developing countries and was assigned as director of athletics at Haile Selassie University in Addis Ababa (1963–64).

Beginning in 1961, Simri held academic and administrative posts at the Wingate Institute of Physical Education and Sport, including deputy director, scientific director, director of the Instructional Media Division, and director of the Department of Social Sciences. He served as the first executive director of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (1981–89) and was elected to its membership in 1991. An author of more than 20 books on physical education and sport, he also held leadership roles with the Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport in Asia and the International Society for Comparative Physical Education and Sport. Simri was elected an International Fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology in 1983.

Simri died in 2016.