OC Jewish Sports Hall of Fame

The Orange County Jewish Sports Hall of Fame honors outstanding Jewish sports figures who have played a significant role in shaping the sports history in our county.

The Hall of Fame is designed to raise the profile of Jewish sports heroes in Orange County, and inspire our youth with sports heroes of their own to emulate.

Meet our 2014 Honorees:

Kenny Bernstein,
Drag Racer & NASCAR / IndyCar team owner
Nicknamed “The King of Speed,” Kenny is the first driver to break 300 mph in the standing-start quarter mile. During his driving career he won 69 NHRA national events, four consecutive Budweiser King Funny Car championships (1985-1988) and two Top Fuel championships (1996 & 2001). As a race team owner, he is the first and only to have collected wins in each of America’s three major motorsport series: NHRA drag racing, NASCAR, and CART (IndyCar).

Camille (Cami) Levin,
US U23 Women’s Soccer & NCAA D1 Champion
Cami was the recipient of the Scholar-Athlete award in 2008, as a student at Tarbut V’Torah High School in Irvine. She went on to captain Stanford’s Division 1 National Championship women’s soccer team and was an All-American first team. Cami now plays professional soccer for the Sydney Wanderers in Australia and Swedish Champions, Gothenburg F.C. She currently serves as the captain of the U23 USA national team, and plays professionally in New Jersey.

Jerry Simon,
Basketball
Jerry played four seasons of Varsity Basketball at the University of Pennsylvania from 1986-90. His team was crowned Ivy League Champions in 1986-87 and Jerry was named All-Ivy League honorable mention as well as second team co-captain. He represented Team USA at the 1989 World Maccabi Games and, after college, played professional basketball in Israel. He won the Israeli Championship at Gaili Elyon in 1992-93 and went on to play 10 years in Israel for various clubs.

Congratulations to the 2014 Scholar Athlete Honorees:

OC Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Committee

Event Chairs: Larry Kaplan and Jordan Kaplan

 Irv Chase, Chairman of the Board | Dan Bernstein, President and CEO | Sam Cohen, Program Director

Dinner of Champions

Bi-annually, the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame Dinner of Champions honors the outstanding Jewish sports figures who have played a significant role in shaping the sports history in our county and inspire our youth. All proceeds help support the Merage JCC's youth sports programs.

Please join us at the next Dinner of Champions in 2016 as we honor our own sports heroes and invest in the future of our youth.

Past Honorees

 Scholar Athlete Male & Female Winners

• Class of 2014: Larisa Bokota, Evan Bozanic
• Class of 2011: Benjamin Zepfel;,Zoe Kreitenberg
• Class of 2009: Aviv Lazar, Ryan Alper
• Class of 2008: Camille Levin, Evan Zepfel
• Class of 2006: Pamela Zuckerman, Danny Desatnik