David Yudovin (USA) selected as the seventh recipient of the Dale Petranech Award

Honoree David Yudovin of the United States of America has been selected as the seventh recipient of the Dale Petranech Award for Services to the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (IMSHOF). This will be presented posthumously to his family at the IMSHOF Induction Award Ceremony in New York City on 6th May, 2023. See details at https://www.imshof.org/blank

In 2014 David stepped up and gave IMSHOF a new life, when the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame’s four-year experiment of being independent of the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) had run out of money, executed a poor ceremony in Scotland and the leadership team didn’t have a recovery plan. He provided instant leadership, convinced ISHOF to take IMSHOF back under their wing, formed a new management team – with regular meetings and calls, drove immediate structure changes and generously steadied the IMSHOF finances.

David practiced worldwide diplomacy in his swimming. He completed marathon swims in 13 countries, and 5 continents, and completed first ever swims in 7 of the countries. He crossed every kind of boundary while making people from every walk of life and background part of his “swim team”. He made them proud to be a part of his adventure. Everyone on the team was a “winner”. He did this with swimming, in his business, and, also with the IMSHOF. David brought his enthusiasm and professionalism to the management team and finances of IMSHOF, and those practices continue to this day.

Looking back on IMSHOF’s 50+ year history, David was one of the organizations’ key historical leaders.

This award was created in 2016 to honor Dale Petranech for decades of service to the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame. Petranech is a dual inductee in both the IMSHOF and the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Contributor. As a marathon swimmer, Petranech previously held the record as the oldest solo swimmer across the Catalina Channel in California. He served for nearly 50 years in various capacities at all levels of the sport – local, regional national and international.