Dennis Miller Receives Davids-Wheeler Memorial Award
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. The annual Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award was awarded to FINA Bureau member Dennis Miller of Fiji for his contributions to marathon swimming, especially his vision to bring the 10 km marathon swim to the Olympic program.
As a long-time member of the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee, Miller and American Sid Cassidy and Australian Christopher Guesdon, literally mapped out the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim concept on a napkin in a restaurant. This revolutionary plan eventually led to the sport of open water swimming being added to the 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympics.
Miller joined the following International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame honourees in its Class of 2014:
Honour Swimmers Antonio Argüelles Díaz-González (Mexico), Forrest Nelson (U.S.A.), and Martin Strel (Slovenia), Honour Administrator Marty Veen (Netherlands), and Honour Organisations Jersey Long Distance Swimming Club (United Kingdom) and Varne Ridge Holiday Park (United Kingdom).
Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award is an award of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, established in 1970 by the New England Marathon Swimming Association, to honor and recognize the contribution of individuals and groups making major contributions to marathon swimming and serve as a perpetual memorial to Irving Davids and Captain Roger Wheeler.
Its recipients are as follows:
1970 Joe Grossman
1971 Gerald Forsberg
1972 Buck Dawson
1973 Willy Van Rysel
1974 Jerry Nason
1975 Ray Scott and Audrey Scott
1976 Aquatique Club Du lac St. Jean
1977 Conrad Wennerberg
1978 Charles E. Silvia
1979 Dennis Matuch
1980-2001 Award Retired
2002 James Doty
2003 British Long Distance Swimming Association
2004 Roger Parsons & Valerie Parsons
2005 Lynn Blouin
2006 Dale Petranech
2007 Silvia Dalotto
2008 Shelley Taylor-Smith
2009 Michael Read
2010 Christopher Guesdon
2011 Steven Munatones
2012 Drury Gallagher
2013 Ned Denison
2014 Melissa Cunningham
2015 Dennis Miller
Copyright © 2014 by World Open Water Swimming Association
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Daily News of Open Water Swimming and founder of WOWSA. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010).
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