Women Divers Hall of Fame | |
Abbreviation | WDHOF |
---|---|
Legal status | Nonprofit tax-exempt 501C(3) [1] |
Purpose | To honor the accomplishments of women divers |
Region served | International |
Fields | Women in underwater diving |
Membership (2023) | 254 |
President | Robin Parish [2] |
Chair | Susan Bangasser [2] |
Vice President | Patti Kirk Gross [2] |
Secretary | Patty Seery [2] |
Website | https://www.wdhof.org |
The Women Divers Hall of Fame (WDHOF) is an international honor society. Its purpose is to honor the accomplishments of women divers, [3] [4] [5] and their contributions to various fields of underwater diving. [6] [1] Full membership is restricted to nominees who have been found to meet the WDHOF's criteria, which include being an underwater diver and having contributed to diving in ways recognised as being significant. [7]
The WDHOF was founded in 1999 by a group of people and organizations, including the Underwater Society of America. [8] [9] 72 women were inducted in 2000, followed by 26 new members the next year. [10]
The WDHOF awards many scholarships and training grants [11] to support women of "all ages who are pursuing careers involving diving" [12] including the J. Berman Memorial Grant for Sea Turtle Conservation, the Sherry Reed Memorial Undergraduate Marine Conservation Scholarship, the Laurel Clark Sea to Space Physiology Research Grant and the Amelia Behrens-Furniss Memorial Hardhat Dive Training Grant. [13] [14] [15]
As of 2023, there are 254 members. [16] They include:
Name | Dates | Induction | Details |
---|---|---|---|
Pamela Balash-Webber | 1953-2020 | 2022 | Co-founder of the Virgin Islands Diving Association, PADI course director, and promoter of ocean conservation |
Carole Baldwin | 2022 | Scientist, author, and educator. An authority on marine biology, especially tropical-marine fishes, conservation and sustainable seafood | |
Sally Bauer | 2011 | Diving museum founder and historian, aquaculturist, author, and public speaker [17] | |
Amelia Behrens-Furniss | 1895-1970 | 2012 | Pioneering American deep sea diver |
Wendy Benchley | 2015 | Marine conservation leader, governmental policy advocate, and spokesperson on shark conservation [18] | |
Bette Bolivar | 1962- | 2005 | US Navy Diving and Salvage Officer; commanding Officer of USS Salvor, and of the Navy Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit [19] |
Mary Bonnin | 2001 | First woman US Navy Master Diver; US Navy diving instructor; naval diving safety advocate [20] | |
Cathy Church | 1945- | 2000 | American marine biologist, SCUBA diver, underwater photographer and educator |
Eugenie Clark | 1922-2015 | 2022 | An American ichthyologist known for both her research on shark behaviour and her study of fish in the order Tetraodontiformes; a pioneer in the field of scuba diving for research purposes |
Laurel B. Clark | 1961-2003 | 2003 | Clark did active duty training with the Diving Medicine Department at the United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit; completed Navy undersea medical officer training at the Naval Undersea Medical Institute in Groton, Connecticut, and diving medical officer training at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center; she dove with Navy divers and Naval Special Warfare Unit Two SEALs and performed many medical evacuations from US submarines; designated as a Naval Submarine Medical Officer and Diving Medical Officer |
Céline Cousteau | 1972- | 2011 | |
Annie Crawley | 1968- | 2010 | American underwater photographer, [21] filmmaker, speaker, educator, and ocean advocate. [22] In 2007, she founded Dive Into Your Imagination, a multimedia ocean inspiration, entertainment, and education series for youth. [23] |
Mandy-Rae Cruickshank | 1974- | 2009 | Canadian World champion free-diver and record-holder |
Sylvia Earle | 1935- | 2000 | Oceanographer and marine biologist (former Chief Scientist at NOAA), author and consultant |
Dottie Frazier | 1922-2022 | 2000 | American diver and dive shop owner; the first female scuba instructor and the first female dive shop owner. [24] |
Honor Frost | 1917-2010 | 2019 | Pioneer in the field of underwater archaeology, who led Mediterranean archaeological investigations and was noted for her typology of stone anchors and skills in archaeological illustration |
Szilvia Gogh | 2016 [25] | Hungarian diver and stunt performer, the youngest female PADI Course Director | |
Lotte Hass | 1928-2015 | 2000 | Austrian underwater diver, model and actress |
Hillary Hauser | 1944- | 2000 | American photojournalist and environmental activist with a focus on the oceans — underwater diving adventure, politics, and conservation |
Mehgan Heaney-Grier | 1977- | 2000 | American champion free-diver |
Jill Heinerth | 1965- | 2000 | Canadian cave diver, underwater explorer, writer, photographer and film-maker |
Denise Herzing | 2021 | Founder and Research Director of the Wild Dolphin Project [26] | |
Lauren Hutton | 1943- | 2007 | Conservationist and scuba advocate |
Darlene Iskra | 1952- | 2008 | US Navy diving and salvage officer, first woman to command a commissioned US Navy ship, public speaker, and author |
Karen Kohanowich | 2001 | Retired U.S. Naval officer and ocean research and technology program manager for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) | |
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo | 2007 | ||
Dení Ramírez Macías | 1978- | 2021 | Mexican marine biologist ocean scientist, and conservationist, and director of Whale Shark México (Tiburon Ballena Mexico) [27] |
Andrea Marshall | 2023 | marine biologist known for wildlife conservation and research on large marine animals like manta rays & whale sharks; co-founder and a principal scientist of the Marine Megafauna Foundation | |
Simone Melchior-Cousteau [28] | 1919-1990 | 2017 | First woman scuba diver and aquanaut; wife and business partner of undersea explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau |
Audrey Mestre | 1974-2002 | 2002 | French world record-setting freediver |
Zale Parry | 1933- | 2000 | American pioneer scuba diver, underwater photographer and actress |
Penelope Powell | 1904-1965 | 2023 | Pioneering cave diver in 1935 [29] [30] |
Lesley Rochat [31] | 2010 | South African marine and shark conservationist, [32] campaigner, [33] wildlife filmmaker, underwater photographer, [34] [35] environmental writer, [36] author, speaker [37] and activist. [38] She founded the non-profit organisation AfriOceans Conservation Alliance | |
Dee Scarr | 2000 | American environmentalist, marine naturalist, and scuba diver | |
Claudia Serpieri | 2002 | Italian world-record technical diver and instructor | |
Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper | 1963- | 2007 | American salvage officer. Projects include de-stranding the tanker Exxon Houston off the coast of Barbers Point, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and developing the plan for the Peruvian Navy salvage of the Peruvian submarine |
Tanya Streeter | 1973- | 2000 | British-Caymanian-American world champion freediver |
Kathryn Sullivan | 1951- | 2008 | American, first woman to dive into the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench |
Valerie Taylor | 1935- | 2000 | Australian diver, underwater photographer and film maker |
Donna Tobias | 1952-2010 | 2001 | United States Navy's first female deep sea diver |
Ruth Turner | 1914-2000 | 2001 | Pioneering U.S. marine biologist and malacologist |
Michele Westmorland | 2011 | American photographer, specializing in underwater photography | |
Susan Williams | 1951-2018 | 2019 | American marine biologist |
Cristina Zenato [39] | 1971- | 2011 | Shark protection consultant; TDI and NSS-CDS technical and full cave instructor; explorer, surveyor and mapper of cave systems; and ocean advocate |
Tanya Streeter is a British-Caymanian-American world champion freediver, inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in March 2000.
Audrey Mestre was a French world record-setting freediver.
Lotte Hass was a pioneering Austrian diver, underwater photographer and model. She was nicknamed The First Lady of Diving. She was the first woman to dive in the Red Sea, the first woman to dive with autonomous diving equipment and the first underwater model. She was also the first person to take “in-water footage” of whale sharks and manta rays. She was married to Hans Hass, the Austrian biologist and fellow diving pioneer.
Rosalia (Zale) Parry is an American pioneer scuba diver, underwater photographer and actress.
Rodney Winston Fox is an Australian film maker, conservationist, survivor of an attack by a great white shark, and one of the world's foremost authorities on that species. He was inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame in 2007. He was born in Adelaide.
The International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame (ISDHF) is an annual event that recognizes those who have contributed to the success and growth of recreational scuba diving in dive travel, entertainment, art, equipment design and development, education, exploration and adventure. It was founded in 2000 by the Cayman Islands Ministry of Tourism. Currently, it exists virtually with plans for a physical facility to be built at a future time.
Mary Bonnin is a former Master Chief in the United States Navy. She retired from her position in 1996. She had been with the United States Navy for 20 years, graduating at the top of her class in both air and gas surface-supplied diving. She then became the first woman Master Diver, and later she would be one of the first women to enter the Women Divers Hall of Fame.
Bret Clifton Gilliam was an American pioneering technical diver. He was most famous as co-founder of the certification agency Technical Diving International along with Mitch Skaggs, and as the one time holder of the world record for deep diving on air. He is also one of diving's most popular writers. Gilliam is the author or coauthor of 72 books, over 1500 feature magazine articles, and over 100 magazine cover photos. In his diving career he has logged over 19,000 dives since 1959.
Mehgan Heaney-Grier is an American champion freediver, fashion model, actress, conservationist, and TV personality.
Divers Academy International is a private, for-profit technical educational institution in New Jersey that offers training in commercial diving and underwater welding.
The NOGI Awards is an award presented annually by the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences (AUAS) to diving luminaries and is "considered the Oscar of the ocean world." Selection of recipients is based on their record of accomplishments and excellence in the diving world. NOGI awards are given out to world-class standouts of the diving community who have distinguished themselves and made a global impact on diving in one or more of four general categories: Science, Arts, Sports/Education, and Environment. A fifth NOGI is given for Distinguished Service.
Hillary Rika Hauser is an American photojournalist and environmental activist with a focus on the oceans — underwater diving adventure, politics, and conservation. In 2009, in recognition of her ocean environmental work as it relates to underwater diving, Hauser received the NOGI Award for Distinguished Service from the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences. In 2013 the Academy elected Hauser as president of its board of directors.
Jill Heinerth is a Canadian cave diver, underwater explorer, writer, photographer and film-maker. She has made TV series for PBS, National Geographic Channel and the BBC, consulted on movies for directors including James Cameron, written several books and produced documentaries including We Are Water and Ben's Vortex, about the disappearance of Ben McDaniel.
Lesley Rochat is a South African marine and shark conservationist, campaigner, wildlife filmmaker, underwater photographer, environmental writer, author, speaker and activist. She founded the non-profit organisation AfriOceans Conservation Alliance in 2003 for which she is the chief executive officer.
Annie Crawley is an American underwater photographer, filmmaker, speaker, educator, and ocean advocate. In 2007, she founded Dive Into Your Imagination, a multimedia ocean inspiration, entertainment, and education series for youth. In 2010, she became a member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame. Crawley resides in Edmonds, Washington.
Catherine "Cathy" Church is an American marine biologist, SCUBA diver, underwater photographer and educator.
Valerie May Taylor AM is an Australian conservationist, photographer, and filmmaker, and an inaugural member of the diving hall of fame. With her husband Ron Taylor, she made documentaries about sharks, and filmed sequences for films including Jaws (1975).
Cristina Zenato is an Italian-born shark diver and conservationist. She is known for her work with Caribbean reef sharks in The Bahamas.
The History of Diving Museum is located in Islamorada, Florida which is in the Florida Keys. The museum's exhibits include a collection of vintage underwater diving equipment, a notable collection of diving helmets and various artifacts that are dedicated to the history of underwater diving.
Szilvia Gogh is a Hungarian scuba diver and stunt performer. In 2016, she was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame. Gogh is the founder of Gogh Jewelry Design.