PREVIOUS INDUCTEES

Avi Klapfer (Israel for Cocos Islands)

Avi Klapfer is an Israeli underwater photographer based in Costa Rica who has explored and protected the remote Cocos Island since 1990. He introduced the first liveaboard to the area and through his diving operation and photography he has brought the magic of Cocos Island to the world. His company has provided film support for countless films and expeditions from National Geographic to the BBC, including Howard Hall’s epic Imax film, Island of the Sharks. He helped bring about the popularization of nitrox on recreational liveaboards, and provided detailed dive reports for each and every dive completed on Undersea Hunter’s three vessels over the past 30 years. These reports have been used for multiple research papers oriented toward conservation and include the 2015 paper published by Conservation Biology titled Shifting elasmobranch community assemblage at Cocos Island—an isolated marine protected area. Most recently, he co-authored a comprehensive dive guide for all of Costa Rica with an emphasis on Cocos Island called Costa Rica Blue. It is the first book of its kind for the country and an important step in drawing attention to protecting these waters in a country under constant fishing pressure. 

Diver’s Alert Network (DAN)

The Divers Alert Network (DAN)’s contribution to the scuba diving industry in its four decades of service to divers is unparalleled.

Best known for its 24-hour emergency hotline which has been a lifeline for more than 100,000 injured divers worldwide, DAN has many other programmes which have been similarly impactful.

Jim Gatacre (Canada)

Jim Gatacre is the founder of the Handicapped Scuba Association (HSA), an organization that has allowed thousands of handicapped people around the globe to enjoy the wonders of the underwater world. Jim’s vision, commitment and dedication made what was thought for handicapped people to be impossible, possible.  

Over the decades of Jim’s career he has devised and developed programs that have trained and certified over ten thousand recipients from Open Water Divers with Disabilities to Dive Buddies, Instructors and Course Directors, expanding his visions into an international organization that promotes enhanced self-image and social interaction through the unifying sport of Scuba diving. 

His unique career contributions to the diving industry and handicapped people have been recognized with the DEMA Reaching Out Award, the Historical Diving Society Diving Pioneer Award, and the NAUI Outstanding Contribution to Diving Award. 

Tom Ingram (USA)

Tom Ingram has more than 40 years of experience in the recreational diving industry, including dive leadership, retail and retail management, education, marketing, and has served as the President of DEMA since 2002. His leadership of DEMA has elevated his profile globally and he has become the “face” of the USA’s diving industry, developing strategic alliances with international diving groups around the world. With his natural teaching abilities he has held key instructional posts with numerous organizations and educational institutions. As the President of DEMA, he appears regularly at Congressional and State legislative hearings, representing divers and the diving industry. Tom’s managerial skills have brought a much-needed stability to DEMA, and his abilities in his role are endorsed by him becoming the longest serving President in the history of DEMA, with 17 years of service. Tom’s service to recreational diving was recognized by the members of the Academy of Underwater Arts & Sciences with the 2017 NOGI Award for Distinguished Service. 

Jill Heinerth (Canada)

A pioneering underwater explorer and filmmaker, Jill has dived deeper into caves than any woman in history. She holds the woman’s world record for deep cave penetration (1998) and received the OZTEK Media Excellence Award for significant contributions to technical and exploration diving (2013). Her photographs have been published internationally, and she has lectured on her experiences at numerous international dive shows and conferences. Jill has made TV series for BBC, National Geographic and PBS, and consulted on movies for various directors including James Cameron. Among her numerous awards are the 2000,Canadian Technical Diver of the Year, National Association of Cave Divers Conservation Award, 2010, Scuba Diving Magazine’s Sea Hero of the Year Award, 2012 and the Academy of Underwater Arts & Sciences NOGI Award for Sports & Education 2017. 

JONATHAN BIRD (USA)

Jonathan Bird founded Oceanic Research Group, a 501(c)(3) non-profit environmental organization promoting conservation of the world’s oceans in 1990. Working from this non-profit, he created Jonathan Bird's Blue World, an educational family-friendly underwater science/adventure series. It aired on PBS from 2008-2014 and then transitioned to YouTube in season 5. On YouTube, it has become the most widely-watched scuba-themed program in the world, with more than 109 million views, and 320,000 subscribers, and still growing. The program is now fully funded by YouTube—the largest broadcast network in the world. It is also syndicated on television in 20 countries around the world. In various seasons, Jonathan Bird’s Blue World has been partially funded by the National Science Foundation and a number of foundations and companies, particularly the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation. Jonathan has created and produced over 30 films for broadcast and education. His films have appeared all over the world, on networks such as National Geographic Channel, PBS, ABC, USA Network, Discovery and the SciFi Channel. His series has won 8 Emmy Awards since inception. He is also an accomplished still photographer and the author of seven books of underwater photography with articles and images published in hundreds of magazines, calendars and books. His contributions include introducing millions of children around the globe to the world of scuba diving.

HUSSAIN 'SENDI' RASHEED (REPUBLIC OF MALDIVES)

Hussain Rasheed (known as Sendi Rasheed) was the first PADI Instructor Trainer in the Republic of Maldives and a key figure in developing diving tourism there. During his career, which is on-going, he has certified over 1,600 divers. He is active in developing regulations for the Maldive Islands and also works to assist marine environmental projects. His work came to international media attention when he created and organized an underwater Cabinet Meeting, chaired by the President of the Republic of Maldives, to bring world attention the threat of global warming. He is the former Dean of the Faculty of Marine Studies at Villa College (2006 – 2008), overseeing four departments: Marine Science, Watersports, Scuba Diving and Marine Medicine. He is affiliated as an Executive Director of all Villa Dive Centres under his company, Dive Oceanus, operating five PADI Dive Centers across four different atolls in the Maldives, and supervising 40 diving professionals. He is a founding member of the Divers Association Maldives (DAM).

LEE SELISKY (USA)

Starting in his garage with a six-pound lead weight mold, Lee went on to build the Sea Pearls company. His market was both domestic and international and as a pioneer in manufacturing became the prime vendor in his field. In an effort to “give back” to the diving industry Lee served on several non profit boards in leading positions: President of Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA), Founding Director of the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame (ISDHF), multi term Chairman of the Historical Diving Society (HDS), Director of the original Ocean Futures Society, Director of the Hans Hass Award, and Chairman of Divers Alert Network (DAN). Using his personal philanthropy to “lead by example” Lee donated in excess of seven figures to not only programs of the Boards he lead but also regional dive show fund raisers, marine environmental programs, and marine medical programs. In 2017 he established the Lee Selisky Future Leaders in the Diving Industry Mentorship Program. His leadership changed the industry and improved the lives of many divers. His career exemplifies the term “giving back,” and many of the industry’s non-profit organizations and its future leaders owe him a debt of gratitude.

DR. ADEL MOHAMED TAHER (EGYPT)

Dr. Adel Mohamed Taher is considered one of the top world experts in hyperbaric medicine, receiving his Medicine and Surgery MB, BC h, from Cairo University in 1982. He is Medical Director of the Hyperbaric Medical Center at Sharm el Sheikh since 1993 and at Dahab since 2006. A PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor since 1982, he became Medical Director of DAN Egypt in 1994. Ever since, he’s been playing a vital role in promoting diver safety in the Red Sea area and beyond, by managing diving emergencies, participating in medical research projects and conferences, and acting as an advisor for governmental as well as non-governmental agencies.

In March 1993, Dr Taher opened the first recompression chamber in Sharm el-Sheikh at the Hyperbaric Medical Center providing a foundation of safety for the expanding dive tourism industry in the area. It has never refused a patient.

DR. H.S. BATUNA (INDONESIA, HONOURED POSTHUMOUSLY)

Dr. Batuna was a visionary medical doctor and diver, who over several decades, successfully developed a recreational diving operation and resort in a new location in Indonesia.

STEPHEN FRINK (USA)

As a freelance photographer for over forty years, Stephen Frink has been a leading promoter of the Florida Keys diving product.

WULF H. KOEHLER (GERMANY)

As a scientist, engineer, inventor, dive instructor, pilot, photographer, journalist and writer, Wulf Koehler has dedicated a major part of his life to the sea by educating divers, instructing underwater photographers and manufacturing underwater camera housings.

BORIS POROTOV (KAZAKHSTAN, USSR)

Boris Porotov was a self-taught scuba diver in Russia in 1960, at a time when no manufactured equipment or instruction material of any kind was available.

DICK RUTKOWSKI (USA)

Dick Rutkowski helped popularize the use of nitrox among sport divers through the International Association of Nitrox Divers (IAND), which he founded and which later become International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers (IANTD) under president Tom Mount.

CAPTAIN PHILIPPE TAILLIEZ (FRANCE, HONOURED POSTHUMOUSLY WITH THE 2018 EARLY PIONEER AWARD)

As a French naval Lieutenant, Captain Philippe Tailliez introduced Midshipman Jacques Yves Cousteau to free diving at Le Mourillon in 1936. Tailliez coached Cousteau through spearfishing and two years later introduced him to Frederic Dumas.

DICK BONIN (USA)

Significant Career Achievement and/or Industry Contribution

Former UDT diver who co-founded Scubapro and guided it a premiere position of equipment manufacturing.

KROV MENUHIN (AUSTRALIA)

Significant Career Achievement and/or Industry Contribution

International underwater filmmaker who filmed the first ever footage of a Blue whale underwater and is credited by the BBC and French television with a combined exposure of 300 million viewers worldwide.

KURT SCHAEFER (AUSTRIA)

Significant Career Achievement and/or Industry Contribution

Designer of several early underwater camera housings in the 1940’s with which Hans Hass shot some of earliest free-swimming scuba diving films.

GARDNER YOUNG (BAHAMAS)

Significant Career Achievement and/or Industry Contribution

In the 1950’s founded the first tourist diving and training resort in Bahamas, and created and developed the Resort Course of scuba diving training now used worldwide.

BOB BARTH

The Dean of Saturation Divers and the most famous living USN diver. The only diver on the bottom on every USN project from Genesis to SEALAB III. Although those programs were for saturation diving, all excursions were done with scuba, some at over 600 feet.

RAMON BRAVO

During the early years of recreational scuba diving the number of world-class underwater film producers and cinematographers was very small. Ramon Bravo's international reputation for not only his motion pictures depicting marine life behavior but his syndicated television series is legend.

STUART COVE

Exposure in film, video and photography is important to recreational scuba diving; with more exposure, more people care about protecting the underwater world. Stuart Cove first got involved with the film industry in 1979, as the owner of Coral Harbor Divers in the Bahamas, working as a diver on the James Bond film, for Your Eyes Only. He began learning about the movie business, taught the cast and crew to dive, and even wrangled sharks for the film. The money he earned allowed him to buy his own boat, and continuing work eventually allowed him to create Stuart Cove’s Diving operation.

DR. JOE MACINNIS

Dr. Joe MacInnis is the first person to explore the ocean beneath the North Pole. Supported by the Canadian government, he led ten research expeditions under the Arctic Ocean to develop the systems and techniques to make scientific surveys beneath the polar ice cap. His teams built the first undersea polar station and discovered the world’s northernmost known shipwreck.

PHILIPPE COUSTEAU, SENIOR

Philippe-Pierre Cousteau, Sr. was the second son of Jacques-Yves Cousteau and, working with his father, was a co-producer of numerous diving documentaries shown on tv around the world.

BILL HIGH

Bill High began diving in 1955 and has maintained a constant involvement with the many facets of underwater science, diver equipment, education and training. He has certified thousands of students into the scuba diving world since he became a NAUI Instructor in 1961.

PETER HUGHES

The name Peters Hughes in the diving industry is considered legendary and synonymous with Live-Aboard diving. He is considered one of the first instructors to teach Scuba Diving in the Caribbean.

DR. ALBERT JOSE JONES

For over 50 years, Dr. José Jones has been training people to Scuba Dive. He started his own club, the Underwater Adventure Seekers, in 1959, because he was finding that the existing clubs at the time were reluctant to admit and train potential black divers. Since then, he has been directly responsible for the development of many Dive clubs.

WALLY MULLER

Captain Wally Muller was a long-time fisherman, who explored reefs in the Swain sector of the Great Barrier Reef and the distant oceanic Coral Sea atolls that other captains avoided.

BILL ACKER

Bill Acker is the owner of Yap Divers and Manta Ray Bay Hotel, in Micronesia in the South Pacific.

CHUCK NICKLIN

Sometime in the middle 1950’s the diving bug bit Chuck Nicklin. Living in San Diego CA, one of the premier US locations for the early diving industry, he became involved with early pioneers of diving living nearby, including Hall of Fame inductees Ron Church, Dr. Andreas Rechnitzer, and other diving notables.

DAN ORR

Dan Orr, most recently the President Emeritus of the Divers Alert Network (DAN) Foundation and formerly the CEO of DAN, has been involved in the diving industry for more than 40 years.

ALESE AND MORT PECHTER

Alese & Mort Pechter worked for many reaching out to the general public with their unique brand of photography and philosophy, creating awareness the beauty of the underwater world, and of recreational diving as a means to see that beauty.

NEAL WATSON

Neal Watson began diving in the Springs of Northern Florida in 1953 at the age of 13 and has been in the diving business for over 45 years.

SAM DAVISON

Sam Davison was a US Marine that spent considerable time in the South Pacific during the Second World War. His time on the island of Guam changed his life and his underwater experiences in the oceans of Guam proved to be the driving force in his life.

GUY HARVEY

Dr. Guy Harvey is a unique blend of artist, scientist, diver, angler, conservationist and explorer, fiercely devoted to his family and his love of the sea. His childhood passion for the ocean and its living creatures not only inspired him to draw, but also fueled a burning interest that prompted a formal education in marine science.

BERT KILBRIDE

Herbert "Bert" Kilbride was born March 8, 1914 in Springfield MA. His Mother taught him to swim at an early age; in fact he couldn't remember a time he couldn't swim. His mother made him a dive mask when he was only 8 years.

ROLF SCHMIDT AND PETRA ROEGLIN

Rolf Schmidt and Petra Roeglin dove the Red Sea in Oct 1974 for the first time. It was a trip organized by the local Dive Club in their hometown in Germany.

RIC AND DO CAMMICK

Ric and Do Cammick built the first diving resort in Fiji in 1974, near to what is still Fiji's signature dive site, Rainbow Reef. They also pioneered promotion of Fiji on the international market, using film showings at early film festivals, as well as print advertising.

CLIVE CUSSLER

Clive Cussler is a multi-faceted, prolific author of adventure fiction and non-fiction novels, undersea adventurer and explorer. He began writing in 1965 and published his first Dirk Pitt novel in 1973. His first non-fiction work, The Sea Hunters, was published in 1996 and earned him the first Doctor of Letters degree ever awarded by the State University of New York Maritime College in its 1213-year history.

RON KIPP

Ron Kipp left a prominent position with IBM in 1980 and relocated to the Cayman Islands to become the owner of Bob Soto's Diving, Ltd. He began a program of modernizing and promoting not only his business, but also the Cayman Islands. His company was recognised as one of the largest and leading diving companies in the Cayman Islands - which is regarded by many as the Number One Diving Destination in the world.

LESLIE LEANEY

Founder of The Journal of Diving History, CO - Founder Historical Diving Society U.S.A. Born in London, England, Leslie Leaney started diving in 1969 around the island of Singapore. He progressed through the BSAC system and became a scuba instructor, Club Expedition Director and eventually Diving Officer, for BSAC Special Branch in Singapore. During his two-and-a-half year tenure he trained several dozen divers and was responsible for the training curriculum of over a dozen instructors and over 70 active recreational divers.

KELLY TARLTON

Kelly Tarlton worked throughout his career to design an innovative marine aquarium four times larger than any other in the world. It is called Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World and it opened in 1985 in New Zealand. His concept has been emulated internationally and his innovative techniques, such as curving the acrylic tunnels are still used.

ARMAND AND JOANN ZIGAHN

Armand and JoAnn Zigahn - Thirty-six years ago Armand Zigahn (Zig) founded Beneath the Sea, the largest consumer oceans exposition, dive and travel show in America. JoAnn joined him 10 years later as President and implemented a children’s program called Ocean Pals, an international contest open to children from kindergarten through 12th grade.

HOWARD AND MICHELE HALL

Howard and Michele Hall are award-winning natural history filmmakers and photographers perhaps best known for their underwater IMAX films. As Director and Producer, respectively, their IMAX feature film credits include the IMAX3D feature Into the Deep; Island of the Sharks, Coral Reef Adventure (in which they are also featured on camera), Deep Sea 3D, and most recently the IMAX3D feature Under the Sea3D. Howard has been the underwater cinematographer and/or Director of Underwater Cinematography on 4 other IMAX features.

ANDRE LABAN

Andre Laban is a World-renowned French diver, photographer, author, and painter André Laban, was a pioneering member Jacques-Yves Cousteau's Calypso team, serving as chief engineer and diver. He developed early underwater cameras that were used in shooting The Silent World, which won an Oscar for Best Documentary in 1956.

CLEMENT LEE

Clement Lee is a leader in the development of the recreational dive industry in the Malaysian state of Sabah. This dive industry pioneer started Borneo Divers over a quarter of a century ago and has introduced recreational diving and dive tourism in Sabah as well as resort management in Sipadan.

BEV MORGAN

Bev Morgan began free diving and surfing in 1949, a year after leaving high school and became a Los Angeles County lifeguard in 1952. That year, he purchased an early Aqua Lung scuba unit and founded the Los Angeles County Instructors program, which was the first scuba instructor's program available to the public. He also wrote the first Instruction manual that was based on the Scripps Institute program and also the Underwater Safety, a standard diving book of the 1950's.

ALLAN POWER

Allan Power has a vast knowledge of the President Coolidge; he is the man they call 'Mr President'. Nearly 40 years ago, Allan came to Santo on a salvage expedition and has remained to become the 'caretaker' of this magnificent underwater adventure.

DR. EUGENIE CLARK

Dr. Eugenie Clark is a world-renowned ichthyologist and authority on sharks. She is popularly known as the SHARK LADY. Born in New York City (1922), of Japanese descent, Eugenie was swimming before she was two and throughout her childhood her interest in sea creatures grew. By the 1940's she was well on her way to a groundbreaking career, despite the hostilities toward the Japanese and prevalent sexism during WWII. Among her many discoveries, Clark was the first person to develop a technique for making "test-tube" babies in female fish. She went on to become a world-famous scientist and pioneer in the field of scuba diving for research purposes.

NICK ICORN

Nick Icorn, has been called the "Keeper of the Flame" for preserving diving's illustrious history through his collection of sports diving gear. His diving career includes experience in numerous aspects of diving, including working as a design engineer with US Divers, Healthways, Cavalero, Airco Cryogenics, Sherwood Selpac, and Ocean Dynamics.

FRANCIS TORIBIONG

Growing up in Palau after the end of World War II, Francis was strongly influenced by the first divers who came to Palau to do salvage work. During the early 1960's, Francis helped divers salvage metals and met pioneer divers who came to Palau, including J.Y. Cousteau aboard the Calypso, leaving a great impression on young Francis who was determined to become a professional diver.

WYLAND

Marine life artist Wyland has earned the distinction as one of America's most unique creative influences and a leading advocate for marine resource conservation. An accomplished painter, sculptor, underwater explorer and educator, he has traveled the farthest reaches of the globe for more than twenty-five years, capturing the raw power and beauty of the aquatic universe.

KIMIUO AISEK

Kimiuo Aisek witnessed Operation Hailstone, the American attack on the Japanese Imperial Navy's Fourth Fleet at Truk Lagoon in 1944. He was only 17 years old, but was old enough to know that life would change forever. Kimiuo was a walking history of the battle and had a photographic memory of the Lagoon at the time of the attack. By the mid-1970s he had been diving in the lagoon for years, located many of the wrecks and had brought diving to Truk. His fame as a Dive-master was common knowledge.

GERI MURPHY

Geri Murphy began scuba diving in 1967 as a teenager in the freshwater quarries of Pennsylvania. In 1968, she became a certified diver and a member of two Pennsylvania dive clubs: C-Y Divers and the Main Line YMCA Divers.

HOWARD ROSENSTEIN

Howard Rosenstein grew up in Southern California and, as a child, was always at the beach. His first SCUBA experience as a teenager was cleaning pools, after which he was hooked and inevitably took his first certification course a few years later.

LARRY SMITH

He should have been born a fish, but instead Larry Smith was born a boy in East Texas and grew up into a man who loved the water. His larger-than-life personality will always be remembered by those who were fortunate enough to meet him and had the pleasure to dive with 'the world's greatest divemaster'.

CATHY CHURCH

As a child, Cathy Church was an avid biologist. She earned a BS in biology from the University of Michigan where she learned to SCUBA dive. She was studying marine biology at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine biology station in Monterey, California when she met Jim Church, a scuba diver who was pioneering underwater photography. Cathy wanted to document her underwater work and spent many dives with Jim exploring ways to use the Calypso camera and flashbulb systems with homemade accessories.

BOB HALSTEAD

As a teenager in England, Bob became fascinated by the underwater adventures of Hans and Lotte Hass. In 1968, armed with a University Degree in Physics/Mathematics and a Post-Grad. Certificate in Education, Bob departed England for a teaching post as Head of the Physics Department at Queen’s College Nassau, Bahamas where he immediately learned to dive, fell in love with diving adventure, and bought an underwater camera. In 1970 Bob became a NAUI instructor (# 2000) at Freeport, Grand Bahama.

DANIEL MERCIER

Born the 31st of May, 1931 in Clamart in the suburbs of Paris. In his youth he had an unrequited desire to navigate. During this period after the 11 WW it was difficult to realize his dream. At 20 years old, he left Paris for Switzerland, where he became interested in educating and animating youth, doing research on the different pedagogic educational methods.

DR. DREW RICHARDSON

Few people have had the influence on diving as has Dr. Drew Richardson, the President and Chief Operations Officer for PADI Worldwide. He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Project AWARE Foundation, President of DSAT (Diving Science & Technology), President and COO of Emergency First Response Corporation and President of Current Publishing. Respected by competitors and peers alike, it is safe to say that Richardson has directly or indirectly shaped improved and broadened access to diver education for more than 10 million divers around the world.

RON STEVEN - ROGEST

Ron Steven is a burst of energy. His work enables him to meet a wide variety of people, and if someone doesn’t take well to his candid enthusiasm, he accepts it as a challenge to win them over. No one escapes his infectious personality and playful sense of humor, and most walk away feeling good about their contact with him.

NEVILLE COLEMAN

Honourary Fellow Australian Institute of Professional Photography; Associate Australian museum; Consultant Queensland Museum; Project AWARE Board of Governors ASIA/PACIFIC Multi-award winning photographic environmentalist, Neville has been seriously recording the aquatic wildlife of the Asia/Pacific region since 1963.

RALPH ERICKSON

Ralph D. Erickson is a leading diving educator and writer. He is co-founder along with John Cronin of PADI, the largest dive training and certification organization in the world.

RODNEY FOX

Great White Shark attack victim, filmmaker and expedition leader RODNEY FOX was born in South Australia on 9th November 1940. He is happily married to Kay and they have three children Andrew, Lenore and Darren and 7 grandchildren.

PAUL HUMANN

An attorney to a dive career, triggered by a single fortuitous phone call.

CARL ROESSLER

Carl Roessler never knew he would work in international dive travel until fifteen years after he began his business career.

DEWEY BERGMAN

Dewey Bergman led the way in researching, planning, organizing and operating top quality diving tours. Bergman was an early YMCA and NAUI (#202) Diving Instructor. As an underwater photographer, he has participated in diving and scientific expeditions to Tahiti, Europe, South America, Mexico, the Bahamas, Africa and Belize. His films, done independently and in cooperation with Bob Hollis and Al Giddings, have been shown national TV and underwater film festivals.

ERNIE BROOKS II

He is a noted photographer, educator and ambassador for the diving industry. Brooks has won international acclaim for his underwater photography and audio/visual presentations. His personal photo skills are considered outstanding. And his leadership of the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California, is legendary.

ANDREAS B. RECHNITZER

He has given over 50 years of dedicated service to undersea vehicles, diving, ocean technology and ocean sciences. Andreas B. Rechnitzer was born on November 30, 1924, in the small farming community of Escondido, California (north of San Diego).

CAPT. DON STEWART

He has spent the greater part of his life in Bonaire taking visitors diving and successfully campaigning to protect the natural underwater wonders.

DICK ANDERSON

It is the way Anderson has shared them with the diving community that has made him unique. Best described as a witty, swashbuckling diver from the old school of adventure. Anderson has a rather unusual, but wonderfully healthy outlook on many aspects of diving. Just ask him his viewpoints on new, flashy diving equipment, fair weather divers, taking diving too seriously, or almost any other evolutionary change in diving.

MIKE BALL

Mike Ball Dive Expeditions is the leading live-aboard dive company in Australia and Papua New Guinea and is synonymous with world-class dive sites and exceptional customer service

JERRY GREENBERG

He has developed new equipment, advanced shooting techniques and some of the greatest underwater photos ever shot. Greenberg is one of the most successful and knowledgeable underwater photographers.

KENDALL MCDONALD

Kendall McDonald’s highly significant contribution to the growth of the sport has particularly been in the field of communication. His enthusiasm for the underwater world, expressed in more than 30 books, numerous TV appearances and radio programs, and a multitude of by-lined articles for the world’s press, have spurred thousands of Britons to take up scuba diving.

CAPT. SPENCER SLATE

Born 29 Dec 47 and grew up in Winston-Salem, N.C. Learned to dive on his own without certification, inspired by watching Mike Nelson (Lloyd Bridges) in Sea Hunt on TV. At that time there were no dive stores around so Spencer carried newspapers to earn money to pay for his scuba gear, and dove mostly in rock quarries and lakes.

AKIRA TATEISHI

He is Editor/Publisher of several magazines and a leader in the diving community of Japan. For more than four decades, Akira Tateishi has helped focus Japanese and international attention on underwater photography through movies, television, magazines, and newspapers.

CHUCK BLAKESLEE AND JIM AUXIER

As young sport divers, the team of Chuck Blakeslee and his good friend Jim Auxier began one of the cornerstones of diving.

JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU

Jean-Michel Cousteau has used his vast experiences to communicate to people of all nations and generations his love and concern for our water planet.

FREDERIC DUMAS

Frederic Dumas was close friends with Jacques Yves Cousteau and Philippe Tailliez. The three pioneering divers were known as Les Mousqemers or the Three Musketeers.

JORDAN KLEIN SR.

He is also an accomplished underwater photographer and cinematographer. Governments, film companies and educational institutions from around the world call on Klein for his services.

FRANK SCALLI

Frank Scalli was born April 13, 1931 in Charlestown, MA. He has been a diving instructor and one of the leading marketing professionals of diving equipment for over 40 years.

JOHN CRONIN

Born in Albany, New York in 1928. John J. Cronin has become one of the diving industry’s most prominent figures, with over 30 years of experience in bringing people into the activity of scuba diving as the founder and CEO of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). Cronin also served as President of the Board of Directors for the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA).

DAVID DOUBILET

David Doubilet was born on August 28, 1946, in New York City. He began snorkelling at the age of eight in the cold, green seas off the northern New Jersey coast. By the age of thirteen, he was taking black and white pictures above and below the sea with his first camera - a pre-war Leica. Parts of summer and winter vacations were spent at Small Hope Bay Lodge on Andros Island in the Bahamas. He worked as a diving guide and on days off would take his camera. Doubilet later spent several summers working as a diver and photographer for the Sandy Hook Marine Laboratories in New Jersey.

BOB HOLLIS

More than 25 years ago, Bob Hollis and a partner started a company known as Oceanic. They made camera housings, strobes, strobe housings and various U/W photo accessories, for a budding industry. The company known as Oceanic is aptly named: it is the result of one man’s love of the sea. Bob Hollis was born in Orland, California. His fascination with the ocean began when he was working in Standard Oil’s engineering services division while earning a degree in mechanical engineering.

ZALE PARRY

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; elder of seven children. Pioneer skin diver 1947 / scuba 1951; aquatic specialist; early underwater equipment tester for Scientific Underwater Research Enterprises; hyperbaric science/research partner; Sports Illustrated cover girl May 1955: one of first certified scuba instructors; Intl. Film Festival co-founder/coproducer 1957. As an accomplished underwater photographer, Zale was elected first woman President of the U/W Photographic Society 1960.

IVAN TORS

Known as the man who created Sea Hunt. Ivan launched his career in filmmaking during the early 1940’s with his first story ‘Below the Deadline’ continuing with films shot above the waterline until 1958 when he pioneered underwater cinematography with Underwater Warrior. This opened the door to the 1958 classic TV series “Sea Hunt” starring Lloyd Bridges, paving the way for future innovations in underwater cinematography.

PAUL TZIMOULIS

Tzimoulis became Eastern Sales representative and Associate Editor in 1964. In 1966, at the age of 29, Paul was named Editor/Publisher of Skin Diver. For many years he guided Skin Diver during its largest growth period, with many publishing innovations and contributions to diving.

LLOYD BRIDGES

Lloyd Bridges was an accomplished actor of stage and screen (including “High Noon,” “A Walk In The Sun” and “The Rainmaker”), and becoming one of Hollywood’s busiest actors with such live TV drama as “Alcoa Hour,” “Climax,” “Playhouse 90,” and “U.S. Steel Hour.”

JACQUES-YVES COUSTEAU

A 1930 graduate of the Naval School, Jacques-Yves Cousteau left the French Navy in 1957 with the rank of corvette captain after having organized, with Philippe Tailliez, the French Navy’s underwater study and research group.

BEN CROPP

His first films - on shark hunting - proved to be highly successful, and sold worldwide.

ELLIS ROYAL (E.R.) CROSS

Starting his career in the United States Navy in 1947, Cross became owner and operator of the Sparling School of Deep Sea Diving in California, where he trained many commercial, open sea, research and other specialty divers. He also instructed many diving clubs and groups in safe diving procedures.

SYLVIA EARL, PH. D.

She holds degrees from Florida State University, and Duke University, and was a Radcliffe Institute Scholar, a Research Fellow at Harvard University, and Research Associate at the University of California, Berkeley.

BERNARD EATON

In 1962, Peter Small, co-founder of the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) and the principal organizer of the Congress invited Eaton to help publicize the Second World Congress of Underwater Activities in London. Shortly afterwards, Small invited Eaton to become his partner in a venture to turn the BSAC’s magazine, Triton, into a meaningful diving publication for open market sale. In 1963, Eaton took over full control of Triton, after Peter Small’s untimely death in December of 1962.

EMILE GAGNAN

Emile Gagnan was born in France and after graduating from technical school, went to work as an engineer for a large gas-supply firm. Gagnan was a prolific inventor and had developed everything from mechanical razors to butane regulators for automotive fuel systems.

AL GIDDINGS

Never settling for off-the-shelf technology, Giddings constantly designs innovative camera, lighting and optical systems in film and video formats, from IMAX to high definition

HANS AND LOTTE HASS

Hans was fascinated with the underwater world he saw through his first goggles, and decided that he wanted to devote his life to studying it. Hans took his first underwater photos while free diving in Dalmatia in 1938; his first book “Hunting Underwater” was published the following year.

DR. JEFFERSON DAVID, M.D.

Through his research in the application of hyperbaric oxygen, he pioneered its use in the treatment of decompression sickness and air embolism in both military and civilian divers.

JACK W. LAVANCHY

In 1964, Lavanchy became the exclusive agent of the diving equipment La Spirotechnique in Switzerland, on the heels of seeing Jaques Cousteau’s film, “Le Monde Sans Soleil.”

JACK MCKENNY

A NAUI instructor since 1963 (NAUI 304) and a PADI master instructor, he moved to the Bahamas for three years where he helped to open the Underwater Explorers Club in 1965.

BOB SOTO

The Cayman Islands are recognised as the birthplace of Caribbean recreational diving, world-wide, a historic event that is attributed to Bob Soto, who established the Caribbean’s first dive operation on Grand Cayman in 1957.

RON AND VALERIE TAYLOR

Born in Sydney, Australia, Ron and Valerie Taylor began diving in the 1950s. Both became Australian spearfishing champions and Ron a world spearfishing champion, then turning from hunting to marine conservation.

ALBERT TILLMAN

Albert A. Tillman’s involvement in the diving community is legendary.

GUSTAV DALLA VALLE

Gustav Dalla Valle was born in Northern Italy. Fascinated by the sea, he started to free dive in the Mediterranean Sea in his youth. A citizen of the world, he loved to travel and pioneered diving tourism in Haiti. Representing the Cressi-line of diving equipment, he joined Dick Klein’s Healthways, helping to stimulate interest in championship spear fishing. Gustav was responsible for placing the “Christ of the Abyss” statue on the reefs of the Florida Keys.

STAN WATERMAN

Stan Waterman has been at the forefront of Scuba Diving since its inception as a recreational sport both in this country and throughout the world.