GREAT NECK, N.Y. I Joe Bednarsh, former Director of Athletics at Yeshiva University and the school's current Associate Dean of Students, has been selected as the 2024 Dr. Bruno Lambert Jewish Good Guy of the Year by the Jewish Sports Heritage Association. Also earning a major honor from the organization is YU Athletics Men's Basketball Hall of Famer David Kufeld ('80), who will be inducted into the Jewish Sports Heritage Association Hall of Fame. 

The festivities will occur at the Sixth Annual Jewish Sports Heritage Association Induction Ceremony on Sunday, April 7, 2024, at Temple Israel, Lawrence (N.Y.).

"I am deeply honored and humbled to even be thought of for such a prestigious award, let alone be told that I am the recipient," Bednarsh said. "The Jewish Sports Heritage Association does such important work in recognizing the achievements of our people and I am thrilled to join all the other previous recipients of the Dr. Bruno Lambert Good Guy in Sports Award. I share this honor with the dozens of colleagues I've had the privilege to work with during my time with YU Athletics and celebrate their efforts to help me succeed."

Previously recognized by the Jewish Sports Heritage Association were Yeshiva University men's basketball stars Gabriel Leifer and Ryan Turell who earned Jay Fielder Outstanding Jewish Male College Athlete of the Year honors in 2021 and 2023, respectively. Also in 2023, Yeshiva University Men's Basketball Head Coach Elliot Steinmetz was the inaugural recipient of the Jewish Sports Heritage Association's Marty Riger Outstanding Jewish Coach of the Year Award.

Kufeld is honored to be inducted into the Jewish Sports Heritage Association Hall of Fame. "I'm so pumped about this honor since it transcends basketball," Kufeld said. "The interesting thing about it is that I could have probably only achieved this as a Maccabee, since when you play for YU, your achievements get magnified to a level where you literally represent our people, which is a point of pride and inspiration to every past, current, and future YU athlete. I'm eternally grateful to the University for providing me with the platform to excel, and to Coach Jonathan Halpert for enabling me to be the best player and person I could be."

Bednarsh served as the Director of Athletics and Recreation at Yeshiva University from 2006 until 2021 and has been working at the institution since 1991. With Bednarsh at the helm, the women's athletics program has more than doubled, going from three to seven teams. Additionally, baseball was added as a varsity sport, a full time Sports Information Director was hired, an Assistant Athletics Director specifically for women's athletics was brought in, full time Athletic Trainers were hired for both campus, all of the fitness centers were refurbished and updated, and additional and better facilities were secured for both varsity games and practices and recreational swimming for the Beren Campus. He is also responsible for establishing the Yeshiva University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017.

Also, during Bednarsh's tenure, the Yeshiva University men's tennis team won the Skyline Conference Championship and it marked the first time in school history the athletics department was represented in an NCAA Division III Tournament in 2014. The men's tennis team won six straight league titles (2014-2019) and earned wins in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2015, 2017, and 2018. On October 22, 2017, the Yeshiva University women's tennis team won the Skyline Conference Championship for the first time since 1999 and was the first women's program in school history to compete in the NCAA Tournament. The Yeshiva University men's basketball team won two Skyline Conference Championships during Bednarsh's time as Athletics Director. In 2019-20, the men's basketball program won two NCAA Tournament games and earned a berth in the Sweet 16, before the remainder of the NCAA seasons were canceled due to the spread of the coronavirus. 

In September of 2019, Bednarsh was a panelist for the panel "The Realities: Anti-Semitism on the Field" at Fordham University's Global Symposium on Sports and Society: Anti-Semitism and Sports.

Bednarsh was promoted to Associate Dean of Students at Yeshiva University in 2021 and also serves as the school's Deputy Title IX Coordinator. 

Kufeld was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1980 NBA draft. He was named All-American as a senior in 1979-80 and was a two-time NCAA rebounding champion. He remains fifth all-time in this category in Division III history with 15.1 rebounds per game during his four years with the Maccabees. He secured 1,222 total rebounds in his illustrious career. Kufeld graduated fourth all time at YU with 1,250 points, becoming a 1,000-point, 1,000-rebound player. The men's basketball standout was named National Jewish Player of the Year for Division II and Division III by the Jewish Sports Review in both 1979 and 1980. He represented the USA in three Maccabiah Games and played professionally for Maccabi Ramat Gan in Israel's top division. 

The men's basketball legend is currently the CEO of The LAWcares Foundation, an organization he founded, He is also the Director of Marketing & Client Relations at Weitz & Luxenberg PC.

Kufeld also does a lot of volunteer work, as he founded three charity organizations. One is "Souls To Soles Charitable Trust", a company that matches the surplus, but quality-made, children shoes for poor and disadvantaged children in New York City. Another is "Giving Everyday Charitable Trust", established to strengthen American unity by encouraging and promoting the performance of daily acts of kindness and charity. The third is "Giving Back is Good Business, Inc., a non-profit corporate membership organization that unites American companies and members of the business community through a shared commitment to giving back, and an appreciation of the impact of grass roots charity on a business's culture and branding.

In 2019, Kufeld was inducted into the Yeshiva University Athletics Hall of Fame.

For more information, check out the Jewish Sports Heritage Association's website which can be seen here. 

-Courtesy of YU Sports Information