City of West Hollywood commendations

Shamey Cramer, Sara Waddell Lewinstein, Mauro Bordovsky, Paul Figueiredo

On Monday, 4 October, Mayor of West Hollywood John Heilman and the West Hollywood City Council presented commendations to West Hollywood Aquatics and to former city resident Sara Waddell Lewinstein, a founding member of the Gay Games movement and winner of the 2010 Tom Waddell Award.

Representing West Hollywood Aquatics were Paulo Figueiredo, Mauro Bordovsky, Mike Crosby and Shamey Cramer. Sara Waddell Lewinstein was accompanied by her longtime partner Sandy as well as local family members.

Paulo Figueiredo, Mauro Bordovsky, Mike Crosby, Shamey Cramer, Mayor John Heilman

Paulo Figueiredo competed at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City as a member of the Brazilian national swim team (these were the Olympics in which Gay Games founder Dr. Thomas Waddell placed 6th in the Decathlon). Figueiredo has served several times as WH2O President, and has won 45 competition medals (20 Gold, 16 Silver, 9 Bronze) competing at Gay Games, from Gay Games III in Vancouver to last summer's Gay Games VIII in Cologne. Paulo has set many IGLA, Gay Games and World Masters records over the years.

Mauro Bordovsky was a founding member of West Hollywood Aquatics in 1982 following the inaugural Gay Games and has earned 34 medals (14 Gold, 14 Silver, 6 Bronze) competing at each successive Gay Games. He is the 2010 WH2O Spirit Award recipient.

Mike Crosby came out to his water polo team-mates at Harvard University in 2001; his team would later elect him team co-captain. Prior to competing in his senior year, Crosby competed at the International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics Championships in 2001 in Toronto, and later appeared on the cover of Genre magazine (March 2002). He is captain of WH2O-Polo and has competed at three Gay Games in both water polo and swimming, capturing a combined total of 16 medals (9 Gold, 4 Silver, 3 Bronze). Crosby recently completed his term as IGLA Co-President and is the 2010 WH2O-Polo MVP.

Shamey Cramer is a Gay Games pioneer and co-founder of Team Los Angeles (1982). He has competed in four Gay Games in the sports of cycling and water polo, and is one of only a handful of administrators still actively involved who had a direct working relationship with Dr. Waddell prior to the inaugural Gay Games. He served as President/CEO of Los Angeles 2006, Inc., a bidding finalist to host Gay Games VII, and is one of two IGLA delegates to the FGG. He served as the FGG Health & Wellness subcommittee co-chair as an FGG volunteer (2000-2004).

These four individuals have participated in 21 Gay Games collectively, and have garnered 96 medals, and represent the commitment of West Hollywood Aquatics to the Gay Games movement. At Gay Games VIII, WH2O brought 30 swimmers, 12 water polo players, and a diver, and took home 25 Gold, 16 Silver and 21 Bronze medals, with the swimmers setting 19 individual Gay Games records, 16 individual IGLA records, and 6 IGLA relay records.

West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman has served on the City Council since its incorporation in 1985. He and Cramer first met in 1984 as volunteers collecting signatures for the County Initiative that led to West Hollywood cityhood. He is currently serving in his seventh term as Mayor, and is a law professor at USC and Whittier College. He competed in Volleyball at Gay Games III and was a founding member of the International Gay & Lesbian Volleyball Association.

Gay Games pioneer Sara Waddell Lewinstein is the daughter of Holocaust survivors who emigrated first to Montreal, then to West Hollywood, where Sara grew up prior to moving to San Francisco some thirty years ago. She was a founding Board member of the Gay Games along with Gay Games founder, the late Dr. Thomas F. Waddell. She was one of the 2010 recipients of the Waddell Cup, presented by the Federation of Gay Games to individuals whose contributions have significantly improved the lives of LGBT people through sport and culture. She and Dr. Waddell are the parents of Jessica Waddell Lewinstein, an advertising executive in the Bay Area.

(photos courtesy Richard Settle)