Yosef Yekutieli (also Joseph Yekutieli; Hebrew: יוסף יקותיאלי; April 12, 1897 – September 25, 1982)[1] was a prominent member of the international Jewish sports organisation Maccabi. He was the founder of the Maccabiah, Israel Football Association, and the Israel Olympic Committee.[2] Yekutieli was the 1979 Israel Prize recipient for his special contribution to society and the state in sports.[3][4]
In 1914 Yekutieli was drafted to the Turkish army and was appointed physical education instructor at the Mujahideen headquarters and at the public school in Nablus.[3] Yekutieli served as a Turkish-German interpreter at the German transport companies K.K. 502., until being exiled to Anatolia in 1918, along with all the other Jewish military members.[2]
In June 1929, at the World Congress of Maccabi in Czechoslovakia, Yekutieli announced his proposal to organize the first Maccabiah, the "Maccabiada" (Hebrew: המכביאדה), in the spring of 1932, to be held in Mandatory Palestine. The road to fulfilling the vision was long and difficult. The 1932 Maccabiah Games were opened on March 28, 1932, and were held in the Maccabiah Stadium, which had been built especially for the games in the northern part of Tel Aviv. Around 400 athletes from 22 nations participated in the games, which became a recurring event every four years, except during World War II and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
The Maccabiah Flag, a donation by Yosef and Yehudit in memory of their son Amnon, a squad commander in the Palmach who was killed during the 1948 war at the foot of the Nabi Yusha fort, was first hoisted during the 3rd Maccabiah in Ramat Gan Stadium in 1950.
Later years
After the formation of Israel in 1948, Yekutieli was appointed as a senior official of the government's abandoned property committee. Yekutieli retired in 1966. In 1971, he released his first book, an autobiography.
In 1954, he was awarded the Israel Dov Hoz Prize and in 1979, he was awarded the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement in the design of sports and physical culture, promoting Israel and the establishment of international base of Israeli sports.[4] In 1981, he was awarded distinguished citizen of Tel Aviv.
Legacy
In June 2008, in a ceremony attended by Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, the Yosef Yekutieli street in North Port, near the first Maccabiah Stadium was named after him. In Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, a road has been named after him. The Joseph Yekutieli Maccabi Archive at Kfar Maccabiah is also named after him.[6][7]
^Nina S. Spiegel (2013). Embodying Hebrew Culture: Aesthetics, Athletics, and Dance in the Jewish Community of Mandate Palestine. Wayne State University Press. p. 206. ISBN9780814336373.