About Famous Volleyball Players

Volleyball was said to be invented at the Holyoke YMCA in Massachusetts in 1895, and in the century-plus since then, it has become an internationally popular sport for men and women and has expanded into a beach domain. Here is a sampling of some of the more famous volleyball players in recent years and a Web site you can explore to learn more about the current and past heroes of the game.

  1. The Facts

    • Perhaps the most famous American volleyball player is three-time Olympic gold medalist Karch Kiraly. Known for his trademark pink ballcap and wraparound shades, Kiraly helped beach volleyball explode in popularity in the 1990s. But that was after Kiraly had already established himself as an indoor volleyball legend.
      Kiraly was part of the USA's gold-medal-winning men's volleyball team at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. After 1988 he retired, played some club volleyball in Italy and then returned to the U.S. to take up two-man beach volleyball. To no one's surprise, he and Kent Steffes won the first men's beach volleyball gold medal in the 1996 Olympics.
      Kiraly continued to compete into his 40s but finally retired for good at the end of the 2007 season at age 46. He serves as a television commentator during volleyball coverage, including the 2008 Summer Olympics, and operates the Karch Kiraly Volleyball Academy in California and Virginia. He is married with two children.

    The Facts

    • Among women, Gabrielle Reece remains one of volleyball's great superstars, as much for her ability as for her sex appeal. Doubling as a successful model, Reece drew new fans to the game playing on beach volleyball tours throughout the 1990s, following her successful career at Florida State University, where she set records for solo blocks and total blocks. As of 2008, both records still stand.
      It was also during her college volleyball days that Reece began modeling. While just a sophomore, Reece was named by Elle magazine as one of the five most beautiful women in the world.
      Reece, who co-wrote a book about being a female athlete, called "Big Girl in the Middlein 1997, continues to write and speak out on women's fitness issues. She is married with two daughters.

    The Facts

    • Because beach volleyball features two-person teams, beach volleyball superstars often are known in pairs. Perhaps the famous duo these days is Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, who won gold medals in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, and are considered by many as the greatest beach volleyball team in history.
      May-Treanor helped lead California State University, Long Beach, to a 36-0 record in 1998 and an NCAA women's volleyball championship. She was the team's starting setter.
      May-Treanor teamed up with Walsh after the 2000 season. They had competed against each other in college, as Walsh went to Stanford, where she helped the women's team win titles in 1996 and 1997.

    The Facts

    • Other famous American volleyball players include Logan Tom, who starred at Stanford and on the U.S. Women's Olympic team in 2000 when she was only 19, and Steve Timmons, Kiraly's teammate on those 1980s Olympics team, whose red flat-topped hairstyle made him one of the most recognizable volleyball players in the world.
      Paula Weishoff is one of only four women to compete in three Olympics, and Flo Hyman was perhaps the greatest American volleyball player in history, starring in international competitions throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Hyman was named by USA Volleyball as the MVP for the years 1978 to 2002.

    History of

    • Since indoor volleyball became an Olympic sport in 1964, the early teams to dominate were those of Japan and the Soviet Union. But in the 1980s and 1990s, teams from the United States, Brazil and Cuba moved to the top of the both the men's and women's events. China and Russia are also among the top competitors, with all the top nations producing volleyball superstars.