Charles Frederick "Karch" Kiraly is an American volleyball player, coach, and broadcast announcer. He was a central part of the U.S National Team that won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games. He went on to win the gold medal again at the 1996 Olympic Games, the first Olympic competition to feature beach volleyball. He is the only player to have won Olympic medals of any color in both the indoor and beach volleyball categories. He played college volleyball for the UCLA Bruins, where his teams won three national championships under head coach Al Scates. Kiraly is widely regarded as the greatest male volleyball player of all time.
Ann Meyers Drysdale is an American retired pro basketball player and a sportscaster. She was a standout player in high school, college, the Olympic Games, international tournaments, and at professional levels.
Elaine Youngs is an American former professional volleyball player who competed both indoors and on the beach.
The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I. UCLA is second to only Stanford University as the school with the most NCAA team championships at 124 NCAA team championships. UCLA offers 11 varsity sports programs for men and 14 for women.
Beverly ("Bev") Oden is a former volleyball player from the United States. She played middle blocker for the United States women's national volleyball team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Kimberley Yvette "Kim" Oden is a former volleyball player and two-time Olympian who played on the United States women's national volleyball team.
Jeff Wayne Nygaard is an American volleyball coach and former volleyball player. He was a member of the United States national indoor team in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He was a middle blocker. He also played beach volleyball at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens with partner Dain Blanton.
Elaina Oden is a former volleyball player from the United States who won the bronze medal with the United States women's national volleyball team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. She also competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
The South Florida Bulls are the athletic teams that represent the University of South Florida. USF competes in NCAA Division I and is a member of the American Athletic Conference for all sports besides sailing, a non-NCAA sanctioned varsity sport which competes in the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association within the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association. Additionally, the school will become an affiliate member of Conference USA in the sport of beach volleyball beginning in 2025 because the American Athletic Conference does not sponsor the sport. The current athletic director is Michael Kelly, who has held the job since 2018. The school colors are green and gold and the mascot is Rocky D. Bull.
Stein Metzger is a former beach volleyball player from the United States. He is the head coach of the beach volleyball team at the University of Texas.
Nell Fortner is the current women's college basketball coach at Georgia Tech. She is most well known for leading the 2000 Olympics team to a gold medal. She has received numerous awards including the 1997 National Coach of the Year, the 2000 USA Basketball Coach of the Year and the 2008 SEC Coach of the Year. In April 2018, she was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
Thomas Sorensen is an American former volleyball player who was a member of the United States men's national volleyball team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers women's volleyball team competes as part of NCAA Division I, representing the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the Big Ten. Nebraska plays its home games at the Bob Devaney Sports Center and has sold out every home match since 2001. The team has been coached by John Cook since 2000.
Tara Cross-Battle is a retired volleyball player from the United States who competed in four Summer Olympics overall, starting in 1992. Cross-Battle won the bronze medal with the United States women's national team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Her last Olympic appearance was at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
Ricci Judson Luyties is an American volleyball coach and former volleyball player. As a member of the United States national volleyball team, he won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Luyties later became a successful professional beach volleyball player and won seven titles. He was the head women's volleyball coach at the University of California, San Diego.
John Andrew Banachowski is an American volleyball coach. He was the head coach of the women's volleyball team at UCLA. He had more wins than any other Division I coach, with 1,106 total victories and an overall record since the 1970 season of 1,106-301 (.786), until his record was broken on September 6, 2013, by University of Hawaii head coach Dave Shoji. He did not coach the two seasons from 1968-1970 after his graduation from UCLA. Under his coaching, the UCLA team won six national championships. Banachowski was twice an All-American volleyball player at UCLA under Al Scates, and won USVBA national championships in 1965 and 1967 as a player. While at UCLA he joined Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity.
Laurie Flachmeier Corbelli is an American former volleyball player and coach. Corbelli won a silver medal with the United States national team at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She was an exceptional blocker.
Liz Masakayan is a Filipino-American former indoor and beach volleyball player, and current coach. She participated in the 1988 Summer Olympics with the United States women's national volleyball team, and as a beach volleyball player won a total of 47 tournaments in her career.
John Speraw is an American volleyball coach and former player. He currently serves as the President and CEO of USA Volleyball. Prior to this, he served as head coach of the United States men's national volleyball team, the UCLA Bruins men's volleyball team, and the UC Irvine Anteaters men's volleyball team.
The UCLA men's volleyball program represents the University of California, Los Angeles in the sport of men's volleyball as a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). UCLA played its first season in 1953 and has won a record 21 NCAA titles. Al Scates had been the head coach each year since 1963 until his retirement after the 2012 season. John Speraw took over as head coach after Scates retirement, and has led the team since then. The Bruins play most of their home matches in Pauley Pavilion, but when Pauley is not available, they play in the Wooden Center.
