OLYMPIC REWIND
LONDON OLYMPICS PREVIEW
SEOUL TRAIN: Karch Kiraly, center, led a second gold- medal celebra- tion in Seoul in 1988. (Photo: Bruce Hazelton)
Guts & Glory
USA Volleyball’s history in the Olympic Games has seen its highs and lows for more than four decades by Don Patterson
Tokyo, 1964 • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Men — Finish: 9th out of 10 teams • Record: 2-7 • Team: Mike Bright, Barry Brown, Keith Erickson, Bill Griebenow, Richard Hammer, Jake Highland, Ron Lang, Chuck Nelson, Mike O’Hara, Ernie Suwara, John Taylor and Pedro Velasco. • Head coach: Harry Wilson Volleyball made its Olympic debut in
Tokyo in 1964, and the U.S. was among the 10 countries that participated in the men’s fi eld. But it was a rough go, and the fi rst stumble came before the team even boarded the plane. Gene Selznick, who many thought was the country’s top player, was selected only as an alternate, a slight that shocked and disappointed many players who were chosen. The short version of what happened: The coach, Harry Wilson, didn’t like Selznick and Selznick didn’t think Wilson was much of a coach.
By all accounts, Wilson wasn’t much of a coach, and Selznick, who wasn’t known
as the easiest guy to get along with, rarely missed an opportunity to let Wilson know what he was doing wrong. The fact that Sel- znick was right most of the time apparently mattered little when it came time to fi nalize the roster.
“It was politics pure and simple,” recalled
one player, Ron Lang, years later. “But basi- cally if you wanted to go to the Olympics, you shut up and went.” Go they did, but the results weren’t good. Penalized frequently for using overhand passes that they were accustomed to in U.S. competitions but that weren’t allowed internationally, they won just two matches and fi nished ninth. It was evidence enough that changes to the program were needed. Teams from some countries had been together for years. The U.S. trained for two weeks. Women — Finish: 5th out of 6 teams
• Record: 1-4 • Team: Patti Bright, Jean Gaertner, Lou Galloway, Barb Har- werth, Linda Murphy, Gail O’Rourke, Nancy Owen, Mary Jo Peppler, Mary
52 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
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Perry, Sharon Peterson, Verneda Thomas, Jane Ward. • Head coach: Doc Burroughs
Similar to the men’s situation, the
women’s team was at a disadvantage against countries that put far more resources and time into their volleyball teams. They, too, had just two weeks to prepare, and U.S. player Linda Murphy remembers that part of that training was hampered by all the shots that players had to get before boarding the plane to Japan. “You got them in either your shoulder or your hip, so you either couldn’t raise your arm or you couldn’t take a step,” she says. Lack of funds was a major issue. One player, Jane Ward, was a full-time teacher in California, but the school system docked her pay for two weeks when she went to the Olympics. Coaching was another issue. At the helm was Doc Burroughs, who was univer- sally liked but “didn’t know how to coach,” said another member of the team, Sharon Peterson, years later. And not being able to take passes overhead caused problems,
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