VOLLEYBALL HISTORY
Where are they now?
Bryan Ivie — the multi-dimensional middle B
ryan Ivie wasn’t a bad looking bald guy. Nor, for that matter, was he a great look- ing bald guy. In his estimation, when comparing his shorn-domed self to the 11 other members of the 1992 U.S. Olympic Team who shaved their heads at the Barcelona Games in protest of an FIVB ruling that reversed their fi ve-set victory over Japan, he was a little above average. “I didn’t look as good as (Eric) Sato or Carlos Briceno,” he said on a recent afternoon from his offi ce in downtown San Francisco, where he works in commercial real estate as a vice president. “But (Steve) Tim- mons, (Bob) Ctvrtlik and (Brent) Hilliard looked worse.” Haircuts aside, the 6-7 native of Manhattan Beach, California, was way above average as a volleyball player. At University of Southern California from 1988-91, he played on two national championship teams (1988 and 1990), became the only Trojan to be a two-time NCAA Player of the Year, still holds the school’s career records for kills (2,380) and blocks (661) and is in the USC Hall of Fame. He began playing with the U.S. team as a sophomore in college and went on to compete in two Olympics (1992 and 1996), winning a bronze medal in Barcelona and also starting on a 1994 team that took bronze at the FIVB World Championship in Greece. He closed out his career splitting time between indoor pro leagues in Brazil and the AVP on the sands of the United States.
Ivie, 45, was just 31 when he walked away from vol- leyball in 2001 and got a “real” job.
“At the time, a lot of the sponsors were pulling out of the Brazil league, and the beach tour was going through fi nancial troubles,” he said. “It felt like the right time to move on.”
STILL A HIGH-RISER: Bryan Ivie, who currently works in real estate in San Francisco, is a two-time USA Olympian at middle blocker.
Given that his top pro beach fi nish was third – “I think I was better suited for the indoor game, and I think I put much more of my time and effort into being a better indoor player,” he said – Ivie’s legacy will be most closely tied to
his accomplishments on the hardwood. “Bryan had a remarkable collegiate career, participated as a young player on the national team — which is quite unusual – and was a dominant player for the U.S. during a period when the overall success was less than we wanted but there were still some very impressive high- lights,” said USA Volleyball CEO Doug Beal, who coached three Olympic teams, including the gold-medal winners in 1984. “Winning the bronze medal at the World Championship in ’94 was one of the more remarkable overachievements in the history of USA Volleyball, and Bryan was the offensive star of that team.”
Mobile and athletic, Ivie was a prototype at his position during an era that called for a more all-around middle blocker than the specialized middles of the 70s and 80s. Remem- ber, this was before the libero position was added but after the jump serve had become an enormous weapon. Middles with multi-layered skills – especially those who could pass – were extremely valuable.
“I played opposite in college, so I had already hit a lot on the left and right side and middle and a lot out of the back row, and I was one of those guys who could step in and pass jump serves,” Ivie said. “And for a big guy, I thought I played pretty good defense.” Business is good in San Francisco, where his job involves representing landlords for high- rise buildings. Years back, he never would have imagined that he’d someday be wearing a suit to work, but he hasn’t completely left his casual roots. He makes frequent trips to Southern California to visit family and play in beach tournaments, and he still loves to surf. As for what he considers his career highlight, he said it’s hard to beat his years at USC, where his No. 10 jersey was recently retired. “Competing in the Olympics was a great honor and achievement, but at SC we were very successful, and that was just a great time. I look back on those days with the most fondness of any point in my career.”
— Don Patterson 68 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
usavolleyball.org/mag
PHOTOS: PETER BROUILLET; JORDAN MURPH
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