Volleyball was invented in 1895 in Holyoke by William C. Morgan, an instructor at the YMCA. Taking a tennis net and raising it 6 feet from the floor, Morgan blended elements of basketball, tennis and handball to form a sport he hoped would keep his businessmen clients in shape without subjecting them to the rigors of basketball. The Volleyball Hall of Fame is located in Holyoke.

Beach volleyball was probably first played in Hawaii in 1915 when the Outrigger Beach and Canoe Club set up a court on Waikiki Beach. However, others insist the sport originated in the 1920s in Santa Monica, Calif., where courts were put up on the beach for families to play six-on-six.

On the world stage, only soccer is more popular than volleyball. It is estimated there are 800 million people on the planet playing volleyball, 46 million in the U.S.

The first YMCA national indoor volleyball championships were held in Brooklyn in 1922, with 27 teams from 11 states represented.

In 1927, beach volleyball was the principal sport in a French nudist camp in Franconville, a suburb of Paris.

President John F. Kennedy attended the first beach volleyball event at Sorrento Beach in Los Angeles.

The first official two-man beach volleyball tournament was conducted in 1947 at Will Rogers State Beach in California, with no prize given. The next year, the first tourney to offer a prize was held in the Los Angeles. The best teams were awarded cases of Pepsi.

The first two-man beach volleyball game was played in 1930.

In the 1950s, the first beach voleyball circuit was organized by the Parks & Recreation Department on five beaches in California: Santa Barbara, Will Rogers State Beach, Sorrento Beach, Laguna Beach, and San Diego.

The Federation International De Volley-Ball (FIVB), volleyball’s world governing body, was founded in 1947.

The California Beach Volleyball Association was formed in 1965.

In 1975, the Winston cigarette company became the first corporate of a beach volleyball event, a tournament in San Diego. Winston awarded $1,500 in prize money to winners Dennis Hare and Fred Zeulich.

In 1976, Olympia beer sponsored the inaugural Professional Championships of Beach Volleyball at Will Rogers State Beach in California. About 30,000 spectators watched Jim Menges and Greg Lee win the $5,000 first prize.

In 2002, beach volleyball court dimensions were reduced to 8m x 8m per side.

Holly Stein

Karch Kiraly

In 2003, Karch Kiraly became the first player to earn $3 million in prize money and the oldest player to win an AVP tournament at age 42 years, 9 months and 14 days.

In 2004, Kerri Walsh and Misty May won the women’s Olympic beach volleyball gold medal in Athens.

In 2005, Olympic gold medalists Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor won their second AVP Open women’s title and the 2005 overall women’s championship.

Beach volleyball went international in the 1930s with appearances in Palavas, Lacanau and Royan (France), around Sofia (Bulgaria), Prague (Czechoslavakia), and Riga (Latvia).

UCLA is the most dominant program in the history of men’s indoor volleyball, having won 19 of the 37 championships. AVP greats Karch Kiraly, sinjin Smith and Jeff Nygaard played for the Bruins.

The first indoor World Volleyball Championships were held in Prague, Czechoslavakia, in 1949.

Indoor volleyball became an Olympic sport at the 1964 Games in Tokyo.

The approval and recognition of national volleyball referees took place in 1934.

In 1984, the U.S. won its first medals at the Olympics in Los Angeles in indoor volleyball. The men won the gold and the women the Silver.

In 1988, the U.S. men repeated as gold medalists in indoor volleyball at the Olympics in Korea.

When it became apparent that rules were needed, the United States Volleyball Association (now Volleyball USA) was formed in 1928. The USVBA inaugurated the first U.S. Open, opening the field to non-YMCA teams. Nine years later at the AAU convention in Boston, the USVBA was voted the national governing body of the sport.

Beach volleyball acquired a sideshow flavor in 1957 when Bernie Holtzman and Gene Selznick won an event that featured Greta Tyson, star of “Pajama Tops,’’ as Queen of the Beach.

Ron Von Hagen, considered the “Babe Ruth’’ of beach volleyball, retired in 1976 with a then-record 62 open wins.
Jose Cuervo tequila became beach volleyball’s first major sponsor in 1978.

Pro volleyball went national in 1982 with the first east coast tournament held in Clearwater, Fla. With Miller Brewing as a sponsor, $69,000 in total cash prizes were awarded for six tournaments.

AVP players went on strike at the 1984 World Championships in Redondo Beach, Calif. Thereafter, the AVP began running its own tour.

In 1986, the first international beach volleyball exhibition in Rio de Janeiro was held with 5,000 spectators. Later that year, Brazilian champions such as Renan, Badá, Montanaro, William, Jackie Silva, Isabel Salgado, Vera Mossa, Regina Uchoa, along with the 1984 Olympic champion Pat Powers and the “King of the Beach,’’ Sinjin Smith, became leading figures in the world-wide growth of beach volleyball.

The Australian pro beach circuit was born in 1986.

Pro beach volleyball made its network debut on ABC’s Wide World of Sports in 1986.

The Women’s Professional Volleyball Association (WPVA) was created in 1986 when a group of professional women that included former Olympic and collegiate All-American volleyball players joined together. Led by Pepperdine volleyball coach Nina Matthies, the formation of the WPVA was the first step to organizing the women’s pro beach volleyball events which had previously been played as amateur games or as the accompaniment to the men’s professional game.

The first international FIVB-sanctioned beach volleyball tournament was held in 1987 at Ipanema Beach (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) with $22,000 in prize money. Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos won the tournament.

The WPVA held its first women’s professional event in Newport Beach, Calif., on May 16-17, 1987. Linda Chisholm and Jackie Silva won the event and split $300 in prize money. Chisholm dominated the inaugural season, winning eight out of nine tournaments with two different partners, Jackie Silva (seven) and Nina Matthies (one).

In 1988 AVP awarded cash prizes for 27 tournaments. The AVP signed a three-year contract with Miller beer that resulted in a total of $4.5 million in prize money. Miller hired the AVP to produce 23 Lite Beer events.

After winning two indoor Olympic gold medals with USA volleyball and playing indoors professionally in Italy, Karch Kiraly turned to the beach full-time in 1989 and won four events with Brent Frohoff.

The first FIVB beach volleyball International Circuit, named the World Series, debut with $140,000 in total prize money. It opened with men’s tournaments in Brazil, Italy, and Japan. The Brazillian event sold out with thousands of people outside the stadium yearnting to get in. Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos won the Men’s World Championship.

NBC Sports made its debut on the beach volleyball scene in 1990, broadcasting the Hermosa Beach event on tape. The next year in Milwaukee, NBC provided the first live coverage of an AVP tournament. in 1993, NBC broadcast 10 AVP Tour events in a year in which prize money totaled $3.7 million and more than 600,000 people attended AVP tournaments.

Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos became the first beach volleyballers to top the $200,000 mark in a single AVP season, each winning $221,438 in 1990. Also that year, Karch Kiraly teamed up with a young Kent Steffes to win two of 10 events before returning to win five of 13 with Brent Frohoff.

Long-time teammates Tim Hovland and Mike Dodd played their last tournament together on July 14-15, 1991, in Milwaukee. Hovland and Dodd held the second longest partnership with 163 tournaments together dating back to 1981.

The AVP added the “King of the Beach’’ event to its schedule in 1991. This event featured a unique format in which competitors played round-robin with different partners to determine the “King of the Beach.” One of the event’s creators, Karch Kiraly, won the inaugural title.

Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes dominated the AVP in 1992, winning 16 of 19 events together, including 13 straight to tie the all-time record for consecutive wins. Kiraly and Steffes also became the first players to top $300,000 in a season, with Steffes winning $332,740 and Kiraly, who missed the first six events, winning $327,100.

Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos entered into legendary status in 1992 by becoming World Champions for the fifth time.

Karch Kiraly won his third consecutive AVP championship in 1993 and his third straight “King of the Beach’’ crown. Kiraly and Kent Steffes once again dominated the AVP tour, winning 18 of 24 events together en route to becoming the first players to top $400,000 in a season. Kiraly won $467,877 and Steffes earned $409,877.

Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos played their last tournament together on May 8-9, 1993, in San Antonio, Texas. Smith and Stoklos held the records for most tournaments played together at 235 and the most victories as a partnership at 114. Smith and Stoklos first played together in 1982.

The AVP held women’s events at 16 of the men’s tour stops in 1993. In a unique format, eight players comprising four teams, exchanging partners weekly, battled all season with prize money paid at the end of the year. Holly McPeak won the tour championship with 11 victories to claim the $65,000 first prize.

With eight of the top players moving to the AVP tour in 1993, Karolyn Kirby and Liz Masakayan began the most dominant era in the WPVA, winning 11 of 12 tournaments and splitting $74,550.

In 1993, Olympic officials attended the February FIVB beach volleyball finals held in Rio de Janeiro along with 140,000 spectators (in one week).
On Sept. 21, 1993, beach volleyball became an Olympic event when the International Olympic Committee granted the sport medal status at Monte Carlo’s IOC meeting.It was decided that 24 men’s teams and 18 women’s teams would compete for the first beach volleyball Olympic gold medal in the1996 Atlanta Games.

In 1993, Franco Neto and Roberto Lopes of Brazil became the first non-Americans to win the World Championship. Karolyn Kirby and Liz Masakayan of the U.S. won the women’s title.

Adam Johnson broke Karch Kiraly’s three-year reign as “King of the Beach’’ in 1994, but Kiraly and Kent Steffes continued to dominate the AVP circuit, winning 17 out of 22 tournaments together.

Karch Kiraly claimed his fourth “King of the Beach’’ title at the 1996 Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The first Olympic beach volleyball competition took place July 23-28, 1996, at Atlanta Beach in a 10,000-seat stadium. Twenty-four men’s teams and 18 women’s teams competed for medals as over 107,000 spectators attended the event at the Atlanta Games. AVP teams dominated the men’s competition with a gold and silver medal sweep. Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes took home the gold as Kiraly became a three-time gold medalist and the first indoor and outdoor Olympic champion in volleyball. Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh won the silver medal. Canadians John Child and Mark Heese outdueled Americans Sinjin Smith and Carl Henkel for the bronze medal. In the women’s competition, Brazil dominates with Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires beating fellow Brazilians Mônica Rodrigues and Adriana Samuel for the gold medal. Australians Natalie Cook and Kerri-Ann Pottharst won the bronze.

In November, 1996, the IOC confirmed that beach volleyball would be included in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

The 38th annual Manhattan Beach Open was canceled in 1997 due to legal issues and a lawsuit brought against the City of Manhattan Beach and the AVP by a local-interest group. The event was moved down the coast to Hermosa Beach and renamed the Miller Lite Hermosa Beach Grand Slam.
In 1997, Dain Blanton became the first African-American professional beach volleyball player to win a tournament on the AVP Tour, with partner Canyon Ceman at the Hermosa Miller Lite Beach Grand Slam. This event also marked the most prize money for a single tournament in the history of beach volleyball at $300,000.

Jose Loiola became the first international player to reach the $1 million mark in career earnings as he and partner Kent Steffes won the 1997 Miller Lite Open at Chicago, one of 12 tournament wins for the pair in 1997. Steffes claimed his 100th career win, teaming with Loiola at the Miller Lite Open at Milwaukee.

Emanuel Rego, the world’s top-ranked player, signed with the AVP in 1998 and teamed with Jose Loiola to create one of the tour’s most exciting teams. Emanuel earned AVP Rookie of the Year for his outstanding play, winning four tournaments, two with Loiola, one with fellow Brazilian Andre Gomes, and one with Kent Steffes.

Karch Kiraly won his 139th career open victory at the 1999 Sunkist/AVP Dallas Open with partner Adam Johnson and tied Sinjin Smith’s all-time record for open victories. A few weeks later on the Fourth of July, Kiraly broke the record as he and Johnson won the U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball in Chicago.

The second Olympic beach volleyball competition took place Sept. 16- 26, 2000, in a 10,000-seat venue at Bondi Beach near Sydney, Australia, with 24 men’s and women’s teams competing for medals. Despite the perfect score in qualifying, Brazilians Jose Loiola and Emanuel Rego finished a dissapointing ninth. The last team to qualify, Americans Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana, won the gold over Brazilians Zé Marco and Ricardo Costa. The 15th-seeded German team of Jörg Ahmann and Axel Hager were surprise bronze medalists. The top-seeded women, Australians Natalie Cook and Kerri-Ann Pottharst, won the gold medal over the second-seeded Brazilians Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede.

In 2000, Holly McPeak became the richest woman in beach volleyball, passing Karolyn Kirby early in the season and topping the $700,000 mark in career earnings.

On May 31, 2001, sports agent Leonard Armato and his company, Management Plus, announced that they had acquired the AVPand would unite the world’s best men’s and women’s pro players under one umbrella organization.

With his 143rd career victory at the 2002 AVP Michelob Light Santa Barbara Open, Karch Kiraly became the oldest player to win a professional domestic beach volleyball tournament. The win with Brent Doble, the 12th partner to taste victory with Kiraly, came at the age of 41 years, 225 days.

In 2002, Holly McPeak became the first woman to win $1 million in prize money. Winning her 62nd career title (the sixth with Elaine Youngs) at the FIVB French Grand Slam in Marseille, her $15,000 check brought her career total to $1,001,927.

Karch Kiraly became the first beach volleyball player to break the $3 million mark in prize money in 2002. His share of the $7,500 for finishing third at the season-ending Paul Mitchell AVP Shootout at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas with Brent Doble brought his total career earnings to $3,001,258.

Misty May and Kerri Walsh capped a perfect season with their victory at the 2003 Las Vegas Aquafina AVP Shootout. May and Walsh not only won all eight AVP Nissan Series events they entered, but they also compiled a perfect 39-0 match record – the first time any team had ever gone through an entire season without losing a match. En route to their perfect record, May and Walsh only lost five sets in compiling a 78-5 set record and outscoring their opponents 1711-1236.

Misty May and Kerri Walsh extended their match winning streak to 57 after beating Jia Tian and Fei Wang of China in the semifinals of the 2004 Brazil Open. With the victory, May and Walsh broke the longest known streak of 56 matches by Karolyn Kirby and Liz Masakayan.

Misty May and Kerri Walsh extended their tournament winning streak to 14 after beating fellow Americans Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs at the 2004 Hellas Open. Their streak of 14 consecutive tournaments broke the record of 13 shared by Karch Kiraly/Kent Steffes and Greg Lee/Jim Menges.

Holly McPeak tied Karolyn Kirby for the most career tournament victories at 67 when she and Elaine Youngs won the 2004 China Open over fellow Americans Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan.

In the semifinals of the 2004 Manhattan Beach Open, Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annett Davis snapped the 89-match winning streak of Misty May and Kerri Walsh, 21-19 and 21-19 in 36 minutes. The last time Misty and Walsh had been defeated was July 5, 2003 by Ana Paula Connelly and Sandra Pires in the finals of the Norway Open. During the streak, May and walshalso won a 90th unofficial match over Vanilda dos Santas Leão and Gerusa da Costa Ferreira in a U.S. vs. Brazil series. The loss also snapped May/Walsh winning streak of 15 consecutive tournaments and 13 straight domestic tournaments including a perfect 8-for-8 in 2003.

Karch Kiraly extended his record number of victories to 145 in 2004 by winning the Manhattan Beach Open with Mike Lambert over Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings, 21-15 and 21-18, in 45 minutes. The victory was the first for Lambert, who became the 13th partner to win with Kiraly. Kiraly also added to his records as being the oldest player to win at 43 years, 7 months, and 3 days and winning in his 23rd different season.

In a repeat of the previous week, Karch Kiraly extended his record to 146 career titles in 2004 and Holly McPeak extended her record to 69 career victories as both won in San Diego. Kiraly and Mike Lambert defeated Sean Rosenthal and Larry Witt, 21-18, 14-21 and 15-8 in 59 minutes, while Holly and Elaine Youngs defeat Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan for the second straight week, 22-20 and 21-18 in 51 minutes.

With their 34th victory together, in the 2005 Austin Open, Misty May and Kerri Walsh became the all-time women’s team victory leaders, passing the Brazilian duo of Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar.

In 2005, with their $20,000 check for winning the Santa Barbara Open, Misty May and Kerri Walsh joined the Brazilian duo of Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar to become only the second women’s team to surpass $1 million in career team winnings.

With their win at the 2005 Santa Barbara Open, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh became the first women’s team with 50 tournament titles.
In 2006, with her win at the AVP Cuervo Gold Crown Huntington Beach Open and the $50,000 paycheck, Misty May-Treanor became the second American woman to top the $1 million mark in career winnings. May-Treanor achieved the mark in just her 99th tournament, which is faster than the other three millionaire women, fellow American Holly McPeak (199 tournaments) and Brazilians Adriana Behar (107) and Shelda Bede (101).