Volleyball in History

Events in Sport

  • 1895-02-09 William Morgan presents his new sport "Mintonette" to the world at Springfield College, Massachusetts, later renames it "Volleyball" [1]
  • 1964-10-23 Japan beats the Soviet Union 3-0 to claim the inaugural Olympic women's volleyball gold medal in Tokyo; undefeated in 6-team round robin competition
  • 1964-10-23 Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia finish 8-1 in inaugural Olympic men's volleyball competition in Tokyo; Soviets win 10 team round robin on count back of sets won-lost
  • 1968-10-26 The Soviet Union wraps up the volleyball double at the Mexico City Olympics; both men's & women's teams take gold at the end of their respective round-robin competitions
  • 1976-07-30 Japanese beat Russian for Olympic gold in woman's volleyball
  • 1996-07-27 Brazilian pair Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires win inaugural women's beach volleyball gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics
  • 1996-07-28 Americans Karch Kiraly & Kent Steffes win inaugural beach volleyball gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics; Kiraly first to win gold in both indoor and beach events
  • 2004-08-24 Americans Kerri Walsh and Misty May team up to win the women's beach volleyball gold at the Athens Olympics beating Brazilian pair Shelda Bede & Adriana Behar 21–17, 21–11
  • 2004-08-25 Emanuel Rego & Ricardo Santos win Brazil's first gold medal in men's beach volleyball with a 21–16, 21–15 victory over Spanish pair Javier Bosma & Pablo Herrera
  • 2004-08-29 Brazil takes out the men's volleyball gold medal with a 3-1 victory over Italy at the Athens Olympics
  • 2008-08-21 American pair Misty May-Treanor & Kerry Walsh dominate China's Tian Jiathe & Wang Jie 21-18, 21-18 in the beach volleyball final to repeat of their gold medal from Athens; don't lose a set in the competition
  • 2010-01-01 Suicide car bomb detonates at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100
  • 2014-11-23 A suicide bomber kills 40 people at a volleyball tournament in eastern Afghanistan
  • 2016-08-17 German pair Laura Ludwig & Kira Walkenhorst upsets Brazilian hometown favourites Ágatha Bednarczuk & Bárbara Seixas 21–18, 21–14 to win the Olympic women's beach volleyball gold in Rio de Janeiro
  • 2016-08-20 Rio de Janeiro Olympics: team sports - China beats Serbia, 3-1 for the women's indoor volleyball gold; in the men's water polo final, Serbia downs Croatia, 11-7 for first Olympic title
  • 2016-08-21 Brazil takes 3rd Olympic men's indoor volleyball gold medal at the Rio Games with 25–22, 28–26, 26–24 win over Italy

Birthdays in Sport

  • 1870-01-23 William Morgan, American physical education instructor and inventor of "mintonette" (now known as volleyball), born in Lockport, New York (d. 1942)
  • 1928-05-31 Gabriella Kotsis, Hungarian Volleyball HOF coach (Hungary Olympics 1972, 76, 80), born in Budapest, Hungary (d. 2023)
  • 1937-02-10 Yuriy Poyarkov, USSR, volleyball player (Olympic 2 gold/1 silver-1964-72)
  • 1938-05-25 Lyudmila Buldakova, Russian volleyball player (Olympic gold USSR 1968, 72), born in Saint Petersburg, Russia (d. 2006)
  • 1943-06-13 Edward Skorek, Polish volleyball player (Olympic gold 1976), born in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland
  • 1944-06-15 Inna Ryskai, Soviet volleyball player (Olympic-2 gold/2 silver-1964-76), born in Baku, Azerbaijan, Soviet Union
  • 1947-02-20 Vladimir Kuzyutkin, Russian volleyball coach (Russia Women - World Cup gold 2010; Bulgaria Women), born in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia (d. 2022)
  • 1947-11-05 Oļegs Antropovs, Latvian volleyball player (Olympic gold 1968), born in Shymkent, Kazakh SSR
  • 1953-02-27 Oleg Moliboga, Ukrainian volleyball player (Olympic gold USSR 1980, silver 1976; World C'ship gold 1978, 82), born in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine (d. 2022)
  • 1953-09-22 Tomasz Wójtowicz, Polish volleyball player (Olympic gold 1976; World C'ship gold 1974; Legia Warsaw, Santal Parma) and broadcaster, born in Lublin, Poland (d. 2022)
  • 1954-01-02 Lyudmila Borozna, Russian volleyball player (Olympic gold USSR 1972), born in Saint Petersburg, Russia
  • 1957-05-07 Sinjin Smith, American beach volleyballer (Men's FIVB Beach Volley World Tour Winner 1989-92 [Randy Stoklos], born in Los Angeles, California
  • 1957-05-21 Sue Woodstra, American volleyball player (Olympic silver 1984), born in Colton, California
  • 1957-08-20 Mike Dodd, American beach volleyballer (Olympic silver 1996), born in Manhattan Beach, California
  • 1957-08-20 Scott Ayakatubby, beach volleyball champ
  • 1957-11-12 Gail Castro, American WPVA volleyballer (US Open-1991, Olympics 1996), born in Glendale, California
  • 1958-06-25 Debbie Green-Vargas, American volleyball player (Olympic silver 1984), born in South Korea
  • 1960-07-08 Jeff Stork, American volleyball player (Olympic gold 1988, bronze 1992, 96; World C'ship gold 1986; FIVB World Cup gold 1985), born in Longview Washington
  • 1960-10-31 Janice Harrer, American WPVA volleyballer (US Open-1989, Olympics 1996), born in Torrance, California
  • 1960-11-03 Karch Kiraly, American indoor & beach volleyball player (3 x Olympic gold 1984, 88, 96), born in Jackson, Michigan
  • 1960-12-13 Randy Stoklos, American beach volleyballer (first player to earn $1m; 5 x World C'ship [with Sinjin Smith]), born in Pacific Palisades, California
  • 1961-06-30 Karolyn Kirby, American beach volleyball player (Goodwill-gold-94), born in Brookline, Massachusetts
  • 1962-02-13 Jackie Silva, Brazilian volleyballer (Olympic gold 1996), born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 1962-05-01 Paula Weishoff, American volleyballer (Olympic silver 1984, bronze 1992), born in Hollywood, California
  • 1962-05-18 Mike Whitmarsh, American beach volleyballer (Olympic silver 1996), born in San Diego, California
  • 1962-07-14 Diane Ratnik, Canadian volleyball setter (Olympics 1992, 1996), born in Toronto, Ontario
  • 1963-07-08 Bob Ctvrtlik, American volleyball outsider (Olympic gold 1988, bronze 1992, 96), born in Long Beach, California
  • 1963-07-29 Patty Dodd, WPVA volleyballer (US Open-2nd-1988), born in Bogotá, Colombia
  • 1964-05-06 Kim Oden, US Olympic volleyball player (NCAA Play of Decade-80s), born in Birmingham, Alabama
  • 1965-03-06 Tammy Liley, volleyball mid blocker/capt (Olympic bronze 1992, 96), born in Long Beach, California
  • 1965-04-16 Caren Kemner, American volleyball outside hitter (Olympic bronze 1992, 96), born in Quincy, Illinois
  • 1965-12-24 Nancy Reno, American WPVA volleyballer who won the demonstration event at the 1992 Olympics, born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois
  • 1966-01-23 Scott Fortune, American volleyball player (Olympic gold 1988, bronze 1992, 96), born in Newport Beach, California
  • 1967-03-21 Elaina Oden, American volleyball middle blocker (Olympic bronze 1992, 96), born in Orange, California
  • 1967-08-01 Lori Endicott, American volleyball setter (Olympic bronze 1992, 96), born in Kansas City, Missouri
  • 1967-08-08 Margo Malowney, Canadian beach volleyball player (Olympics, 1996), born in Saint John, New Brunswick
  • 1967-08-10 Carlos Briceno, American beach volleyball (Olympic bronze 1992, 96), born in Fountain Valley, California
  • 1968-02-27 Tore Aleksandersen, Norwegian women's volleyball coach (Allianz MTV Stuttgart; Norway, Finland women's national teams), born in Molde, Norway (d. 2023)
  • 1968-06-23 Kent Steffes, American beach volleyballer (Olympic gold 1996), born in Ann Arbor, Michigan
  • 1968-09-16 Tara Cross-Battle, American volleyball hitter (Olympic bronze 1992, 96), born in Houston, Texas
  • 1969-03-24 Yoko Zetterlund, volleyball setter (Olympic bronze 1992, 96), born in San Francisco, California
  • 1969-05-05 Bryan Ivie, American volleyball middle blocker (Olympic bronze 1992, 96), born in Torrance, California
  • 1969-05-15 Holly McPeak, American beach volleyballer (Olympic bronze 2004), born in Manhattan Beach, California
  • 1969-08-15 Mark Heese, Canadian beach volleyballer (Olympic bronze 1996), born in Toronto, Ontario
  • 1970-01-06 Gabrielle Reece, American volleyball player and actress (Extremists), born in La Jolla, California
  • 1970-11-30 Natalie Williams, American Women's Basketball HOF forward (Olympic gold 2000; 4×WNBA All-Star; 3×All-WNBA First Team; Portland Power, Utah Starzz, Indiana Fever) and executive (GM WNBA LV Aces), born in Long Beach, California
  • 1972-02-17 Lloy Ball, American volleyball setter (Olympic gold team 2008; NORCECA C'ship gold 2007; World League gold 2008; International Volleyball HOF), born in Ft Wayne, Indiana
  • 1972-10-01 Danielle Scott-Arruda, American volleyball middle blocker (International Volleyball HOF; Olympic silver 2008, 12), born in Baton Rouge Louisiana
  • 1975-06-15 Rachel Wacholder, American beach volleyballer who won eight championships and model, born in Laguna Beach, California
  • 1977-05-31 Theodoros Baev, Bulgarian-born Greek volleyball player
  • 1978-03-18 Yoshie Takeshita, Japanese volleyball player
  • 1978-08-15 Kerri Walsh, American beach volleyball player (Olympic gold 2004, 08, 12), born in Santa Clara, California
  • 1978-11-29 Alessandro Fei, Italian volleyball player, born in Saronno, Italy
  • 1978-12-26 Kaoru Sugayama, Japanese volleyball player, born in Iwanuma, Japan
  • 1979-01-27 Liesbet Van Breedam, Belgian beach volleyball player
  • 1979-06-13 Nila Håkedal, Norwegian beach volleyball player
  • 1979-09-13 Ivan Miljković, Serbian volleyball player, born in Niška Banja, Serbia
  • 1980-07-30 Sara Anzanello, Italian volleyball player, born in San Donà di Piave, Italy
  • 1980-10-17 Ekaterina Gamova, Russian volleyball player
  • 1983-01-07 Liesbeth Mouha, Belgian beach volleyball player, born in Tongeren, Belgium
  • 1986-08-19 Saori Kimura, Japanese volleyball player, born in Yashio, Japan

Weddings in Sport

  • 2005-12-04 2004 Olympic volleyball team member Kerri Walsh (27) weds fellow volleyball player Casey Jennings (30) at the La Quinta Resort in Palm Springs, California

Deaths in Sport

  • 1942-12-27 William Morgan, American physical education instructor and inventor of "mintonette" (now known as volleyball), dies at 72
  • 1980-10-15 Apostolos Nikolaidis, Greek footballer and volleyball player (b. 1896)
  • 2006-11-08 Lyudmila Buldakova, Russian volleyball player (Olympic gold USSR 1968, 72), dies at 68
  • 2022-06-09 Oleg Moliboga, Ukrainian volleyball player (Olympic gold USSR 1980, silver 1976; World C'ship gold 1978, 82), dies at 69
  • 2022-06-10 Vladimir Kuzyutkin, Russian volleyball coach (Russia Women - World Cup gold 2010; Bulgaria Women), dies at 74
  • 2022-10-24 Tomasz Wójtowicz, Polish volleyball player (Olympic gold 1976; World C'ship gold 1974; Legia Warsaw, Santal Parma) and broadcaster, dies at 69
  • 2023-08-17 Gabriella Kotsis, Hungarian Volleyball HOF coach (Hungary Olympics 1972, 76, 80), dies at 95
  • 2023-12-06 Tore Aleksandersen, Norwegian women's volleyball coach (Allianz MTV Stuttgart; Norway, Finland women's national teams), dies from prostate cancer at 55