Volleyball Great Holly McPeak Inducted into Hall of Fame

On October 30, 2009, the Volleyball Hall of Fame inducted college, FIVB, AVP, and USA Olympic volleyball star Holly McPeak. Holly has been a mainstay in volleyball since leading her 1990 UCLA team to a NCAA championship. She competed in the inaugural Olympic Beach Volleyball Games in 1996 and the 2000 Olympic Games, finishing fifth both times. She and Elaine Youngs (EY) won bronze medals at the 2004 Games in Atlanta. Winning in Marseille in 2002, Holly became the first woman in volleyball worldwide to surpass $1 million in career winnings. She has won titles with seven different partners and has been ranked in the top ten six times in the AVP Tour and seven times in the FIVB Tour. Overall she has won 72 titles and her career earnings now top more than $1.6 million.

While her awards are numerous (any list of her accomplishments would go on and on), she remains personable and self driven to stay in shape, promote the sport, and encourage players and fans alike. Despite announcing her retirement this year at age 40, Holly can still be seen at many of the AVP events. She is currently scheduled to appear as part of the Johnsonville Hot Winter Nights Tour on January 17, 2010 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

It is fitting that Holly was part of what may be an induction group that hopefully leads to the Holyoke site becoming the international repository of volleyball greatness. In addition to McPeak, the Hall of Fame inducted Ivan Bugajenkov of Latvia, Ana B. Moser of Brazil, Siegfried Schneider of Germany, Nikolay Karpol of Russia and Paul Libaud of France. While the Volleyball Hall of Fame has recognized international volleyball individuals and entities for more than fifteen years, currently there is not a recognized true world hall of fame for volleyball. This year, there has been discussion that hopefully leads the Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB), at its November 25, 2009 meeting in Toyko, to agree to a combined volleyball hall of fame. Holyoke could not be a more perfect setting for the world hall of fame since it has been the home of volleyball since it was founded there in 1895 by William G. Morgan.

You can find out more about the above and volleyball in general at the following sites:

Volleyball Hall of Fame http://www.volleyhall.org/
Holly McPeak http://www.hollymcpeakusa.com/
AVP http://www.avp.com/
FIVB http://www.fivb.ch/
USA Volleyball http://www.usavolleyball.org/

More pictures of Holly in action can be seen at
Best Digital Shots http://www.bestdigitalshots.com/