GODS to GHOSTS Volleyball

Sam Discusses:
 
 - His youth growing up in the North Bay,  how amazing it was as a kid to ride his bike or skateboard down to State Beach,  Sorrento Beach, & Muscle Beach to watch the legends of the sport play at that time,  the amazing volleyball and basketball players that he got to know over the years at Pacific Palisades High School as a Dolphin, how he got his first experience as an announcer there in high school, his time working on the AVP Tour during the HEY DAY of the sport in public relations, marketing, and MC'ing the sport,  how amazing Matt Gage was as tournament director, his profound respect for everyone that was a part of the AVP tour from week to week, including Rudy Papaco, David Leighton, and many other amazing  "behind the scenes"  crew members that got the tour from city to city each week that deserve a TON OF CREDIT for their contributions and hard work,  his time on the Jose Cuervo tour, and all those who made it such an incredible event 3 x a year, including some amazing stories about the infamous Cuervo parties!

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Dennis Discusses:

- The BEST hitters he ever saw ( Including an amazing story about Mike Stormin' Normand!),  best diggers,  best team he ever saw on the beach,  the MOMENT when he made the decision to become an ARTIST after he and Mike Carey got knocked out of the Laguna Beach Open during the weekend of the Laguna Beach Art Festival,  and he visited the Museum there and first saw a Van Gogh painting that was on exhibition , and  knew right then and there he was going to be an artist!, and who some of his favorite bands are to this day  :)

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Dennis Discusses:

-  More of his FOND memories of the players from his era, including Bill "Blowfish" Imwalle,  Amy Baldus, Butch May & Eileen Clancy, Buzz Swarts, Dane Selznick,  Fred Zuelich, Gary Hooper &  Steve Obradovich, his good friend George Stepanof and his AMAZING family ( wife Arlene and son Rick) and all they  have done for the sport!,  Bob Mendoza, Ron Von Hagen, Ron Lang, Henry Bergmann, & Larry "RAGS"  Rundle, some of the legendary photographers of the game like Bob "Crank" Van Wagner, Robi Hutas, Kevin Goff,  Doug Avery,  & Artie Couvillon,  and how their priceless photos play an instrumental part in capturing the history of the sport from that era for the rest of TIME...

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Dennis Discusses:

Some of the players  he saw, played with, and against, or heard about, including John Vallely,  Jim Menges, Greg Lee, Bill Leeka, Fred Zuelich,  Mike Carey, and Matt Gage, a funny story of playing in the Manhattan Beach Open with Ron Von Hagen and how nervous he was, winning the '77 Capitola Northern California Beach  Championship with Fred Zuelich in a tightly contested match against Jeff Jordan & Bob PAPE,  how amazed he was by the young guys on tour like OB, who could party all night on Saturday, and then still play the next day,  and how much fun he had later on playing in the Chris Marlowe organized LEGENDS tournaments with Captain Buzz Swarts.

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Dennis Discusses:

-  The music he and the players were listening to back in the 70's,  how he used to live at his parent's house in Yucaipa over the summer and drive to the beach and back home EVERY day, seeing John Vallely play at the beach and how amazing he was, meeting Wink Davenport and the influence he had on him, being in the armed forces, and his role with them, the time he worked at SIZZLER restaurant for a DAY as a cook, and resigning the very same day, his time living with Fred Zuelich in Mission Beach as roommates and how they were like the ODD COUPLE!,  his infamous "waterfall dink" and how he learned it from Larry Rundle, how talented Jim Menges was as a player, and his recollections of some of the instrumental players he recalls from his time playing on the beach, like Stu Waite, and Ron Von Hagen & Ron Lang.

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Dennis Discusses:

- His youth growing up in Yacaipa, CA,  how his dad started a little league baseball team there,  how supportive his parents and sister were to him as a youth, and how Dennis went on to achieve some incredible high school accolades as a baseball and basketball player (All - CIF, and Honorable mention All-American), his first exposure to volleyball in high school, his time at San Diego State playing baseball, and how he got caught by the baseball coach playing volleyball in the gym at SDSU with Duncan McFarland!,  his first exposure to beach volleyball at Ocean Beach when the established players there wouldn't let him play!,  how he first got his AAA rating playing with Mike Carey, beating Larry Rundle and Mike Bright in the losers finals, and getting to compete in a final against Ron Lang & Ron Von Hagen!,  how he idolized Larry Rundle and copied his dink,  his fond memories of  Laguna Beach local- Pete Ott, and what a character Bob Vogelsang was back then, how he would like to someday make a beach volleyball documentary to capture the essence of the sport from that era,  and how the sport lost its soul when it got away from being played on the beach, and went to being played in parking lots and stadium courts across the word....

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Andy Discusses:

- The best diggers he competed against in his era,  best teams he competed against, what it takes to be a good overhand digger, a classic story from Lake Tahoe when he was playing against Jim Menges and Greg Lee and he hit a ball straight down that bounced into Greg's "Lee family jewels",  his time competing collegiately in volleyball at Yale University and how they won the Eastern Collegiate Volleyball league conference championship and earned a berth to the '75 NCAA Men's Volleyball championship finals at Pauley Pavilion at  UCLA!,  his career after volleyball working in Commercial Real Estate for 30 years, how he would like to be remembered in the history of the game, as well as what he MISSES most about that time, what he is up to NOW  in retirement in 2021, and a classic story of going to Japan with Dusty Dvorak, Jim Menges, and Gary Hooper in the mid 80' to play in a beach volleyball exhibition,  and the ROCKSTAR treatment they received from the Japanese female fans in the airport when they landed! 

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Andy Discusses:

-  His partnership with  Dane Selznick and what made them such a great  team over their partnership together, his recollection of the '79 Beach World Championships when he and Dane lost in the first round to Rocky Ciarelli & Tom Wade and battled back to reach the finals, where they lost 16-18 in an EPIC double final to Sinjin Smith and Karch Kiraly and how the crowd noise was deafening,  his 3 most memorable wins, the controversial '84 Beach World Championships where he and partner Jay Hanseth crossed the player picket line to play as the tournament sponsor was also Andy's personal sponsor and he was a spokesman for, the complicated dynamics of moving on from a partner you love and respect to play with someone else, a CLASSIC Gladstones Restaurant story involving Andy, Dane Selznick, Sinjin Smith, Randy Stoklos, and  Long Island Ice Teas which led to a "drunk" game of TAG at the Santa Monica Beach Club!,  the evolution of the infamous Fishburn Flipper,  and the 5 most impressive hitters Andy played against in his career.

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Andy Discusses:

- His youth and unique family history growing up in LA,  learning the sport of volleyball as an "overactive youth" at the Santa Monica Beach Club, being invited by established  Beach Club volleyball member John Meek to play in the Laguna Beach Open at the age of 22 where they defeated the 4th seeded team of Gary Hooper & Fred Zuelich early in the tournament,  earning his AAA ranking  with Eric Macias in Mission Beach, moving on to playing with Fred Sturm and the success they had as a team in '77 &'78 winning several tournaments together, the joy of earning a clothing sponsorship from Burmy's clothing line and picking out the material for his classic Burmy's trunks, how amazing the State Beach volleyball scene was and how much he loved it when he ventured up from the Beach Club to become a part of it, moving on from Fred Sturm to Dane Selznick as his partner on the beach, and the importance of  the mental game when it came  to playing the sport in all kinds of conditions...

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Bill Discusses:

-  The 'infamous"   '67 Manhattan Beach Open when he and Vogie lost in the first round, and then drank beer the rest of the weekend and made it to the finals against Ron Lang & Ron Van Hagen ( including the antics Leeka and Vogie pulled in the final that led to it being interrupted on multiple occasions when the crowd threw beer bottles & cans on the court countless times, & the infamous Steno Brunicardi story when a drunk fan cracked a bottle of beer over Steno's head, and how Butch May saved the poor fan from being annihilated by Steno),  how great of a team Mike O'Hara & Mike Bright were, a classic fishing  story from the time Vogie came to visit Leeka and his wife Georgia in North Carolina when they were retired ( including a brief interjection featuring an interview with  Vogie to hear his recollection of the CLASSIC story) ,  and what LEEKA is up to now days in 2021!

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