This ‘Stick’ Has Turned Into a Star : Once Skinny, Yardley Now a Volleyball Giant

Sometimes, when friends talk about the Bill Yardley they knew growing up, you have to wonder if they’re referring to the same Bill Yardley who is one of the newest members of the U.S. men’s national volleyball team.

They talk of a frail, skinny teen-ager who seemed as fragile as a piece of fine China. Yardley’s physique, they say, was so much like that of the “before” guy in the old Charles Atlas ads that he had to be excluded from some of their rougher activities.

“The bunch of us who hung out together used to play dog pile a lot,” said Peter Helfrich, a former volleyball teammate of Yardley’s at Newport Harbor High School. “It was crazy and wild thing to do, but we did have one unspoken rule--no one was allowed to pile on Bill.

“Back then he was already 6-4, but he only weighed about 100 pounds. We were afraid that we might really hurt him.”

Now, though, Yardley’s old nickname, Sticks, is no longer appropriate. With the help of weightlifting and time, he filled out to a solid 185 pounds and went on to become one of collegiate volleyball’s best outside hitters at USC.

In June, shortly after his graduation, Yardley was one of 60 to try out for the U.S. national team and one of five to be selected for the roster by Coach Marv Dunphy.

So Bill Yardley, 23, the former designated skinny kid on the block, has become a potential Olympian.

And he still can’t believe it.

“I’ve been on an emotional high since the day Marv called me and told me I made the team,” Yardley said recently before playing a recreation match at the Balboa Bay Club. “I still think, ‘Wow, I’m on the United States national volleyball team.’ ”

Actually, if you examine Yardley’s family history, his late development as an athlete is no surprise. Both his father, Robert, a former basketball star at Orange Coast College and the University of Colorado, and his uncle, George, a National Basketball Assn. Hall of Fame member, did not reach physical maturity until they were in their 20s.

And Bill Yardley says he is still maturing.

‘I’m a lot stronger and bigger now than I was in high school, but I still have a ways to go,” he said. “The guys ahead of me on the national team are all studs, so I better keep growing and lifting if I’m ever going to play on this team.”

Yardley has always had solid athletic skills. He has excellent hand-eye coordination, vital for a good volleyball player, and can jump. That was evident during his days at Newport Harbor. He helped the Sailors win the Southern Section 4-A championship in 1980, his senior year.

But at that time, he was by no means a great player, and that showed during his freshman year at USC.

In 1981 he road the bench, which was an especially humbling experience for someone who had played every minute of every match in high school. His sophomore year started the same way, and that’s when Yardley’s attitude and play both began to change for the better.

“In high school, there was never any pressure on me to perform,” he said. “To me, volleyball was just a way to be with my friends and have fun.

“But at USC, it wasn’t just fun anymore. I didn’t know it at first, but I had to compete just to get in the lineup. I admit that before I was a lazy player, and it wasn’t until I realized that that I could start progressing as a player.”

It was the birth of Yardley’s killer instinct. He started to practice harder and longer and became a dedicated weightlifter. This spawned more confidence, earned him a berth in the USC starting lineup and helped uncover an intense competitiveness that no one thought Yardley had in him.

It’s a competitiveness that still isn’t apparent when you talk to Yardley, but when he’s on the court or playing any other game, it’s there.

“He is easy-going,” Helfrich said of Yardley, “butwhether you play Bill in volleyball or cards, he’s burning inside. He’s very intense. He never yells or anything like that, but inside he’s fighting as hard as he can to win.”

Yardley’s girlfriend, USC heptathlete Sharon Hatfield, agrees.

“Bill is misleading,” she said. “He appears to be very casual, and that fools people. He is very, very competitive. He hates to lose at anything.”

What appeals most about Yardley to his new coach though isn’t his competitiveness, his dedication to improve or his powerful spikes, but something that casual fans probably don’t even notice.

“Watching Bill try out, I was impressed with the fact that he always seems to do the right thing,” Dunphy said.

“His style of play is efficient, he doesn’t waste any energy, and that’s something that just comes naturally to him.”

As a rookie on the U.S. national team’s roster, Yardley is not a starter and doesn’t expect to become one for a while. He likens this period to his first year at USC, because he’s spending a lot of time sitting on the bench and watching.

But this time, Yardley isn’t disappointed about his lack of playing time. He did accompany the national team on trips to Texas and Cuba (but not on the team’s July visit to the Soviet Union), and for now, just being on the team is enough for him.

“Sure, you feel bad for a while if you’re not always out there playing,” Yardley said, “but I keep reminding myself that I’m playing volleyball now at the highest level it can be played.

“So, I’m not complaining or hanging my head, not when I’m playing at this level. I’m just going to concentrate on getting stronger and improving my game, and some day my chance will come. Right now, I still consider myself a good collegiate player trying to make it as an international player.”

Two things Yardley is trying to adjust to are the national team’s demanding travel schedule and his new-found celebrity.

Eight months out of the year, the U.S. national team is on the road, and that’s something new for Yardley, who has rarely left Southern California.

“I’ve only been on a couple of trips, but I have a good idea what this is going to be like,” he said. “When we get to a hotel, we don’t even bother unpacking. We just live out of our suitcase and go on to the next city.”

The other thing Yardley is trying to become accustomed to is signing autographs. On his trip to Texas, Yardley and his teammates were mobbed by autograph seekers.

“They don’t come up to us here in Southern California, but I guess that’s the way it’s going to be in a lot of places,” Yardley said. “When we were in Texas before a match, we were just mobbed by kids.

“They had us sign everything, hats, shirts, programs. It was incredible. I felt like an NBA star.”

In some ways, Yardley is the typical Newport Beach-USC kid. He has blond hair, blue-eyed California good looks, comes from a well-to-do family and drives a brand-new BMW. But he is not spoiled.

“I think that’s why we are most proud of him,” said Yardley’s mother, Jean. “He’s a dear, honest boy and a joy to be around.

“For all he’s accomplished, he hasn’t changed at all.”

Said Charlie Brande, Yardley’s high school coach: “Bill is one of the neatest, classiest kids you’ll ever meet, and that’s more important to me than anything else. He’s a great athlete and a great person.”

Yardley loves and will always love his hometown, Newport Beach, but he plans to stay clear of the trappings that have affected some of his friends. “A lot of kids around here have had everything handed to them, they’ve been pampered,” he said. “I want to excel, and to do so, I know I have to work hard. I don’t ever plan on becoming a plastic Newport person.”