A Change of Venue Doesn’t Prevent Courting Success : Dodd Does Double Take on Dreams

Mike Dodd always dreamed as a kid of playing in the National Basketball Assn., but his NBA dream lasted only three days before he was cut by the San Diego Clippers in 1980.

Dodd never dreamed he would be earning more than $100,000 a year playing professional beach volleyball, but his career is now in its sixth year.

So much for dreams.

Entering the third and final leg of the $100,000 Cuervo Gold Crown tournament Saturday at Mariner’s Point in Mission Bay Park, Dodd and partner Tim Hovland are atop the money standings this season with $106,000 each.

Dodd, 30, can add to his totals this weekend because the winners of the eight-team invitational tournament will split $50,000. The second-place team receives $20,000 and third-place earnings are $10,000.

The round-robin tournament features the top seven teams as ranked by the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals and one at-large team. The matches start at 8 a.m. Saturday, with the championship match scheduled for 3 p.m.

It seems natural that Dodd would have wanted to be a top volleyball player growing up in Manhattan Beach, where it sometimes seems the only thing played on a court is volleyball. After all, he was a high school All-American in volleyball and had his pick of colleges.

But Dodd had this dream.

“My dream as a young kid growing up was to play in the NBA,” Dodd said. “I just wanted to see how far I could go.”

Dodd was a good basketball player in high school, but not good enough to receive a scholarship offer.

“I was very thin and I hadn’t matured as an athlete in high school,” he said.

Fortunately for Dodd, his high school coach was a friend of Tim Vezie, then the San Diego State basketball coach. Dodd’s coach contacted Vezie and asked that if SDSU had an off recruiting year and had an extra scholarship if he’d give Dodd a chance.

Dodd got his chance.

After spending the first year on the bench, Dodd got some playing time his sophomore year. His junior year, Dodd was the second leading scorer as the Aztecs went 19-9 and tied for the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference title. Dodd averaged 14 points while shooting 55% from the field and 79% from the free-throw line.

The Aztecs joined the Western Athletic Conference Dodd’s senior year. He averaged 12 points a game for SDSU his final season and finished his Aztec career with 918 points and 271 assists.

“The dream is what drove me,” Dodd said.

Dodd was drafted in the eighth round by the San Diego Clippers.

What Dodd lacked in physical ability coming out of high school, he made up with desire and tenacity. He believed those same qualities might earn him a position in the NBA.

But those years of dreaming came to an end when his name was posted on a wall along with the other players cut after three days.

“I always dreamed it would be a knock-down, drag-out fight to earn a spot on an NBA team,” Dodd said. “But it was just free play for a couple days. From that point I went into volleyball and never looked back.”

Dodd thought briefly of playing semipro basketball in Alaska, but decided to stay at SDSU and play a year of volleyball as he had one year of eligibility remaining.

Dodd joined the national team after his stay at SDSU, but left in 1982 to play professionally in Italy.

“At that time, you had to rely on family to make ends meet,” he said. “I was tired of being in debt to my parents, so when I had a chance to go to Italy I took it.”

After four years playing indoors in Italy, Dodd decided to play in the expanding pro beach circuit in the United States.

“The pro tour expanded to such a great extent that I was almost losing money by going to Italy,” he said.

Dodd has taken advantage of the growth of pro beach volleyball and has started a line of volleyball clothing. He is also involved in real estate development.

This will be the most successful season in Dodd’s volleyball career. Dodd and Hovland have teamed to win six tournaments and have knocked Randy Stoklos and Singin Smith from the No. 1 ranking they’ve held for nearly three years. Stoklos and Smith have since regained their top ranking.

“This summer has been a landmark for pro volleyball,” Dodd said. “Who in the world would have ever thought we would have six players making over $100,000.

“I certainly didn’t when I was choosing between basketball and volleyball after high school. Volleyball seemed like a fun thing to do in the summer, but I never thought there was a future in volleyball.”

Notes:

Pat Powers of San Diego and partner Jon Stevenson will be trying to win the third and final leg of Cuervo’s triple crown. Powers and Stevenson are ranked third in the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals, but they have won the first two Cuervo Gold Crown tournaments--in Clearwater, Fla., in May and Boulder, Colo., in June. Each tournament was worth $50,000 to the winning team. . . . Saturday’s event will be televised on a taped-delay basis by Prime Ticket Cable on Sept. 22 at 7:30 p.m