This Sport Offers Fun in the Sun and a Lot More

Usually I don’t go to the beach to look at guys.

Nevertheless, I was one of the 25,000 or more who spent Sunday afternoon sunning at Hermosa Beach, watching some of the hottest mister sandmen in the world competing in one of the hottest outdoor sports in the world, pro beach volleyball.

The occasion was the Miller Lite USA Championships, an event that has grown and grown to the point that the winning partnership of Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos stuffed $41,000 into their trunks. It was the best time any two people have had in the sand since Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr.

What we have here is a cult sport that is in the process of being discovered. And believe me, the popularity of beach-ball is extending far beyond our Southern California shores and all our suntan-oily volley boys and volley girls.

Two-on-two beach volleyball will be a demonstration sport at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, with a shot at being sanctioned as a medal sport for ’96. So, if you know any kids who can’t afford football or golf equipment, tell them there’s a lucrative activity where all they need to bring in the way of equipment is sun block.

Certain people might be slow catching up with this form of volleyball. Maybe they don’t even realize that beach volleyball has become a lot more than just an alternative to playing with a Frisbee.

Total prize money at Hermosa came to $200,000, richest in the history of the tournament. When the first world championships of beach volleyball were staged at Pacific Palisades in 1976, the entire purse amounted to a crummy $5,000.

So, who said there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues? Not me, babes and dudes. I had an excellent time Sunday, watching all the booms, clamps, facials and kongs at the net, not to mention a couple of beautiful dinks just when I thought the dude was about to deliver a heater.

(And I’ll bet you thought I didn’t know this stuff.)

About the only disappointment was that I went the whole day without once spotting Annette Funicello, who usually hangs out in these places. She must have been home making peanut-butter sandwiches.

At least Toni Ayabarreno of Long Beach was there, to present first prize to the winners. As major sporting events go, this could be the only one that also conducts a beauty contest.

NBC was there, too, to tape the matches for showing next Saturday. I’ll probably watch them again, because it was the most fun I’ve had since my daddy took my T-bird away.

There was an absolutely super semifinal match that pitted two Olympic gold medalists, Karch Kiraly and Steve Timmons, on opposite sides.

The sand was so hot that Kiraly and his partner, Brent Frohoff from Loyola Marymount, elected to wear socks. Not shoes, just socks. Meanwhile, Timmons and his partner, Adam Johnson from USC, were even hotter, taking a 12-8 lead and nearly pulling off a nice upset before Kiraly and Frohoff rallied.

What it got them was a shot in the finals at Smith and Stoklos, the UCLA alums who are more or less the Pam Shriver and Martina Navratilova of this pastime, a doubles pair that doesn’t often lose. Smith, 33, is the winningest player in the history of beach volleyball and Stoklos, 29, is the sport’s two-time MVP.

Smith also has a little John McEnroe in him.

Pointing a finger and striding out of his sandbox toward a section of spectators in his too-cool upturned visor, Smith demanded: “Have your friends quiet down over there!”

It turned part of the crowd against him, but what the heck, the sport needs all the personalities it can get.

Christopher St. John Smith definitely puts on a good show, as evidenced by his decision to go to a “skyball” serve on match point--sort of an eephus pitch that he lobs about 75 feet into the sky.

Sinjin got that final point, giving another title to the tag team from the Palisades, 15-11.

In certain corners of the world, South America and Europe in particular, some of these top-gun volleyballers are mobbed and fawned over like movie stars. They rate right up there with soccer players in popularity--and, better still, you almost never hear of anybody being killed during a volleyball-stadium riot.

Matter of fact, these volleyball guys really understand what a beach crowd likes.

When the match was over, Smith thanked everybody for coming and for having a good time.

Then Stoklos said: “OK, everybody go out now and have a beer!”

Hmmm. Maybe I’d better start covering more sporting events at the beach.

The only part I didn’t like was when the game got interrupted because a baseball got loose.