Coping With Growing Pains : Samuelson Returns to CSUN With Rebuilding U. S. Volleyball Team

Tonight’s inaugural Volley in the Valley has an international flavor, but the 7:30 match between Japan and the United States also has a familiar feel, thanks to Bob Samuelson.

The 6-foot-5 outside hitter starred at Pierce College and Cal State Northridge, which is host of the match at Matador Gymnasium.

“It’ll be great going back there and playing as a member of the U. S. team,” Samuelson said. “It’s about time we played in the Valley.”

Even without the band of friends expected to cheer him on tonight, Samuelson is popular because of his bald head.

His hair began falling out in 1984. Since then, it has grown back twice, although small patches eventually fell out, prompting Samuelson to shave the rest.

“I’m considering letting it grow back, but I’m not sure,” Samuelson said. “It has been kinda like a trademark for me.”

Sports Illustrated served up the copyright in July, 1989 with a color photo of Samuelson next to redhead Steve Timmons.

With 1988 Olympic gold medalists Timmons and Karch Kiraly, among others, gone to the lucrative Italian pro league, it is up to Samuelson and other new members of the U. S. team to establish themselves.

Unfortunately, they failed to do so in last month’s world championships in Brazil.

“We were real disappointed,” Samuelson said of the team’s 13th-place finish. “We maybe should have beaten Canada and Holland and Argentina.”

The fact that the United States finished 13th in the 1982 world championships and won an Olympic gold medal two years later is not necessarily reassuring.

“I don’t think it is the end of the world, though,” Samuelson said. “We have to keep our hopes up and stay focused. Our ultimate goal is (the Olympics in) Barcelona in 1992.”

Although Samuelson was used as a reserve in the world championships, his playing time increased substantially over a limited stint in the Goodwill Games last July.

During this four-match tour with Japan, he will see some time as a starter.

It is a far cry from his status just six years ago--he was a basketball player.

As his interest and abilities in volleyball grew, Samuelson readjusted his goals.

“In basketball you aspire to play in the NBA, in football the NFL, and in volleyball the international level, and this team, Team USA,” Samuelson said. “Now if I could just go all the way and get the gold medal it will be so much sweeter.”

It is a transitional time for Samuelson and the U. S. team, however. When Samuelson earned a berth on the team after the 1989 season at CSUN, Bill Neville was coach.

But Neville resigned Sept. 12, leaving Samuelson and the others to prove themselves to Fred Sturm, the Stanford coach who will take over the program next spring. In the interim, Jim Coleman is running the team.

When Neville resigned he cited a lack of financial support and leadership from the sport’s governing body, the U. S. Volleyball Assn.

“By resigning he made people aware of problems in the organization,” Samuelson said. “He sacrificed his dream of going to the Olympics in 1992 and winning a gold medal, ultimately for us.”

Still, Samuelson believes it was a good move.

“We were starting to get into a rut,” he said. “And we were starting to focus on the wrong things.”

The match tonight also is a homecoming for former Calabasas High and UC Santa Barbara hitter Dean Rasmussen.