At Open, Prestige Is Bottom Line : Volleyball: Although payoff may not rival other tournaments, players consider Manhattan Beach event to be in a class by itself.

For many players on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour, no tournament can compare to the $100,000 Manhattan Beach Open, which begins today.

The Open, the oldest and most prestigious pro beach event, was first held in 1960, 23 years before the AVP was formed.

“It’s the biggest tournament of them all,” said announcer Chris Marlowe, who won the 1976 and 1977 Opens. “There’s a certain mystique about Manhattan. I think to win Manhattan is like winning the biggest major as far as I’m concerned.”

Mike O’Hara and Mike Bright teamed to win the first five Opens. They played for trophies because prize money was not offered until 1976. The winners of this year’s Open will split $20,000.

“We didn’t get a dime, but we got the best trophies,” said O’Hara, 59, the executive director of a sports production and consulting firm. “We brought our lunch and pop and sometimes we’d turn the lights on our cars in order to finish night matches that went till 11 sometimes.”

O’Hara, a 1964 Olympian, won 37 tournaments but says Manhattan Beach was his favorite. He still attends the event.

“State Beach was always challenging and so was Solano Beach,” O’Hara said. “San Diego always had the best parties. But the culmination was always at Manhattan. The team that won that felt like the guys that go to Rio de Janeiro now, like they’re international champs.

“We had huge turnouts, people stocked on the pier. The turnouts haven’t changed. . . . People have been living and breathing volleyball down there for years.”

O’Hara believes the Open may have lost some luster with today’s players because events are considered prestigious according to their prize money; the tournaments that pay the most, such as the $750,000 World Championships, carry more weight, according to O’Hara.

But some past and present players disagree. Mike Dodd, who has won five Opens with partner Tim Hovland, says it was unique even when he competed for a trophy and beach chair. Hovland-Dodd are seeded fourth this weekend.

“I played in my first one when I was 12,” said Dodd, 34, a Manhattan Beach native. “Even in the early days of beach volleyball, Manhattan Beach was the first venue that set itself up for big crowds . . . It always had huge crowds, crowds that were bigger by far than any other event. It created an Open that was kind of bigger than life.”

Dodd said although volleyball has grown to the point where each event is televised and attended by large crowds, there is something different about the Open.

“It’s a tradition,” he said. “The fact that all of us--when we were growing up--wanted our name to be alongside the Manhattan Open winners. You hadn’t really made it in beach volleyball until you won the Manhattan Beach Open.”

AVP President Jon Stevenson, a top 10 player throughout the 1980s, grew up watching the Open.

“It was the first tournament I ever saw,” Stevenson said. “It was my first opportunity to see great guys of the past that became my role models. It was the biggest tournament back in those days, during the pre-commercial days.”

Marlowe, 39, says winning at Manhattan Beach was the highlight of his career, although he earned only a pair of sweats for each of his two victories. Today, Marlowe works for the Prime Ticket network, which telecasts AVP tournaments.

“It doesn’t matter if there’s $15,000 or $100,000, more players would rather win (the Open) than any other tournament,” Marlowe said. “You’re talking history.

“When I won the first time I was just on cloud 10. That was a gigantic tournament on the tour. The biggie. The earthquake. It was an 8.5 and all the other guys were 4.5. You won Manhattan and you were considered the best.”

Jim Menges, winner of five Opens, says fans in the South Bay have always been more knowledgeable than at other sites. Menges won titles at Manhattan Beach in 1975 and 1978 with Greg Lee, 1977 with Marlowe, 1979 with Sinjin Smith and 1981 with Randy Stoklos.

Menges, who serves as an AVP tournament director, earned $500 for his 1976 victory and $2,100 in 1981. He received a pair of sweats and a trophy for the other three titles.

“The money didn’t make any difference,” Menges said. “You just wanted to win it because it had the most history. All the good players played in it. There used to be only 10 or 11 tournaments a year and not everyone played in all of them. But all played in the Manhattan Beach Open. You won the Manhattan Beach Open and you were good.”

Karch Kiraly, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has won four Open titles, including last year’s with partner Kent Steffes.

Kiraly-Steffes, the top-seeded team at this year’s Open, have won the past seven AVP tournaments and eight 15 this year. Kiraly, 32, won his first Open with Sinjin Smith in 1980. In 1988 he won the title with Ricci Luyties and in 1990 with Brent Frohoff.

“It’s one of the most prestigious events and it really doesn’t have anything to do with prize money,” Kiraly said. “We had one of the biggest crowds of the year last year and the pier was under construction. This year it could be nutty with the holiday. It’s not good for players’ families, but for players it’s incredible.

“The fans are not only more knowledgeable, but more vocal and I like it that way. I think it’s great when the energy level of a crowd is higher.”

Play begins in the 64-team double-elimination tournament this morning at 9 on the courts adjacent to the pier. Saturday’s matches also start at 9 a.m. and the final is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday.

The team of Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos is seeded second and Adam Johnson and Luyties are seeded third. Manhattan Beach residents Mike Whitmarsh and Frohoff, a former Loyola Marymount standout, are seeded fifth.