Golden Oldies : Legends Tournament Returns With New Format

Chris Marlowe believes he has found the perfect format for his annual Legends beach volleyball tournament.

Marlowe, a former Olympian and pro beach volleyball standout, created the Legends tournament in 1987, but its format has changed through the years.

It began as a two-man event in Redondo Beach for retired players at least 34 years old. The tournament retained a two-man format in 1988 and 1989, but the event was canceled in 1990 because Marlowe could not find a sponsor.

In 1991 the tournament moved to Manhattan Beach with a four-man format featuring eight teams. This year, with Reebok as the sponsor, Marlowe has invited top-notch coaches and athletes to compete against the Legends in the six-player format used in the indoor game. Each player and coach will earn a $500 appearance fee.

Saturday’s tournament has been moved to Seaside Lagoon in the Redondo Beach Harbor. Three six-man Legends teams will compete against members of the 1992 U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic teams and a group of collegiate standouts.

Marlowe says the format change was necessary because he did not want the Legends event to compete against the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour.

“We had to come up with something different to get into a new area,” Marlowe said. “Two-man is dominated by the AVP and they do a great job. I felt we had to change in order to get more people interested in the product.”

The Legends teams are divided into red, white and blue squads. The blue team is the strongest and it will play the men’s Olympic team, which won a bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics. That match is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.

Doug Partie, Dan Greenbaum, Eric Sato, Carols Briceno, Nick Becker, Javier Gaspar, Trevor Schirman, Uvaldo Acosta and Dan Hanan will represent the Olympic team.

The blue team includes 1984 and ’88 Olympic gold medalist Craig Buck, 1984 gold medalist Dusty Dvorak, 1980 pro beach world champion Andy Fishburn, five-time king of the beach Jim Menges and 1980 pro beach world champion Dane Selznick.

The blue team will be coached by Pepperdine’s Marv Dunphy, who has led the Waves to three NCAA titles and the U.S. men to a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

The 10:30 a.m. match features the red team against a group of college all-stars that includes Duncan Blackman (Stanford), Matt Lyles (Cal State Long Beach), Alan Knipe (Cal State Long Beach) and Eric Fonoimoana (UC Santa Barbara). Cal State Long Beach’s Ray Ratelle will coach the all-stars.

The red team members include 1978 pro beach world champion Gary Hooper, 1973 Manhattan Beach Open winner Bob Jackson, 1964 Olympian Ernie Suwara, 1973 Manhattan Beach Open winner Fred Zuelich and former UCLA All-American Mike Normand, a former men’s and women’s volleyball coach at Loyola Marymount. The coach of the red team is UCLA’s Al Scates, who has led the Bruin men to 13 NCAA titles.

“It’s nice to come back and be out in the limelight a little bit,” said Zuelich, 44, a broker in Manhattan Beach. “It’s great to compete and go back to where you started. It’s really a great opportunity for me.”

Zuelich has played in every Legends tournament. He lives in Redondo Beach and works out regularly.

“I spend a lot of time conditioning and keeping myself physically fit,” Zuelich said. “If I had my choice I’d like to play two-man. . . With six-man, we’ll have a lot better rallies and a lot better game situations. We’re playing the college all-stars, so we’ll have our hands full.”

At 1 p.m., the white team will play the women’s Olympic team, which won a bronze medal at Barcelona. Members include Liane Sato, Janet Cobbs, Samantha Shaver, Megan McCallister, Kristin Klein and Tammy Liley.

The white team includes Ron Von Hagen, 53, winner of 62 pro beach volleyball tournaments, 1968 Olympian Jack Henn, 1964 Olympian Mike O’Hara and 1973 San Diego Open winner Mike Carey. The team will be coached by volleyball hall of famer Ron Lang, winner of 40 pro beach tournaments and a member of the 1964 Olympic team.

“We’re hoping to expand this,” Marlowe said. “We want to invite the Russians, the Canadians and the Brazilians. This could be international.”

Marlowe believes the tournament’s most interesting match will be the U.S. women against the white squad. The women have two advantages: they will pick the net’s height and they do not have to rotate as is the rule in indoor volleyball.

“It seems to me the men should win, but I practiced with them the other day and they don’t look so good,” Marlowe said. “I think the men will win the first game and the women will outlast them, especially if it’s hot.”