Samuelson, a Shining Example, Opts for Orient : Volleyball: Bald, brash and intense, the veteran player is taking his act to Japan after ‘philosophical differences’ help trigger decision to retire from the U.S. national squad.

Look out, Japan, Bob Samuelson is on his way. Samuelson, a veteran opposite hitter and middle blocker, will play for the Osaka club of the Japanese professional volleyball league next season after retiring from the U.S. national squad last week.

The intense Samuelson, famed for his baldness and boldness, won a bronze medal with the U.S. team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. But the former Pierce College and Cal State Northridge standout, who will turn 28 on July 30, said that various factors prompted him to quit the national team.

“The U.S. team is very demanding on your body,” said Samuelson, who underwent four operations in five years with the program, including arthroscopic surgery in February to remove torn cartilage from his left knee. “It was getting hard physically to play at that pace. . . . An opportunity to play in Japan developed. It’s a shorter season and more money, so it was kind of a no-brainer for me.”

Samuelson added that philosophical differences with the U.S. coaching staff also triggered his decision to leave the program.

“I guess some of my problems with the (U.S.) coaches were they were trying to tone down my act and turn me into a person I’m not,” Samuelson said. “I want to be me and play volleyball in my style. I felt kind of handcuffed because of my personality.”

However, U.S. Coach Fred Sturm said that all he wanted was for Samuelson to use his emotions constructively.

“I think there has been a misunderstanding in points I’ve made to Bob,” said Sturm, who has coached the team since 1991. “What I’ve asked and what he has heard are two different things. . . .

“The question I always asked (Samuelson) was, ‘Are you in control of your emotions or are your emotions in control of you?’ I think he heard me saying, ‘Don’t be emotional.’ But I didn’t want that either. It’s disappointing that he is leaving the team.”

Scott Fortune, a veteran outside hitter on the U.S. team, said he also will miss Samuelson. His spirited play helped make the team successful, Fortune said.

“What Bob brought to the team was that energy and presence that got the crowd rallying behind us,” Fortune said. “That’s what the U.S. team needed a lot of times.”

Samuelson can pump up a crowd like few other players. Easily recognized because of his 6-foot-5-inch frame and bald head caused by a rare condition which causes the hair on the body and scalp to fall off, Samuelson’s outlandish behavior on and off the court is legendary.

The Japanese, for instance, will remember Samuelson not only for his outburst against their team at the Barcelona Olympics, a display that eventually cost the United States the match, but for one of his most outrageous escapades--a dash through Tokyo streets in his underwear after losing a bet to a friend. He gave bystanders a good look at the tattoo on his right ankle of a skull and crossbones. The skull features a blue Mohawk haircut.

That time, however, Samuelson at least kept on some of his clothes. Other memorable stunts engineered with the cooperation of U.S. national team players included scaling a French volcano and a cliff-jumping excursion in Finland. Both were done in the buff.

It was all part of what Samuelson tabbed “Team Unity Through Nudity.”

But his well-chronicled antics during matches, during which his motor mouth often provoked referees and opponents alike, cost the Americans a victory over Japan in Barcelona.

With Japan leading in games, 2-1, and 14-13 in the fourth game, Samuelson received a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct for arguing a call with the referee. It was his second yellow card of the match, which under International Volleyball Federation rules calls for disqualification. The infraction also includes a one-point penalty, which would have given the match to Japan.

However, the referee invoked neither the disqualification nor the point penalty and the U.S. team ultimately won the game and the match.

Afterward, the Japanese appealed to the IVF and won a reversal. The United States went on to finish in third place behind Brazil and the Netherlands.

Ironically, one of the people who protested feverishly against Samuelson at Barcelona was Seiji Oko, the Japanese coach who now heads the Osaka club. Samuelson, however, doesn’t anticipate any problems.

“I’ve always liked him as a coach,” said Samuelson, who will leave his La Jolla home for Osaka in mid-November.

With a bag full of underwear, no doubt, in case he loses any more bets.