Blanton Bringing Diversity to Volleyball

Perhaps there will be a day when an African American winning an AVP tournament wouldn’t be news. Unfortunately, that day has not yet arrived.

Dain Blanton, formerly of Laguna Beach High, placed second at Fort Myers, Fla., with partner Canyon Ceman in March and third at Indianapolis with Bill Bouilliane in May.

And as Blanton, the only African American on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour, edges closer to his first title, he is quietly underscoring the glaring lack of diversity among the kings of the beach.

“It’s not something I think about too much,” he said. “I’m aware of it, I just play the game like everybody else does, hopefully with more intensity [because] I want to win.”

Blanton does not shy away from being a role model.

“If and when I do win a tournament, and when I. . . am one of the top players on the tour, young African American kids who have not been exposed to the sport, maybe they will think, ‘Someone else is doing it, why can’t I?’ ”

Pioneers have to set their sights high, so it’s fitting that Blanton marks his progress against the tour’s giant, Karch Kiraly.

In March, playing in their first tournament together, Blanton and Ceman squandered a five-point lead against Kiraly and Kent Steffes in the final before losing, 15-13. A month later in San Diego, Blanton and Ceman defeated Kiraly and Steffes, 15-12, en route to a fourth-place finish.

“That was a very big thing in terms of confidence,” Blanton said. “[Kiraly and Steffes] didn’t play a bad match and we didn’t play our best match. If you can beat those guys, you can beat anybody on the tour.”

As he has done for many young players, 10-year veteran Kiraly was one of the pros who enticed Blanton to the beach.

“I grew up watching the tour come to Laguna,” Blanton said. “It looked so fun, the whole atmosphere of just being outside and being in the sand.”

As a senior at Laguna Beach High, Blanton led the Artists to the Southern Section Division 4-A quarterfinals, averaging 33 kills per match and was selected The Times Orange County player of the year. He also led the Artists’ basketball team to the section Division 2-A final and the CIF Regional Division IV semifinals as a senior.

Blanton was more highly recruited for volleyball than for basketball and he chose Pepperdine because of Coach Marv Dunphy, who led the United States to the Olympic gold medal in 1988.

“He is not the most emotional guy, but he means business, and I think that is a very strong quality to model yourself after,” Blanton said. “To get things done, you don’t really need to be flashy about it.”

In 1992, the Waves defeated Stanford in three games to win the NCAA title.

After his eligibility ran out in 1994, Blanton qualified for the 1994 San Francisco Open, where he and partner Lee LeGrande, a former Wave teammate, finished seventh--the highest finish ever for a team coming out of a qualifier.

This season, Blanton and Ceman, a three-time All-American setter at Stanford, played five tournaments together before Ceman injured his toe. Ceman will play with Blanton today and Friday in the Jose Cuervo Gold Crown tournament at Boulder, Colo.

If Blanton wins, it not only will be an historic event for African Americans, it will also be a nice reward for hard work.

“You’re on your own when you’re on the beach, there are no coaches, there is no set practice schedule, you have to make your own schedule, so you have to be disciplined,” Blantonsaid.

He sounds like a role model already.

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Dax Holdren of San Clemente is about to take a serious stab at making it on the AVP Tour. Winning the men’s open division of the Spalding Top-Flite 18 Gold Series Tour, with partner Todd Rogers of Santa Barbara last month at Huntington Beach provided a good boost.

The Huntington Beach event began the inaugural season of the amateur volleyball tour and it attracted about 148 two-man teams.

“It was a really good event. It was pretty much just like all the [AVP] qualifiers are going to be. So it was a good win for us,” Holdren said.

Holdren moved to San Clemente recently after graduating from UC Santa Barbara in 1994. He and Rogers, who is still finishing his degree at UCSB, met at Santa Barbara San Marcos High, where they led the Royals to the 1990 Southern Section semi-finals.

Holdren and Rogers won $2,500 and qualified for the $20,000 National Championships at Santa Barbara, Sept. 13-15.

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Surfers from Huntington Beach and San Clemente high schools will compete for the National Scholastic Surfing Assn.’s national championships at Lower Trestles starting June 24.

The event, which is one of four divisions including mini-groms (10 and under), junior high, college and women competition (all ages), will determine the national high school surfing champion. Last year, Huntington Beach won. Other competitions during the six-day contest will include longboards and bodyboards.

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For the computer dudes, two web sites will be available during the U.S. Open Championships at Huntington Beach that will allow immediate heat results during the competition. According to Bud Surf Tour Director Ian Cairns, users will be able to get up-to-the-minute results after each heat. Also in the works is immediate judging results as the heats are being surfed, which Cairns says he’s hoping will be available in time for the early August contest. The addresses are: https://www.usopensurfing.com and https://www.telepac.pt/surfasp/

On the Beach appears weekly during the summer. Witherspoon and Hamilton can be reached at 966-5904.