Heart Was Green’s Biggest Asset

She was called a pixie by a national magazine, scrawny by her college coach and considered too small to make it big.

But the introspective dark-haired girl from Westminster had a heart that wouldn’t quit and unmatched determination.

The induction of two-time Olympic volleyball player Debbie Green into the Orange County Hall of Fame during ceremonies Thursday at the Anaheim Marriott, is as much a tribute to the 5-foot-4 setter’s legacy of intensity, hard work and fortitude as it is to her long line of accomplishments.

“The size of your heart and desire can make up for a lot of inches,” Green said.

To this day, Green, 39, remains shy, reserved and thoughtful, She lives in Seal Beach with her husband, former Olympic water polo player Joe Vargas and their two daughters. She still doesn’t relish speaking about herself or her personal life, but her volleyball accolades speak volumes about her.

At 16, she was the youngest junior girls’ volleyball player to be named a U.S. Volleyball Assn. All-American. She repeated that honor four years in a row at USC and, as an assistant coach, has helped the Long Beach State women’s team win NCAA titles in 1989 and ’91.

She has been inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame and the USVA Hall of Fame.

But Green’s most notable accomplishment, she said--and equally her most bitter memory--was winning the silver medal as setter on the U.S. team at the 1984 Olympics. The U.S. team, favored to win the gold, stumbled in the final against China, a team it had defeated twice previously.

“It was a big disappointment,” Green said. “I wish now, 13 years later, that I had celebrated more up on the podium. But I didn’t feel like celebrating. Now, I guess, I am more proud of that silver medal, but I still. . . . “ Green’s quiet voice trailed off.

“I remember walking around the Olympic village right after we got our silver medals,” she continued. “Another athlete from a different sport came up to me and said, ‘I got a silver medal!’ He was so proud of it. Then he asked me how we did, and I said, ‘Oh, we got a silver.’ It felt like we let so many people down.”

Born in Korea to an American father and a Korean mother, Green came to the United States at age 9 and took up recreational volleyball five years later while attending Westminster High.

At first, Green said, she was wasn’t so sure she liked the sport. For one thing, she got stepped on a lot because she was smaller and younger than most of the players.

“I was so shy,” she said. “I had to learn how to play on the court and I was playing with older girls.”

But her father, Don, urged--even pushed--his daughter on. He arranged for her to try out in front of Chuck Erbe, then coach of the Orange County Volleyball Club. Erbe later helped recruit players for the U.S. Olympic team, which he coached as an assistant.

As the story goes, Erbe didn’t think much of Green, whom he viewed as scrawny, unsteady and too short to have much of a future in the sport.

“Even back then they were looking for a 6-foot setter,” she said.

Erbe didn’t believe in light-hearted practices and Green said she sometimes wondered how she hung on.

“My dad was really into volleyball and he told me he didn’t know how far I could go in it,” she said. “But he told me I should try to be the best I can be.”

As her coordination improved, Green found herself setting two seasons for Erbe’s junior team, which sometimes played at the Golden West gym. She helped the team sweep the U.S. Volleyball Assn. National tournaments in 1975 and ’76. She followed Erbe to USC, where she was named an All-American four times and led the Trojans to AIAW titles in 1976 and ’77.

In 1977 she was named the nation’s best female college volleyball player. Green had become a fiery competitor.

“On the court I had to speak out,” Green said. “That was what [a setter’s] role is supposed to be. I was the shortest player out there, so I had to make up for it in different ways. Part of that was being verbal.”

While preparing to play in the Los Angeles Olympics, Green met Long Beach State women’s volleyball Coach Brian Gimmillaro who was doubling as the Olympic business manager. Gimmillaro was impressed with Green’s hard work ethic, but he remembers reading a Sports Illustrated story that characterized her as a pixie--too small to make an impact.

“She was, at 5-foot-4, the smallest international player of her time and she was not a great athlete physically,” Gimmillaro said. “Yet, to be able to set for the best team in the world the way she did just proves that she was a great competitor.”

When Long Beach State won its first NCAA title, Green got a lot of the credit for the play of setter Sheri Sanders, a first-team All-American. Others she has coached include first-team All-American Sabrina Hernandez (1991 and ‘92) and second-team All-American Joy McKienzie (‘93).

Her latest project is former Newport Harbor standout Misty May, who was voted the 1997 national player of the year by the American Volleyball Coaches Assn.

May, an outside hitter, didn’t come to Long Beach to be a setter, she said.

“I was going to do some hitting my first year and maybe work into some setting,” May said. “But Debbie was so persistent.”

May is now considered a strong candidate to set for the U.S. in Sydney in 2000.

“I definitely think she’s made a career for me in volleyball now,” May said. “I don’t know how far I would have gone as an outside hitter. I’m only 5-8 1/2. Debbie is the best setting coach and she had a lot to do with my success.”

Green thinks that playing has helped her get her point across better to other setters.

“I think my communication with my setters is important,” Green said. “I know what they are going through because I’ve been there throughout my career.”

Green remains quiet and reserved, measuring answers to questions slowly.

“Debbie takes her time,” Gimmillaro said. “She thinks over questions and doesn’t want to mis-answer.”

As she preferred to do in her long and successful career, Green lets her actions do the talking for her.

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Hall of Fame

* What: Orange County Sports Hall of Fame’s 16th induction banquet

* When: Thursday

* Where: Anaheim Marriott Hotel

* Class of ’98 inductees: Bob Boone, Bob Boyd, Steve DeBerg, Debbie Green, Johnnie Johnson, Dan Quisenberry and Leon Wood. Receiving special awards: Paul Salata, Ken Purcell, Bill Cunerty, Jim Gattis and the late Duncan Clark.

* Tickets: $100

* Information: Marianne DeRose, (714) 758-9882