Three former USA greats — all of whom won Olympic medals in 2008 — are part of the nine-member International Volleyball Hall of Fame 2021 class that will be inducted October 15-16:
— Four-time USA indoor volleyball Olympian Logan Tom, the former Stanford star considered by many to be the best American woman volleyball player ever;
— Two-time Olympian and 2008 Olympic beach gold-medalist Todd Rogers, now the beach coach at Cal Poly;
— Three-time USA men’s indoors Olympian Clay Stanley, the most valuable player of the 2008 Beijing Games when the Americans won gold.
The class includes three Brazilians. The official IVHF news release:
The 35th Induction class includes nine honorees: four-time Olympian and two-time gold medal winner Giovane Gavio (Brazil); four-time Olympian, two-time gold and two-time silver medal winner Sergio Dutra Santos (Brazil); two-time Olympic gold medal winner Taismary Aguero(Cuba/Italy); six-time Olympian winning one gold, a silver, and two bronze medals Sergey Tetyukhin (Russia); three-time Olympian and gold medal winner Clay Stanley (USA); four-time Olympian and two-time silver medal winner Logan Tom (USA); three-time Olympian with one gold, one silver, and one bronze medal Ricardo Santos (Brazil); three-time Olympian and gold medal winner Todd Rogers (USA); and former President of the European Confederation and Second Executive Vice President of the FIVB Andre Meyer (Luxembourg) inducted as a leader.
Tom, a four-time AVCA All-American at Stanford and the 1999 Volleyball magazine national player of the year, played with various pro teams in her career and is currently coaching the Israeli national team.
Rogers played collegiately at UC Santa Barbara. He was an alternate in the 2004 Olympics with Sean Scott, won gold in 2008 with Phil Dalhausser, and teamed with Dalhausser again in 2012.
Stanley came from a volleyball family and his father, Jon, played on the 1968 USA Olympic team. Stanley played at Hawai’i and professionally in Europe. The 2008 USA team won the gold medal and Stanley was not only the MVP, but also named best scorer and best server.
There was no International Volleyball Hall induction in 2020, so this class is larger than normal. After the 2021 class is inducted, the hall, located in Holyoke, Massachusetts, will have 155 members from 25 countries.
“This class has been two years in the making and we are excited to be back again celebrating the careers and legacies of these nine incredible Inductees,” IVHF executive director George Mulry said.
“This is going to be a truly remarkable induction celebration in October and I hope volleyball fans from all over will make the trip to Holyoke or tune-in to the live broadcast. It’s going to be a very special event.”
Click here for a video and more information on the IVHF website.
