Great gathering as Santa Monica Beach Volleyball Hall inducts Menges, Lee, Saenz, Conrad

By Andy J. Gordon for VolleyballMag.com

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — A unique past-meets-present beach volleyball moment occurred earlier this month on the south side of the famous Santa Monica Pier.

Several lower-ranked AVP players, current NCAA stars and other beach volleyball athletes with professional aspirations were playing in a California Beach Volleyball Association Open tournament. They were vying for wild card entries to next month’s AVP Hermosa Open Pro Series.

And right next door were some of the legends of the sport. They were there to celebrate, reminisce, play an exhibition match, and honor new inductees to the Santa Monica Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame: Jim Menges, the late Greg Lee, Manny Saenz and Edie Conrad.

The list of attendees was a historic Who’s Who of Santa Monica beach volleyball. In addition to Menges, there were Liane Sato, Eileen Clancy McClintock, Nancy E. Cohen Fredgant, Kathy Gregory, Sinjin Smith, Randy Stoklos, Keith Erickson, Dane Selznick, Ernie Suwara, Dennis Cline, Sam Laganà, Butch May, Tom Chamales, Bill Hansard, and Bob Vogelsang. Jon Lee was there on behalf of his brother, Greg. Edie Conrad was represented by her son, Bob Conrad. Manny Saenz was represented by his son, David.

Menges, 71, talked about the special day and what beach volleyball meant to him.

“It was something that I loved to do. I grew up here on the beaches of Santa Monica,” Menges said. “Being here today and seeing old friends brings back the nostalgia of the 70s.”

He also talked about Greg Lee, who died last September.

“We were best friends and we had extremely good ball control. Once we learned how to win, we had a lot of confidence and nobody could beat us.”

All-time great Smith founded the Santa Monica Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2016 to honor not just great players, but people from the Santa Monica area that have had a major impact on the sport.

Several amazing photographs and posters of the legends in action along with four plaques honoring the day’s inductees were on display under a tent. Smith said he is still working on getting a permanent home for the Hall of Fame, hoping it will be on the famous pier, and he’s developing a website.

About the inductees:

Manny Saenz (October 10, 1914-May 25, 2000) dominated the beach game in the 1940s and ’50s, playing primarily with Bernie Holtzman. He was selected for the USA “All-Time Great Player” award in 1976. Manny was recognized by USA Volleyball both as an All-Era Outdoor Player and an All-Era Indoor player. He was also the one who established the beach volleyball five-point side-change rule.

Edie Conrad (April 16, 1922-September 17, 1976) grew up in Venice, attended Venice High, Santa Monica City College and UCLA. In the 1940s she came to Will Rogers State Beach where she made a name for herself. In the 1950s and ’60s she moved down the beach to the Sorrento courts for better competition and dominated the sport in women’s doubles, mostly with her partner Patty Steer. Conrad was also considered the best in mixed doubles. Conrad and her mixed doubles partner. Michael O’Hara. were the top team at the time. She also won mixed tournaments playing with her son. Bob.

Greg Lee (December 12, 1951-September 21, 2022) was a basketball star at UCLA, where he was the starting guard on two NCAA championship teams (1972, 1973) that included a record 88-game winning streak. Lee brought that competitive greatness to the Santa Monica beaches. He and beach partner Menges dominated the sport in the 1970s. They won 13 tournaments in a row, two Manhattan Opens and won 25 of the 30 tournaments they entered as a team. Lee played professional basketball in the NBA and Europe, which interrupted his beach volleyball career. After his athletic career ended, he taught math and coached both basketball and tennis for decades in San Diego’s Clairemont High (read Tom Feuer’s tribute to Greg Lee here).

Jim Menges was an indoor volleyball champion at UCLA (1972, 1974). He began to dominate on the beach in the 1970s, mostly with Lee. They won their first big money event  at the 1976 World Championships, splitting a purse of $5,000. Menges won 48 beach opens, two Beach Volleyball World Championships and five Manhattan Beach Opens playing with a variety of partners, including  Lee, Ron Von Hagen, Tom Chamales, Matt Gage, Smith and Stoklos. 

When asked about Menges and Lee, Smith told us, “I was young, in high school when they were in their heyday. The were the ‘it’ team. Everyone came down to watch them because they were so good. As a kid you looked up to these guys. They were our heroes. After high school I started playing at the beach. I got very good and I started playing against Jimmy and Greg. It was amazing to me that I was able to compete with these guys.

“They were the team that didn’t make any mistakes. On defense they were both really, really good. Greg was a taller guy, kind of gangly, but he was a really good defensive player. That’s when there was no blocking (players were not allowed to reach over the net into the other teams’ space). These guys would get under the hard-hit balls and dig the balls. It was absolutely amazing. They read the hitters, saw where it was gonna go and basically sacrificed their bodies to get a touch on the ball. That part of the game you just don’t see anymore.”

May and Stoklos spoke before the presentations about Menges and Lee. May said, “They were two people you didn’t want to meet. They were grinders. They knew each other so well. They rarely made mistakes.”

Stoklos: “I have huge feelings for Jimmy. He was the best player in the 70s bar none. He made Greg a better player. Their ball control was so fine. There were times when I played against that team and you could not put the ball away by hitting the ball.”

Before stepping on the court for the exhibition game,  Sato, the two time USA Olympian and former beach pro, talked about Menges and Lee as well.

“When I was a youngster in high school, I used to watch them play at Sorrento Beach,” Sato said. “I remember that they were super tough. I loved watching them play.”

While most of the fans and competitors at the CBVA event focused on their matches, a few came over to check out the action during the legends game. The level of play during the exhibition may not have compared favorably with the intense competition on the adjacent courts, but the quality dialog, good-natured trash talking and spirited effort made up for it. 

After several minutes of play by the legends, they all hugged and shook hands. Several posed for photos with fans and eventually everyone made their way up to the pier. Smith turned over the microphone to Sam Laganà, the current voice of the Los Angeles Rams and former announcer on the pro beach volleyball circuit. Laganà read the plaques that were awarded to each inductee and introduced their family members and friends, who spoke a bit about each recipient.

David Saenz: “It’s nice for a guy that was there for the beginning to finally get recognized and he would love to see the way the game is played now.”

Bob Conrad accepted the plaque for his mother. Kathy Gregory spoke about her.

“Edie was so humble and so gracious. Everyone that she played against she thanked them and told them they played great,” Gregory said. “She gave 100 percent on the court, dove on the sand and she’d come up and still looked perfect.”   

During the induction ceremony, Menges got emotional when he told the crowd: “The one thing I want to think of right now is my best friend, Greg Lee.”

After a brief pause, Menges continued: “Greg and I started playing together down at Sorrento Beach in 1969 in the summer. I saw all these guys playing volleyball and all these really good looking girls and it attracted me. We would go to the beach every day, 8:30 in the morning. We would play seven, eight, nine games, go in the water, and then we’d sit up by the ivy and drink beers.

“That’s all I wanted to do. That lifestyle is why I played beach volleyball. Beach volleyball was a passion for me. That’s what I loved to do. It brought out the best in me. I’m so glad I got introduced to beach volleyball when I was a kid. It changed my life.”  

John Lee, a former writer for Volleyball magazine and AAA beach player who was inducted to the CBVA Hall of Fame last year as a contributor to the sport, got a big laugh when he spoke for the Lee family about his brother and Menges.

“It was noted that Jim and Greg won $5,000 in that first big pro tournament. Well, Jim still has $2,000 of that $2,500 in his pocket right now. That’s a victory that endured through time. Greg passed away recently. This was where he enjoyed his best hours, here on the sands of Santa Monica. I sure wish Greg was here, but this is where his heart resides.”

The event was part of the City of Santa Monica’s annual Pier 360 event, celebrating beach activities including volleyball, paddleboard, lifeguard, skateboard, and other competitions. Ninja warrior, roller skating and skateboarding demos, along with live music and food vendors also packed the pier.