Misty May-Treanor: Volleyball

Future Hall of Famer

Photo: famezine.net

Website: http://www.mistymay.com/

Before she watched the flag being raised in her honor while being serenaded by the national anthem or even before her first Olympic medal was placed around her neck, Misty May-Treanor had to involve her mother in the celebration. It was the 2004 Athens Olympics, and May-Treanor had just clinched a spot on the podium by winning the beach volleyball semifinal match. Ecstatic to exceed her previous Olympics where she and teammate Holly McPeak finished fifth during the Sydney Games, May-Treanor was heartbroken not to be able to share the moment with her mother, Barbara May, who had died of cancer in 2002. Instead of having her mother there in person, she shared the moment with her in spirit by spreading some of her mom’s ashes on the sand on which she had just cemented Olympic history. She saved half of the ashes from her canister for what she hoped would later be a gold medal celebration.

The next day, May-Treanor’s dream came true as she stood atop the Olympic podium with new teammate Kerri Walsh. The stars and stripes were raised and the national anthem blared, but most important, May-Treanor’s mom was there in the only way she could be; with a tattoo in her honor on Misty’s shoulder, her ashes in the sand, and her memory in the hearts of her daughter and husband, Butch May.

May-Treanor fell into volleyball quite easily, as the Los Angeles native grew up playing beach volleyball at the Santa Monica Pier with her parents. A competitive edge ran through her veins. Her mom played tennis at UCLA and her dad was a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic volleyball indoor squad. Misty’s mother turned to beach volleyball to play with her husband and even enlisted Karch Kiraly, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in volleyball (indoor and outdoor), to baby-sit her daughter. Misty and her father entered her first tournament when Misty was just eight years old.

May-Treanor moved to Costa Mesa, California, for high school, where she dominated Orange County’s indoor volleyball from 1991 to 1995. At Newport Harbor High School, her team won two state championships and she was named to the Division I All California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) team and was honored as the Player of the Year. During her senior year, May-Treanor was named the nation’s best girls volleyball player by USA Today. These accolades easily earned the attention of nearby Long Beach State.

Brian Gimmillaro, the head coach of “The Beach,” as Long Beach State is affectionately known, said, “Misty is the Magic Johnson or Wayne Gretzky of volleyball. She does everything, and she does it with more creativity and imagination than anyone who came before her. She is the center and the future of this sport.”1 But before she became “the center and future” of volleyball, May-Treanor put Long Beach State on the map. In 1997 and 1998, the setter was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and Volleyball Magazine’s national player of the year. However, what was even more remarkable was May’s leadership in driving her 49ers to a perfect 36-0 season en route to the 1998 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship during her senior year. Long Beach State was the first Division I volleyball program to accomplish an undefeated season. That season, May-Treanor was also named the nation’s top female collegiate student-athlete when she won the 1998–99 Honda Broderick NCAA Athlete-of-the-Year Award. She became just the second volleyball player to ever garner that honor, following Dietre Collins at the University of Hawaii in1982–83.

Following the end of her last collegiate volleyball season, May-Treanor debuted on the professional outdoor circuit in a tournament with beach veteran Holly McPeak, while simultaneously wrapping up her senior year classes. After graduating with her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, May-Treanor joined the U.S. Women’s National Team. But the indoor game had taken a toll on May’s body and love for the game and her interest in the alternate challenge of beach volleyball could not be ignored.

On the beach, May-Treanor and McPeak enjoyed early success during the 1999–2000 season. Though they were a year behind in the Olympic qualifying process, the duo surpassed expectations and rankings, winning three Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) tournaments and finishing fifth or higher in the rest. These finishes qualified them for one of the two U.S. Olympic berths to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

These Games were the only Olympic competition her motherwas able to watch from the stands. Yet her mother had a huge hand in her future Olympic success. Barbara May met Kerri Walsh’s parents at the 2000 Olympics while they were cheering for Kerri Walsh during the indoor competition. The parents started talking and decided Kerri should join forces with Misty on the sand in future competitions. Luckily, both women agreed, and thus, the most unstoppable, dynamic, and dominant beach volleyball team was born.

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh joined the FIVB tour in 2001 and were the tour champions in 2002. In 2003, they joined the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) tour, where they enjoyed an undefeated 39-0 season and were named Team of the Year. Their domestic and international success had many people buzzing about a possible medal at the 2004 Olympics. To the applause of many, May-Treanor and Walsh earned the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games and were the first beach volleyball team to defend their Olympic title, taking home the gold again during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. And just as she had done in 2004, May-Treanor sprinkled more of her mom’s ashes on the sand during her competition to make sure her mom could be a part of the unprecedented Olympic celebration.

The gold medal victory in Beijing marked Walsh and May-Treanor’s record 108th consecutive match victory. They held the previous record of 89 consecutive matches before surpassing their own record. The new record stands at 112 straight wins, as the team lost for the first time on August 31, 2008. The dominant duo have been named AVP Team of the Year every season since joining the AVP tour in 2003. As of September 2008, May-Treanor had won more tournaments than any other female player with 103 total victories, had the highest career earnings for any women’s player domestically ($844,388) and internationally ($849,520), and held the most international career wins with 38. She was named the AVP’s Best Offensive Player in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 despite being a setter indoors. A true all-around force on the court, May-Treanor was also named Best Defensive Player of the Year in 2006 and 2007.

While her awards and accolades suggest eyes are often on her, May-Treanor prefers them not to be. She once said, “I don’t like to be the center of attention unless I’m on the dance floor.”2 Fittingly, she made her primetime television debut in the fall of 2008 on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars before an Achilles tendon injury caused her to leave the show.

The next goal for this “star” is to start a family with husband and Florida Marlins’ catcher, Matt Treanor. While having children may take precedence over volleyball for the next few years, it is unknown whether the 2012 London Games will find May-Treanor back indoors playing for the national team, out in the sand to challenge for a three-peat, or—much to Walsh’s dismay—in the stands watching with her child(ren). Either way, Coach Gimmillaro predicted it: Misty May-Treanor has secured the future of volleyball. Beach volleyball has become one of the fastest growing Olympic sports to be added to the international menu, in both participants and viewers. Such dominance and talent of Misty May-Treanor’s is hard to come by and even harder to ignore.

Misty and Husband