Greg Lee helped to totally re-write the narrative of beach volleyball.
When Lee embraced the game, it was no longer the well-kept Southern California secret. He was the point guard on two UCLA NCAA-championship basketball teams under John Wooden. But, as his best friend, Bill Walton said, he was more than just a point guard. When Jamaal Wilkes., whom Wooden regularly described as the perfect player, was asked what it was like to play with such an incredible passer and playmaker like Magic Johnson on the Lakers, Wilkes simply said, “Hey, I played with Greg Lee.”
So, when Lee started playing beach volleyball at Sorrento Beach in Santa Monica, in 1970, and within a year competed in Opens, it got the media’s attention. But the real breakthrough was when Lee won a record 13 consecutive tournaments playing with another Bruin, Jim Menges.
The run began June 15, 1975, at Sorrento when they beat Ron Von Hagen and Fred Zuelich in the final. It ended 78 matches later on August 15, 1976, when they lost twice in one of the most bizarre Manhattan Opens of all-time, where they finished fourth.
Menges and Lee recovered from that setback about a month later to win the first ever World Championships of Beach Volleyball at Santa Monica’s State Beach.
Menges and Lee became the first rock stars of the sport. They transcended. It wasn’t only the beach volleyball people who knew them, but with the help of the Los Angeles Times and some local over-the-air television stations, the sport got the publicity it needed and took off like a rocket ship beyond the Southern California shores.
All of the world’s current top players owe a debt of gratitude to Greg and Jim.
Lee died this past Wednesday afters years of battling health issues. He was 70.
What deep and abiding respect the legends of the game have for Lee. The day after he passed away, I reached out to his brother Jon, a superb player in his own right, and the bard of that generation with his own incomparable writing skills, as well as Walton, Jim Menges, Sinjin Smith, Chris Marlowe, and Steve Obradovich. Literally within minutes, everyone responded generously with their time and stories.
Karch Kiraly, in the final stages of preparing his USA women’s national team for its first match at the World Championships, responded from Arnhem, Netherlands at 2 in the morning.
That was the gravitas Greg Lee had in the sport.
Greg Lee was born…
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