The International Volleyball Hall of Fame inducts its 2022 class on Saturday. We are featuring all six inductees, starting with Samuele Papi. You can watch the ceremonies in Holyoke, Massachusetts, live at 7 p.m. Eastern. Get all the information at www.VolleyHall.org.
Sustained excellence.
Those two words can be used to describe the incredible volleyball career of Italian indoor men’s player Samuele Papi.
Like most Italian children, Papi grew up playing futbol. He had no idea what volleyball was until the age of 13. It was then he started playing on youth teams and realized that certain movements and actions were easier for him than for his peers. At age 17, Papi made his debut in the Serie A league and found that his ability to play volleyball at a high level was something that he should focus on as a God-given talent. From then on, determined not to waste the opportunity, Papi started working on his mind and body to dedicate himself to the sport. That dedication paid off in ways most cannot imagine.
Papi made his international debut in 1993, including playing in the World University Games against a USA team that featured setter Lloy Ball, who ultimately went on to become a four-time Olympian and 2015 IVHF Inductee. It was the first of many times that Papi and Ball would square off, and you could say that Papi made quite an impression on Ball.
“We played the Italian team in pool play,” said Ball. “They had a skinny little outside attacker that looked like the Karate Kid, Ralph Macchio. Well, this guy proceeded to pass perfect, jump serve aces and go for 30 points in a five-set Italian win. That was my first look at the great Samuele Papi.”
At a young age, Papi’s dedication shone through, as the Italians captured the World Championship and World League titles in 1994 and three gold medals at major events in 1995 to set them up for the 1996 Olympic Games. In Atlanta, the Italians ran into a talented Dutch squad, influenced by fellow 2022 International Volleyball Hall of Fame inductee Peter Murphy, and finished with the silver medal.
The team finished third at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and second at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, with several top finishes in major international events in between. And all along, Ball is woven into Papi’s story.
“Papi and I had many great battles, and to be honest, he usually got the best of me,” he said. “Just like in the 2004 Olympic…
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