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Pali High Basketball Alum Don Shaw Inducted into Southern California Indoor Volleyball Hall of Fame

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

In the arena of collegiate volleyball, Don Shaw is well-respected by his peers and one of the most successful coaches in the annals of the sport. He piloted the Stanford women’s program to eight finals and four national championships while compiling a 440-70 mark in 16 seasons (1986-99). He coached the Cardinal men from 2002-06, was an assistant for the men and women from 1980-83 and served as co-head coach of both programs in 1984 and 1985. His career winning percentage (.863) is still the best ever in NCAA women’s volleyball history. He was voted AVCA Division I Women’s National Coach of the Year in 1991, Volleyball Magazine Coach of the Year in 1997, AVCA Regional Coach of the Year in 1992, 1994 and 1997, made the AVCA Hall of Fame in 2008 and was inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011. Now Shaw can add another accolade to his resume. On August 1 he was announced as a 2022 Southern California Indoor Volleyball Hall of Fame inductee and will be honored May 5, 2024 with members of the 2022 and 2023 classes.

Perhaps the championship that means more than any other to Shaw, however, came way back in 1969 when he was still a 6-foot-4, 173-pound senior on the basketball team at Palisades High. Starting alongside Chris Marlowe, Kenny Baker, Doug King and Kris Jamtaas, Shaw helped the Dolphins win their first City Section title, averaging 10.9 points per game and earning All-Western League Second Team honors in the process. In that “dream season” Palisades won 18 of 19 games and crushed Reseda by 28 points in the finals at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion.   

Reflecting on that group in a Palisadian-Post interview in 2009 on the 40th anniversary of Palisades’ only upper division boys basketball crown, head coach Marvin remembered Shaw was nicknamed “Stubby” because he had, according to his coach, the smallest hands in the world.

“Don was a deadly corner shooter,” the then 79-year-old Marvin recalled. “You just couldn’t sag on him and he could single-handedly break down a zone defense. We weren’t particularly fast but we had chemistry. Everyone had grown up in Pacific Palisades and had known each other their whole lives, so teamwork was relatively easy to achieve with them.”

At a memorial service for Marvin in September 2017 at Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church, Shaw reflected on the impact his mentor had on his own life and coaching career, even though his would be in a different sport: “Jerry had a huge influence on my coaching philosophy. We were always ready for any situation. It didn’t matter what they threw at us.”

Shaw grew up on El Medio, where his parents had moved from Santa Monica in 1960. Growing up, he excelled in baseball and basketball. Boys volleyball did not become a sanctioned City sport until 1974—five years after Shaw graduated, but he was chosen by the Kansas City Royals in the 1969 Major League Baseball draft. He played basketball at Loyola Marymount (then Loyola University of Los Angeles) from 1971-73, appearing in 30 games over two seasons and averaging 11.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. In 1971-72 he led the West Coast Athletic Conference in free throw percentage (85.3). Shaw continued his basketball career in Europe and South America from 1973-74.

Shaw also made a name for himself in beach volleyball, playing 13  Parks and Recreation tournaments (seven in 1975,  six in 1978) with six different partners, placing third five times, including his hometown Will Rogers State Beach with Skip Allen in 1975 and at Redondo Beach  with Karch Kiraly in 1978. His highest finish was second with Steve Sims at Mammoth Lakes. He earned the highest beach rating possible (AAA) and competed in the World Beach Championships. He was a member of the U.S. National Team in 1979 and also earned All-America honors in leading Chuck’s Steak House to the USVBA open national championship in both 1977 and 1978. He was also a USVBA All-American in 1986, playing on the winning Billauer/Norfleet team in the senior division. He played professionally for the San Jose Diablos of the IVA in 1979 and 1980 and was one of the top-rated players in the country. He continued to compete on the sand past his prime years and even won the championship of the Motherlode Volleyball Classic in his age group several times.

Shaw received a bachelor’s degree in sociology with an athletic coaching minor from UC Santa Barbara in 1977. He and his wife Carolyn, who is also a coach, have two children, daughter Jordan and son James, both of whom went on to have successful volleyball careers of their own. Jordan played for the USA A2 junior national team that took the gold at the 2011 European Global Challenge and collegiately for St. Mary’s, where she was an honorable mention All-American. James helped the U.S.men’s national team to bronze in 2018 amd silver in 2019 at the FIVB Volleyball Nations League and was an AVCA First Team All-American at Stanford.

After beginning his coaching career as an assistant at UC Santa Barbara, Shaw arrived at Stanford in 1980 and was an assistant on both the men and women’s teams under Fred Sturm until 1983. He started his run of 27 years as a head coach in 1984 when he co-coached both programs with Sturm before being the solo head coach for the women’s team from 1986-99. Shaw took a leave of absence in 2000 and the following year he announced that he was leaving the women’s program to take over the men’s team for the second time—a position he would hold until retiring in 2006.

Seven Cardinal women earned National Player of the Year honors under Shaw’s watch, a list that includes Palisadian Kristin Klein (now Keefe). Among the notablemen’s players Shaw guided are Scott Fortune (captain of the 1992 USA Olympic team) and Jon Root (gold medal winner at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea).

Shaw was as an assistant coach for the gold medal-winning USA team at the 1982 National Sports Festival as well as the assistant for the U.S. women’s team at the 1991 Pan American Games in Cuba.

A teacher and ambassador of the game of volleyball, Shaw has directed countless clinics across the country. He co-founded Stanford’s men’s and women’s camps and has been Nike Volleyball Camp director.

He headed the Mountain View Volleyball Club, forming eight teams in two years, and coached his son’s squads to the silver medal at two Southern California tournaments.

Aside from his overall collegiate record of 523-154, Shaw’s legacy is about more than just winning. He has had a positive impact on so many young adults’ lives because he has never forgotten the role models that shaped his own destiny over five decades ago when he and his Dolphins teammates defied the odds  to deliver Palisades won of its most memorable championships.