Their Legacy Spikes On

Local Legends Relive Glory at Palisades’ First-Ever Volleyball Alumni Fundraiser

Over the past five decades Palisades High has been synonymous with volleyball and when current coach Chris Forrest was considering ways to raise money for the boys’ program he looked to the past to build for the future. “When you think of the guys who have played here you’re talking about some of the best players of all time,” he said. “I thought it would be the chance of a lifetime for our team to play them. I honestly can’t take much credit, though. So many people helped make this a reality.” With the tireless help of team moms, who set about contacting former players, Forrest organized the school’s first “Alumni Volleyball Night” and ex-Dolphins showed up in droves to prove they can still pound the pill. Announcer Sam Lagana needed 22 minutes to read the accomplishments of the 30+ alumni who packed the campus gym Saturday night to take on the reigning City champion varsity squad and celebrate the accomplishments of Howard Enstedt, who coached Palisades to nine section titles in his 30 years on the bench. Asked to name his best players, he said: “Well, you’ll see them tonight.” When asked to pick his best team the legendary coach couldn’t say. “Each team was good in its own right,” said Enstedt, who guided the Dolphins to titles in 1974, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’82, ’86, ’88, ’91 and ’93 before retiring in 1994. “The game has changed so much since I started coaching. I’m not a big fan of rally scoring nor am I crazy about the ‘libero’ concept.” Enstedt attended Palisades’ City finals match last May and noted how different the game is now: “I don’t see the back row being played defensively the way it used to be. Also, receiving serve overhand has eliminated the skill of passing with two arms together below the waist. Of course, the jump serve is probably the biggest innovation.” The evening brought together generation upon generation of Palisades players, from Rich Wilken (Class of ’64), who was a member of the Dolphins’ very first team, to Scott Vegas, a freshman at UCLA who led the Dolphins to their 11th City title before graduating last spring. “When I got here, volleyball wasn’t a sanctioned sport yet but there was an Open championship,” Wilken recollected. “We won it from University and didn’t lose it for a long time.” Asked what position he played, Wilken joked: “I was a bench warmer.” NCAA rules prevented Vegas from playing on Saturday but he showed up nonetheless to gaze at the championship banners hanging on the wall, mingle with his predecessors and soak up some of the storied history he is a part of. “Being here brings back good memories,” said Vegas, who won the Palisadian-Post Cup Award as the school’s outstanding senior athlete in 2008. Put on the spot about which side he was rooting for, Vegas was diplomatic: “It’s a tough call but I have to root for my old teammates. I mean, we won a City championship together.” Perhaps the most celebrated player in school history is Randy Stoklos, who remembered barely making the Dolphins’ junior team his first year: “I’d only been playing for a short time and they kept me around because I could set in warm-ups. I practiced as hard as I could and started my last two years [1977 and 1978] when we beat Taft and Westchester in the finals.” While most of the alumni played in the era of side-out scoring, current rules applied for Saturday’s match and the varsity got all it could handle, rallying from a 9-4 deficit in the third game to prevail 26-24, 16-25, 15-13. “Believe it or not I felt very comfortable and they made us feel that way,” said Dolphins’ outside hitter Kene Izuchukwu, who wowed the crowd with his thunderous spikes and 40-inch vertical leap. “After that first team we figured it can’t get any better than that but we were wrong.” Three of the Dolphins’ five Olympic gold medalists–Steve Salmons, Dave Saunders and Kent Steffes–took the court for the alumni along with household names like Stoklos (a lifelong Palisadian inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame last year) and Wally Goodrick (captain and MVP of Palisades’ 1981 squad and winner of three NCAA titles at UCLA). Steffes, who lives up the road in Brentwood, recalled the day in his senior year when his 1986 squad–maybe the Dolphins’ most talented ever–beat Chatsworth to win the City title. “It was prom night and right after the match we had to shower, change into our tuxedos and hop on a bus to downtown L.A.,” he reminisced. “What I remember most about those days is the gym being full everyday. Howard [Enstedt] ran a great program.” Steffes, who was born in the Palisades and won Olympic gold with beach partner Karch Kiraly at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, said his strategy was simple: “If the body holds up we have a chance. That’s the key to any alumni game.” Though the match was all in fun, both sides were playing to win and Palisades resident Sinjin Smith, an all-time great himself, volunteered to referee the contest. Smith and Stoklos formed the winningest tandem in pro beach volleyball history. Since retiring they have coached summer camps at Will Rogers State Beach. The evening began with a reception at which yearbook pictures of every Palisades team were posted. DJ “Funky Fresh” (aka Warner Hiatt), a PaliHi freshman, played 1970s, ’80s and ’90s music as the alumni practiced. Kids and adults were invited to serve for prizes spread across the floor. Twelve-year-old Cory Nasch, whose brother plays on Palisades’ JV squad, was the first to win when his ball bounced smack dab on a t-shirt. Lagana took the microphone and provided colorful commentary from the scorer’s table with his fellow 1980 graduate Tom Feuer, who runs Fox Sports West Prime Ticket. “These young [varsity] bucks must be intimidated beyond belief,” Feur claimed, when not heckling Smith to call “lifts” against the varsity. “There’s the alumni showing that old-school campfire defense,” Lagana quipped after the “Legendary Lineup” of Stoklos, Salmons, Steffes, Roger Clark, Jeff Kilgore and Goodrick showed a little rust by letting a ball drop in the first game, which the varsity won after a clutch dig by Taylor Savage. Before Game 2 Enstedt was named the first inductee to the school’s Hall of Honor, followed by Salmons, Saunders, Steffes, Stoklos and Palisades’ other two Olympians, Ricci Luyties (Class of ’80) and Chris Marlowe (’69), who were unable to attend. For the second game the alumni unleashed their “New Wave” unit, with setters Matt Unger and Ryan O’Hara running a 6-2 attack for hitters like Erik Pichel (Class of ’91). “Those guys were really good,” Palisades senior Jordan Cohen admitted. “They took us by surprise.” “He put a whole new shingle on that house!” Feuer exclaimed after one of Izuchukwu’s emphatic roofs. “Yeah, I’ve still got the competitive fire,” said Unger (Class of ’88), who won City his senior year before embarking on a stellar collegiate career at nearby Cal State Northridge. “In fact, I was teammates with [current Palisades boys’ soccer coach] Dave Suarez.” In the third game it was the alumni’s unheralded “No-Name” lineup that gave the varsity a genuine scare, racing to an early lead before captain Matt Hanley came to the Dolphins’ rescue. “I was here during a rebuilding phase so I’d say this team would’ve beaten my teams,” said Joey Sarafian (Class of ’06), now in his third year at USC, where he plays club volleyball. “We had no game plan today and I wasn’t even sure how much playing time I’d get but it was fun.” The biggest thrill for Forrest, who recently played for his alma mater [Dos Pueblos High] in its alumni game, was seeing the legends in action once again. “I was blown away by Stoklos’ hands,” Forrest marveled. “You can see the wisdom of the game still oozing out of his pores. Salmons’ blocking was unbelievable and Goodrick did a great job setting. I’m hoping we can make this an annual thing.” Other notable alumni at the fundraiser included Charlie Stennett (Class of ’72), who heads the Pacific Palisades Volleyball Club; Dane Selznick (’73), who coached Kerri Walsh and Misty May to an Olympic gold; Fred Sturm (’72), who went on to win three NCAA titles at UCLA before surpassing 300 coaching victories at Stanford; 1982 City Player of the Year Rob Mitchell, who later starred at USC; and current USC Coach Bill Ferguson (’88), who grew up in Huntington Palisades.