Al Scates - Part 2

Al Scates Part 2.

Al discusses:   What it was like coaching volleyball at UCLA during the early years in the late 60's on a "shoe-string" budget, including using hand me down uniforms from the UCLA basketball team courtesy of Coach Wooden, his time competing on the USA men's indoor National team and Hollywood Y in the early 60's leading up to the '64 Olympics, including the travesty of Harry Wilson's gross incompetence as a coach, and SHADY political choices of players selected for the team done behind closed doors,  which left SEVERAL of our BEST players off team, including Al Scates,  Rolf Engen, Jack Henn, Walt Schiller, and OUR BEST player, Gene Selznick ( who had the foresight to recognize the USA needed to play by the international rules with 3 blockers, while WILSON insisted on playing by the OLD rules with 4 blockers, which would come back to haunt them) , in favor of lesser talented players that Wilson took to appease his fellow political  co-conspirators,  how the experience of being left off that OLYMPIC team he DESERVED to be on in favor of Chuck Nelson, led him to throw his heart and soul into coaching and become the greatest collegiate men's volleyball coach EVER,  his coaching philosophy during his 50 year career at UCLA that led to 2 USVBA Collegiate Championships before volleyball was a NCAA sport, and an additional 19 NCAA Championships thereafter,  his infamous winner/loser Blue Curtain at UCLA, that rewarded the best players playing time on the first team, regardless of their pedigree,  and an awesome story about how Sinjin Smith wasn't performing the way he was capable of on the first team, so Al sent him behind the blue curtain to learn to work harder under the tutelage of Mike Stormin' Normand, which ultimately made Sinjin the HARDEST working player he ever had and how it rubbed off on Karch Kiraly when he arrived a few years later, some great USVBA  Nationals stories he recalls, including a time seeing  Lyle " Spike"  Boarts run through the hotel lobby NAKED :), and how the '64 Olympic Men's Indoor team in Tokyo could have done SO much better had they LISTENED to our best player and visionary Gene Selznick and incorporated the international rules into their game plan....

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