Eugene Selznick

Eugene ("Gene" and "Monster Geno") Selznick (born March 19, 1930) is an American Hall of Fame former volleyball player, and volleyball coach.[1]

Contents

Early life

Selznick, who is Jewish, was born in Los Angeles, California.[2][3][4][5] He also lived in Canoga Park, California.[3] Selznick attended Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles.[6] He was a physical education major in college, and first began to play volleyball in 1949.[5]

Volleyball career

Volleyball teams that Selznick played on won seven U.S. Open Volleyball Championships: in 1951–53, 1956 (w/Hollywood YMCA), 1960, 1965 (w/Los Angeles’ Westside Jewish Community Center), and 1966 (w/Santa Monica Sand & Sea Club), and seven runner-up titles.[2] He was the USA Volleyball (USVBA) MVP in 1959, 1960, and 1962.[7]

He was captain of the United States men's national volleyball team for 17 consecutive years (1953–67).[2] His teams won the 1960 and 1966 Volleyball World Championships.[2][8][7]

Selznick's teams also won Pan-American Games gold medals in 1955 and 1959.[3][7] He was a member of the U.S. volleyball team at the Maccabiah Games in 1957, 1961, and 1973.[9]

He was an early supporter of California beach volleyball, and was designated the “First King of Beach Volleyball”.[2][8][10][11] Selznick played with Ev Keller to win the 1950 State (CA) Beach Men’s Open.[2][1] He later played with partner Don McMahon.[2] He won every Laguna Beach Open from 1955 to 1961.[7]

Selznick introduced Wilt Chamberlain to volleyball, and took him on a national tour in the 1970s. [7]

Coaching career

Selznick coached the US women's volleyball team, which won the gold medal at the 1963 Pan American Games and the 1964 Olympic Games.[2] He also coached women’s teams that won six USVBA titles (1959–61, and 1963–65).[2] His Nick’s Fish Market (L.A.) Women’s Team won national championships in 1978 and 1979.[2]

At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Selznick coached Sinjin Smith and Carl Henkel.[2] In 2000, he coached Misty May and Holly McPeak, who qualified for the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.[2][8]

Honors

Selznick was named to the All America first team 10 times, beginning in 1951.[2][12][1][7] He won the 1956 international competition All-Star team MVP honor of "Mr. All-World".[2]

In 1966, he was the first American ever to be named to the FIVB All-World Volleyball Team.[2][1][7]

The FIBA named Selznick one of the two top American players of the 20th century, with Karch Kiraly.[2] The U.S. Volleyball Hall of Fame honored him as the Most Valuable Player of the 75th Anniversary Men’s 1953–77 All-Era Team, and the “All-Time Great Male Player”.[2] In 1995, Volleyball magazine called him the "Karch Kiraly of his era."[1]

Selznick was elected to the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1988.[2][1][7] He was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Gene Selznick; United States". Beach Volleyball Database. http://www.bvbinfo.com/player.asp?ID=295. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Eugene Selznick". International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/EugeneSelznick.htm. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 
  3. ^ a b c Bernard Postal, Jesse Silver, Roy Silver (1965). Encyclopedia of Jews in sports. Bloch Pub. Co.. http://books.google.com/books?id=AgmDAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Eugene+Selznick%22&dq=%22Eugene+Selznick%22&hl=en&ei=x2tNTqy5NOGJ0QGAwsj2Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 
  4. ^ Bob Wechsler (2008). Day by day in Jewish sports history. http://books.google.com/books?id=dAq4TGQsWwwC&pg=PA224&dq=%22Gene+Selznick%22&hl=en&ei=gWxNTv2-PMLC0AHtmoGCBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBg. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 
  5. ^ a b Encyclopedia of Jews in sports. October 9, 2008. http://books.google.com/books?id=AgmDAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Gene+Selznick%22&dq=%22Gene+Selznick%22&hl=en&ei=rm1NTvykG-nr0gGt0LGIBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDIQ6AEwATgK. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 
  6. ^ "Gymnast Sakamoto Inducted into LAUSD High School Sports Hall of Fame". Rafu.com. June 8, 2011. http://rafu.com/news/2011/06/gymnast-sakamoto-inducted-into-lausd-sports-hall-of-fame/. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h "Honorees". Volleyball Hall of Fame. http://www.volleyhall.org/selznick.html. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 
  8. ^ a b c Misty May-Treanor, Jill Lieber Steeg (2010). Misty: Digging Deep in Volleyball and Life. Simon and Schuster. http://books.google.com/books?id=J8aa1PGXkFEC&pg=PA125&dq=%22Gene+Selznick%22&hl=en&ei=gWxNTv2-PMLC0AHtmoGCBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22Gene%20Selznick%22&f=false. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ Karch Kiraly, Byron Shewman (1999). Beach volleyball. http://books.google.com/books?id=UWrm5rOTPPYC&pg=PA4&dq=%22Gene+Selznick%22&hl=en&ei=gWxNTv2-PMLC0AHtmoGCBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22Gene%20Selznick%22&f=false. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 
  11. ^ Victoria Sherrow (2002). Volleyball. Lucent Books. http://books.google.com/books?id=kHtaguso1zEC&q=%22Gene+Selznick%22&dq=%22Gene+Selznick%22&hl=en&ei=gWxNTv2-PMLC0AHtmoGCBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFQQ6AEwCA. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 
  12. ^ United States Olympic Committee (1957). United States Olympic book. http://books.google.com/books?id=OolLAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Gene+Selznick%22&dq=%22Gene+Selznick%22&hl=en&ei=O25NTsuhG-H20gGes72QAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAjgU. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 

External links