Sisters beach volleyball star honored

Sisters' Miki McFadden feels most at home on the hot sands of a competition volleyball court. The colorful sport recently honored her with an invitation to the new Beach Volleyball Hall Of Fame's fundraiser last month in California.

McFadden was officially inducted into the hall of fame back in 1993. Her career included over 15 major victories from 1974-1980, in tournaments and events along the Southern California coast, from Manhattan Beach to Venice Beach and Santa Barbara, with partners Kathy Gregory and Nina Matthies.

"They picked four previous inductees with a special honoring for this first big kickoff party on November 18, and I happened to be one of them," she said. "The others wereRon Von Hagen, Gene Selznick and Ron Lang. It was a great thing to be a part of, about 500 people were there with 40 total hall-of-famers, and it was a real nice event."

The California Beach Volleyball Association (CBVA), which has organized and marketed amateur and professional beach volleyball competitions in America since 1962, selected Hermosa Beach for the permanent home of the sport's hall of fame inside the Hermosa Beach Historical Society Museum. It's set to open by summer 2012, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the organization's founding.

McFadden grew up on the island of Oahu in the'50sand '60s,playing at the legendary Outrigger Canoe Club in Honolulu, one of the famous spots where the sport originally developed. She played through high school and later moved to California and became immersed in the flashy sport as a star volleyball player at USC, hitting the sands on the weekends. In 1968 she had the fortune of representing her country on the U.S. Volleyball Team at the Mexico City Olympic Games, fulfilling a lifetime goal.

"The '70s in Southern California was a unique and special time," she said. "People spent their days on the beach playing and they'd start at one beach in the morning and move to another beach in the afternoon. It was an all-day, everyday way of life. There were tournaments every weekend. Now it's a year-round affair and spread all over the world. It wasn'tan official Olympic sport until 1996, and now they're starting beach volleyball teams in college. The sport is really growing quickly."

The CBVA, the Hermosa Arts Foundation and the Hermosa Beach Historical Society hosted the party at the Hermosa Beach Community Center. Money raised from the event will go directly to funding the new hall, which will be located inside the 4,000-square-foot museum. It will contain an interactivewalk-through exhibit dedicated to the sport, with digital touch-screen kiosks filled with player photos, videos and interviews.

"It was a great reunion, to see old friends that were so much a part of my life during those years," she said. "I enjoyed it all. Nowadays it's much more of a corporate business and a lot of travel around the world. Back then, we loved the game and loved competing."

Today, McFadden stays active in Sisters and intimately connected to the sport she helped to pioneer.

"My daughters, Nila and Alana Lukens, both play volleyball and I coach the Sisters Outlaw Volleyball Club. It's very fun and inspiring to see them enjoy the game I loved. There's something about it that just grabs you when you play. I think it's exciting to have a permanent home for the hall of fame. It gives the sport a little more credibility and a place where people can go to see players of the past and the present, and learn about the history."