UCLA, 1983
Karch Kiraly was an Honorary Inductee to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame in 2009.
Known as the “Michael Jordan” of volleyball, Karch Kiraly has achieved at the highest levels of the sport, both as an athlete and as a coach.
Of Hungarian descent, Kiraly grew up in Santa Barbara, California, and picked up the sport at the age of six. His father, Dr. Laszlo Kiraly, had played for the Hungarian Junior National Team and partnered with his son in his first beach volleyball tournament when Karch was 11 years old.
Kiraly competed for the United States Junior National Team in high school and as a senior, led Santa Barbara to an undefeated record while earning Sectional Player of the Year accolades.
He enrolled at UCLA in the fall of 1978 and became the most storied outside hitter in Pac-10 history. Kiraly led the Bruins to a trio of national titles, an NCAA runner-up finish and a 123-5 record in four seasons in Westwood. The team went undefeated in both 1979 and 1982. A four-time All-American, Kiraly was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player in his junior and senior campaigns.
Kiraly graduated cum laude from UCLA in 1983 with a degree in biochemistry. He was inducted into the University’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992.
Upon graduation, Kiraly joined the U.S. National Team in 1982. He led the Americans to a pair of gold medals in 1984 (Los Angeles) and 1988 (Seoul), as well as the FIVA World Cup in 1985 and the FIVA World Championship in 1986.
Kiraly also put together an accomplished career on the beach circuit, highlighted by a gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He put together a lengthy pro career with the AVP and won a record 148 professional titles with more than $3 million in prize money.
Following his retirement, Kiraly began a career in coaching and helped lead the U.S. Women’s National Team to the silver medal in London in 2012. Following the Olympics in 2012, he became the program’s head coach and promptly led the squad to the 2014 FIVB World Championship. Under his tutelage, the Americans won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, and in the process, Kiraly became one of just four players to win an Olympic medal as both a player and coach.
He was inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2001.