SMC Men's Volleyball 2023 Alumni Day

The SMC Men's Volleyball program and Coach Zamir, have a mission to reconnect all alumni players as well as past coaches to the program. After Coach Zamir put together the History Document of the program, this Alumni Day was the natural next step.

Alumni players from the 60s onwards attended the event, and some of the attendees were: Pat Powers, Butch May, Ernie Suwara, Marv Dunphy, Dave DeGroot, Bob Vogelsang, Bill Clemo, Mike Maas, John Mayer, Carlos Fonseca, and many others! The program is also fortunate to have Gary and Eric Sato, Randy Stoklos, Jim and Rick McLaughlin, Mike Normand, and Greg Giovanazzi as part of our Alumni players and coaches.

The event took place on Friday, Jan 13, 2023, and hosted the alumni as well as their families and friends. The excited past players came through the gates and were welcomed by the SMC jazz trio, and enjoyed a happy hour to catch up with their old teammate of 50 years and more. Then the guests enjoyed a short ceremony and a few words by the President of the school, Dr. Kathryn E. Jeffery, Athletic Director Reggie Ellis, and head Coach Liran Zamir.

"To quote Ygal Alon, a commander of the IDF, “People who don’t know their past, will have a dull present and an uncertain future”. Coming to SMC I made it a top priority of the program to learn from and remember the past, to respect past players, and recognize past coaches". These were the words of Coach Zamir in his speech. Coaches throughout the years received recognition. On behalf of the late Col. Burt DeGroot came his son, Dave. On behalf of Harlan Cohen, came Marv Dunphy, legendary Pepperdine men's volleyball coach, and on behalf of Mike O'Hara, came his wife, Arlen.

After the ceremony, the guests enjoyed watching the roster playing the alumni team. Some of the alumni players were Max Garris (UC Santa Cruz), Vecas Lewin (USC), Daniel Vaziri (Pepperdine), Erik Pichel (Hawaii), Nabil Mardini (UCLA), Edwin Miciano (Long Beach State), Bryan Bardeu (UCLA), and more. The two teams played well, and the alumni squad won the first set. After some changes in the second set, the current roster won it, and the game ended with a 1-1 tie.

After the match, the guests enjoyed dinner presented by In-N'-Out Burgers and stayed until late to exchange stories and memories of their time in Santa Monica.

The program is working on hosting another reunion day next year, please stay tuned. In the meantime, all alumni are more than welcome to attend home matches this year.