International Volleyball Hall inductions: Beach legend Tim Hovland

The induction ceremony is Saturday night! Watch live: https://www.youtube.com/@ivhfofficial

This is one in a series previewing the inductees going into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in Holyoke, Massachusetts, on Saturday. 
This year there are nine inductees, two indoor players in Italian Andrea Zorzi and Cuba’s Regla Bell; two beach players in American Tim Hovland and Brazilian Ana Paula Henkel; Brazilian coach Jose “Ze” Roberto and ParaVolley coach Hadi Rezaei of Iran; two officials in Argentinian Juan Angel Pereyra and American Sue Lemaire; and Italian Giuseppe Panini, who is going in as a leader.
There are also three special honoree categories recognized this year: John Kessel is receiving the Mintonette Medallion of Merit Award; Bill Kauffman and Ed Chan are being honored posthumously with the inaugural Award for Media Excellence; and Michael Kane, Mike Knapik, Aaron Vega and Don Humason are receiving the Mayoral Award of Excellence.

You would hear his cackle before you saw the familiar swagger. The big voice penetrating the laid-back calm of a summer Southern California beach day. And then, like the Pied Piper of the South Bay that he was, Tim Hovland would emerge from the surrounding shroud of the Marine layer fog, with his homies in tow, wearing the Burmy’s neon tank top (which would get torn asunder by the end of any tournament), the Oakley shades and the upturned Power hat that said simply, “The Hov.”

“I can think of only two people in the history of beach or indoor volleyball that earned an article before their name,” said the legendary Karch Kiraly. “There was no ‘The Stokie’ or ‘The Dodd’. But there was ‘The Hov.’” That is when you know you do very special things when you have the ‘The’ before your name.”

“The two things I admire most of Tim, are that he always tells the truth, and has never been a hypocrite,” said longtime partner and fellow legend Mike Dodd. “What you see is what you get, good or bad, with no apologies. I think that’s why he is so beloved by the fans.”

Now, “The Hov” is an International Volleyball Hall of Famer, being inducted into the Class of 2024, as a “Beach Player.”

But, as you will see below, that sobriquet only scratches the surface of his impact on the game, both the hardwood and sand varieties, and by dint of his “unique” persona.

“I am very overwhelmed (with the honor),” Hovland commented. “I put a lot of time into this sport, 15 years of work, and I am very happy with the outcome.

“I don’t think anybody had more fun than I did playing beach volleyball. We would play anybody, anytime, anywhere for any amount.”

Hovland was 6-4 (1.93m), pretty tall for the era. He was a ferocious blocker, placed the ball well, and could pass with precision. But it was his mental toughness that really separated him from the others.

“Once we got onto a court in practice or matches, I have never, ever played with or against a more fierce competitor than Tim Hovland,” Kiraly said. 

Fellow beach and USC legend Steve Obradovich has been “friends” with Hovland for over 50 years.

“Playing a game against him was wicked,” OB said. “We would practice at Marine Street, where he used to make fun of me. There was so much hate with him and I. I hated to lose to him, and he hated to lose to me. But after the tournament, we would all have dinner, go on the flight together and we were fine.”

Hovland definitely had the bit of the “thespian” in him.

“Depending on how the game was going,” Hovland recalled, “if we were down five points, I needed to do something! If it meant yelling at the players across the way, yelling at the referee, that is what I was going to do. The game goes in patterns. If we are in a down pattern, there is something I am going to do to change the momentum.”

All of these histrionics ultimately led to Hovland needing a lifetime supply of Burmy’s tank tops. It all started when “Mike (Dodd) made a mistake,” Hov recalled. “I yelled ‘f—k,’ tore my shirt off, and said ‘Let’s go!’ ”

That spontaneous act, coupled with the chucking of “The Hov” signature Power brand hat, would drive crowds crazy coast-to-coast. 

All of those theatrics don’t mean much unless you can back them up with sublime play. Hovland not only consistently delivered, but most often did so in the crucible of the pressure cookers of major events. He, and his main partner Dodd, were given the apropos sobriquet of “The Big Game Hunters.” “Anytime it was a big tournament like the Cuervo’s, World Championships, Manhattan’s or Hermosa’s that’s when you show up, that’s when you have to have that extra gear and bring it,” Hovland says now. 

Of Hov’s 60 career victories, five came at the Manhattan Beach Open, three at the World Championships and three at Hermosa Beach. He earned four $50,000 first-place paydays in Cuervo tournaments, at the time among the largest purses for any tournament in the world.

Hovland made his biggest impact with his longtime compadre Mike Dodd. Hovland of course was the “Fire,” in the relationship. Dodd, as cool a customer as there was in the winner’s circle, was the “Ice.” Together they collected 53 tournament wins, fourth on the All-time list.

“Tim was a tough partner,” Dodd recalled. “But he never demanded any more from me than he demanded of himself. He taught me how to fight and to believe in myself.”

By dint of personality, and his excellence on the court, Hovland helped elevate beach volleyball from a predominantly local Southern California curiosity to the global phenomenon it is today. That was due in large part because of the singular rivalry between Hovland and Dodd and Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos.

“That was the Lakers versus the Celtics,” Hovland said.

He estimates the two teams played each other in tournaments well over 100 times.

“He had a magnetic and riveting persona,” Kiraly said. “He was ferocious, wore his emotions on his sleeve. He drew in a lot of fans. The Hov/MD Sinjin/Randy rivalry was an incredible one. Those four players were the single biggest thing to point to in the explosion of beach volleyball.”

What came in their wake? Tournaments started to be held outside the confines of the California coastline. The AVP went national. Live network coverage on NBC, when the television universe at that time contained only the big three networks, and a small company named ESPN. Then these trail blazers conquered Brazil. The FIVB took notice. That led to the sport’s emergence in the Olympics in 1996, and now it is at the point where beach volleyball is one of the most popular of all the quadrennial disciplines.

“We went only from Santa Cruz to San Diego,” Hov said. “Now the best teams in the world are in Norway, Sweden and Germany. If you had said that 20 years ago I would have said you were crazy.”

In sports card parlance, Tim Hovland would be considered a “one of one.” An athlete that the sport has never seen before or since. At Westchester High School in Playa del Rey, California, The Hov was first team All-City in not one, not two, but three sports. He was the Comets’ quarterback, safety, kick returner and punt returner. In basketball, he was the team’s star forward. In volleyball, well he was just unstoppable. He worked out with the Westchester track and field team for good measure and Coach Joe Douglas thought he had big talent there as a hurdler. Ultimately, though Hov did not choose a path to be the next Edwin Moses.

At the conclusion of his prep career, Hovland beat out none other than Rialto Eisenhower’s Ronnie Lott, the future NFL Hall of Famer, considered the greatest safety in League history, as Southern California High School Athlete of the Year in 1977.

With three sports to choose from, Hov settled on volleyball in college at USC, to play for Coach Ernie Hix.

“I had a lot more fun playing volleyball than football or basketball,” Tim said. “Plus there were a lot more girls around, it just appealed to me.” 

Hov served with distinction on the Trojans indoor teams from 1978-1981. He won an NCAA title in 1980, and his squads were beaten in epic finals by UCLA in 1979 and 1981. Hovland was named to the All-Tournament team three times. Besides Hov, during that epoch, USC had Dusty Dvorak, Pat Powers, Bob Yoder and Steve Timmons. UCLA featured Kiraly, Sinjin Smith, Steve Salmons, Ricci Luyties, Steve “Gunner” Gulnac and Joey Mica. It was a veritable war every time those two schools battled it out. In the summers, Hovland polished his bona fides, traveling the globe representing Team USA playing in “Junior” tournaments (now called the U-21s).

By the time he finished college at USC in 1981 he was in very high demand as an indoor player. He made the USA national team and spent eight years overseas in the Italian League. Arguably, in 1981, he could very well have been the best indoor player in the world. But he was a bit of a “free spirit,” and he left the USA National Team before the ’84 Olympics, deciding to split his time between the Italian League indoors and the beach game. In ’84 he led Kappa Turin to the Italian Serie A1 title and was named MVP.

Hov first plied his beach skills at Rosecrans in Manhattan Beach and he was hooked-instantly.

“When I first saw the Manhattan Open, and Ronny Von Hagen play, that really caught my eye,” Hov said. When he was done with the indoor season at USC, he would drive down to Sorrento Beach, at the time the epicenter of the sand sport. He would play against Von Hagen, Jim Menges, Greg Lee, Tom Chamales, a young Sinjin Smith and a very tall Wilt Chamberlain.

He won his very first beach tournament in his first open, a portend of things to come. He and Kiraly partnered and won the Hawaii State Open in 1979 when Hov was just 20. He played the first of 152 tournaments with Dodd later that year in Boulder, where they placed third behind Kiraly/Smith and Andy Fishburn/Dane Selznick.

Like Kiraly, had Hovland been exclusively a beach player, rather than splitting time with indoor volleyball, his win total would have been massive. As it was, he made 120 finals in his career winning 60 and placing second 60 times as well.

His competitiveness made an impression on everyone in those early years.

“We played another Hawaii tournament at the Outrigger Canoe Club in 1981,” Kiraly recalled. “Hov made this incredible dig off his chest on an open net hit. I scooped it up, set him a really nice ball. He had an open net, no one up, and he hit it right into the net. He gets so livid at himself, that he pulls on the net, almost tears it down and then does a backflip.”

When, in 1981, blocking over was first allowed on the beach, Hovland really started to excel. “Everybody can hit,” Hovland said. “Blocking is how you win matches. You put the fear of God in the guy across from the net. If I don’t block you, you will probably hit the ball out, or hit it right into Mike Dodd’s arms.”

“Tim was a big guy who was really fast,” said Kiraly. “He would flag a ball down, no matter where it was, and in doing so, he would go over (courtside) banners, go over chairs. He did not care about his body. It was ‘how do I keep this ball alive and give my partner the best possible set?’ ”

While Hovland does not really focus on individual matches per se, I was able to coax him into citing two that stood out in his career.

“One match nobody knows anything about was the 1992 Hermosa Beach semifinal. I played with Adam Johnson, against Smith and Stoklos,” Hovland recalled. “I probably had ten blocks in that one. Then there was the 1986 Cuervo Ventura Open. I was playing with Tim Walmer against Kiraly and Luyties. Losers take fifth, and I had eight to 10 blocks in that one as well.”  

Hov, now 65, has barely slowed down. He is still the “Mayor of the South Bay,” plays volleyball three days a week, and swims three days a week. He has been married to wife Pamela for 36 years and has three grown children, Tara Blu, 35, and Chiara (Italian for “light”) 25, and son Hunter, 31. And three young grandchildren Blake, Lila Blu and Paige.

Leave it to Mike Dodd for the final word on the life and times of his running mate. “

Tim has been a great friend and partner going on 5 decades. He taught me how to love, and enjoy every win, and of even greater value, taught me to hate losing. We did quite a bit of both, yet when the dust settled we always had a good time.”