Karch Kiraly: A Tribute To Excellence

Great day for fans of Karch Kiraly! Information Guides, the publishers of Sands Of Time: The History Of Beach Volleyball and The Manhattan Beach Open: The Wimbledon Of Beach Volleyball, has just completed a new book, Karch Kiraly: A Tribute To Excellence. This extraordinary 336 page, perfect-bound, book relives the career of the greatest volleyball player in the history of the sport! The author, Artie Couvillon, leaves no stone unturned in researching and presenting the Excellence of Karch Kiraly. The book begins by introducing Karch Kiraly to the reader with several insightful Tributes to Karch, from family, friends and coaches. Karch's various stages of excellence, from the first chapters Foundation For excellence through the eighth chapters Extended Excellence, including Karch's AVP Farewell To Excellence Tour in 2007, are relived with real as well as legendary stories and anecdotes from family, friends, coaches, teammates and opponents. Here are some examples of the quotes. #1, SBHS Coach Rick Olmstead: The best thing that I ever did for Karch was that I did not screw him up. #2, Toni Kiraly (Karch's Mom): It s been a wild and exhilarating ride with Karch, full of emotions and adventures far beyond anything we could have possibly scripted; however, the best is yet to come! #3, UCLA Coach Al Scates: He looked like a typical surfer volleyball player of his era with long sun-bleached hair and a tan. At the time, I had no idea he would be the best player I ever coached. #4, Young Karch's best friend and teammate John Hanley: That summer, we both met Ron Von Hagen and we longed to meet Henry Bergman. What I remember most about the SB open that year in 78 with KK was the day. Perfect Santa Barbara, no wind, surrounded by the legends of the game, our friends cheering us on, and we had discovered girls. #5, Karch's Beach Coach/Trainer, Mike Rangel: If you want to emulate a great passer, look at a video of Karch or go watch Karch. But, I am here to tell you that I ve seen the inside of the man and know what he is about. If you want to see what it s like to be loyal and a true friend, then I tell you to take a look no further than Karch Kiraly!. #6, UCLA Teammate and beach partner, Peter Ehrman: I remember, during practice sessions at UCLA, time and again, Karch would make an unbelievable play that would make everybody stop, thinking did he really just do that? Karch Kiraly A Tribute To Excellence provides many more of these, sometimes humorous and sometimes unbelievable, but always engaging, stories and anecdotes about the most famous volleyball player of our time. There are also over 200 color photographs to help illustrate Karch's volleyball career of excellence. The final two chapters complete the Tribute to Karch's excellence. In chapter nine, people involved in the volleyball world have submitted some Reflections about the volleyball career of Karch Kiraly. Included are thoughts regarding first impressions of Karch; Karch's strongest assets; Karch s greatest achievements; most memorable Karch moments; Karch's impact on volleyball and more! Including this quote from beach legend Jim Menges: Karch carried Don Shaw to the finals of the winners bracket at the 1978 World Championships and then Shaw cramped up. Karch would have won that event if he were playing by himself. He just knows how to win and I am always amazed how he can still do this after so many years. He is one of a kind, the best competitor to have ever played the game. Chapter ten portrays Karch's excellence by listing some of his career accomplishments with charts. The various charts include individual wins; team wins; season wins; venue wins and wins with various partners; as well as a Tournament by Tournament review of Karch's beach championships.