Penn State Men's Volleyball Alumni

Penn State and "Modern Power Volleyball" ca. 1969-73

2011-11-30T12:24:00.005-05:00

The Lost Archives recovered, digitized and now online

Penn State Men's Volleyball Alum Don Weyel ('73), who served as the PSU VB Club's second Secretary-Treasurer, has digitized a 52 page scrapbook with details of the pioneers and early successes of Penn State Men in the sport also known as "Modern Power Volleyball."

The scrapbook is posted on the Penn State Men's Volleyball web with links from the History page in two parts: Part 1 (PDF 10.5mb) and Part 2 (PDF 16.5mb).

Weyel writes:

By any standard, the scrapbook is astounding. The first page is a letter from Harry E. Hill III, "Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Undergraduate Student Government," indicating that the USG Supreme Court approved the charter of the PSU Volleyball Club. (I stopped breathing for a few seconds as I read Harry's title: "Chief Justice of the Supreme Court??!... of the Undergraduate Student Government. Ooooh.") What follows are fifty pages of George's (George Guch, the PSU VB Club's first Secretary-Treasurer 1969-72) meticulous notes, addresses, tourney schedules and results, newspaper clippings, and photos (the three we've all seen of the first OSU - PSU match in South Gym). Fittingly, on its last pages the scrapbook seques into the future with a few newspaper clippings in which the club's new coach, a fellow by the name of Tom Tait (you may have heard of him), discussed the 1973 team's chances, and, later, their performance in a few matches.

Weyel suggests "you will want to pay particular attention to page 20, in which our super-secret court positions for offense, defense, and service reception are revealed for the first time. We crushed the competition with these! And, yes, (to current volleyball players and coaches) you're welcome!"

For the Story...

Alums! NCAA Final Four Info

2011-02-15T21:52:00.004-05:00

The 2011 NCAA Men's Volleyball Final Four is being hosted by Penn State and will be held on May 5th and 7th in the friendly confines of Rec Hall. The Men's Volleyball Alumni are planning for a fantastic weekend in Happy Valley and you're all invited to join us. In addition to the Championship, on Friday, May 6th we're hosting a golf tournament and, on that evening, the USA Men's National Team will be holding a Blue/Red Scrimmage. Evening social events are in the works. If history is any indication, it will be a great weekend. Last time, even my Pitt Panther pals had fun!

Click here for the form for the VIP Package, which, for the very reasonable price of $200, will include the following:

1 ticket and VIP seating for all four matches (Semifinals, Finals and the USA National Team Scrimmage)
Registration for the "Final Fore" Golf Tournament on Friday (Shotgun start at 9am at the Penn State Golf Course)
A Commemorative Floor Tile
$25 Voucher for an official NCAA Championship T-shirt
Commemorative VIP credentials
A Complimentary NCAA Championship Program
Access to Special Reserved Parking at the Nittany Parking Deck
Access to a VIP Hospitality Lounge on Thursday and Saturday evenings
VIP Social prior to the USA National Team Scrimmage on Friday.

PENN STATE MEN'S VOLLEYBALL ALUMNI: THERE ARE TWO SECRET CODE WORDS THAT YOU WILL NEED TO WRITE DOWN ON THE FORM IN ORDER TO GET SEATS IN THE ALUMNI SECTION. THINK ABOUT IT FOR TWO SECONDS AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT THEY ARE. IF YOU ARE STUMPED, LET ME KNOW AND I'll GIVE THEM TO

YOU.

If you aren't interested in the VIP package, and just want tickets, call the Penn State Ticket Office at 814-865-5555. PSUMVB Alumni: DON'T FORGET TO GIVE THEM THE SECRET CODE!

Any questions, please let me know.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED.

Guad

Nittany Lion Legends of 1975

2011-02-01T22:41:00.002-05:00

OK Alums.... name the legends. Post your comments below.

Video: Nittany Lion Volleyball 2001-2002

2010-02-20T20:19:00.002-05:00

Slideshow: Presentation of the Stools

2009-12-02T20:32:00.000-05:00

PSUMVB Alum Dave Dicker ('76)submitted photos of the annual Presentation of the Stools at the annual alumni banquet. Enjoy!

Guad's Notes from EIVA Semis, 4/30/09

2009-05-01T10:44:00.000-04:00

I had the opportunity to take in the EIVA semifinal match last night in Happy Valley.

Plenty of Nittany Legends were in the house. Stew Russell, Donny Tobin, Ron Smith, Bobby Faux, Shakes, Z, GT and probably one or two others that I missed.

Max Holt goes back to serve in game 1. First serve bounces in front of their Libero. 1-0. Next serve gets shanked off the arms of the passer into the face of the guy next to him, dislodging his contact lens. 2-0. Two more aces and it was essentially over before Mason got a chance to serve.

Saturday at 7, EIVA finals vs Juniata. If you are within driving distance, be there. The Booster Club is arranging a post-match gathering at Champs on Atherton Street. I'll be back to everyone on Sunday with thoughts about next week.

Watch the PSU-Ball State Match on April 17

2009-04-16T21:08:00.001-04:00

The BSU – PSU match on Friday, April 17 is being televised over Indiana and the BSU website will have the feed in case any one wants to view it. The website address is:

http://ballstatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=67667&SPID=7635&DB_OEM_ID=14200&ATCLID=3719664

GO LIONS!

Alumni Weekend 2009

2009-01-21T21:41:00.009-05:00

The Alumni out-sing the Varsity; the Daily Collegian fails to herald triumph.

Despite The Daily Collegian's efforts to only document the Varsity's victory on the court at the 33rd annual Alumni match on January 18 (see article below), the Alumni can proudly claim the singing championship. Led by a "Yak" (Jim Wittler PSUMVB '75), and a harmonic Skids (Frank Agnew, PSUMVB '78), the Alums belted out their greatest rendition of Black Water (EVER!) to defeat the varsity by a 2 to 1 margin using Yak's impartial applause-o-meter. Not even close this year, folks.

Be sure to check out the photo gallery of the 2009 Alumni match, Ball Pull, and banquet, by clicking here or pasting http://gopsusports.cstv.com/view.gal?id=41105 into your web browser's address bar..

If you really must know more about the volleyball match, read on...

From the January 20 Daily Collegian
Volleyball team defeats alumni, ends two-year skid
By Michael Oplinger
Collegian Staff Writer

Even during the pre-game handshake, the Penn State men's volleyball alumni showed some signs of rust.

With the current varsity team awaiting them at the net, the alumni approached from the wrong side, making the greetings go less smoothly than planned and drawing heckles from the alumni coaching staff.

Even though the alumni had won the exhibition two straight years, their own rust and the youth of the varsity team was too much to overcome as the varsity squad won 3-0 (30-27, 30-25, 30-21) at Rec Hall Saturday afternoon.

"As defending national champions, we can't lose to them," senior middle hitter Max Holt said.
Coach Mark Pavlik joked he was worried about beating the alumni this year because the varsity team lost last year before going on to win the national championship.

The setter from the national championship team, Luke Murray, wasn't concerned about the current team's ability.

"When they beat you, you know the program's in good hands," Murray said. "We're happy they showed us something here."

Although play was expectedly sloppy at times, the alumni sometimes wowed the surprisingly large crowd with powerful kills and solid blocks.

With more than 30 players, the alumni used their depth to hang with the younger team.
Substituting freely, players often came to the bench saying, "I can't breathe."

The alumni bench tended to be rowdy and attempted to bully the officials, prompting the referee to jokingly issue a yellow card.

After the match, the varsity players watched the alumni play each other in a matchup of "Old" versus "Really Old," according to the scoreboard.

The "Old" team prevailed 30-23.

The weekend was more about having fun and reconnecting with old teammates, according to the alumni.

"I probably really couldn't remember any of the games that I played, but I remember the stories," 1987 graduate Duane Trumble said.

The stories were shared at the annual banquet on Saturday night, where traditions are explained and the current players realize that not much has changed since the alumni played, Trumble said.

"It's just great having the family back to make us all understand that this is so much bigger than any one person, any one team." Pavlik said.

Read this article at The Daily Collegian online at http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2009/01/20/volleyball_team_defeats_alumni.aspx

Kudos to the Varsity Squad

2009-01-21T21:26:00.004-05:00

The Daily Collegian gives the Varsity props for their performance against the old guys.

From The Daily Collegian, January 18, 2009

Men's volleyball team handles alumni in exhibition
by Tom Kinslow
Collegian Staff Writer

With alumni from 30-plus years of the program's past in attendance and in action, the Penn State men's volleyball team bested the alumni 3-0 (30-27, 30-25, 30-21) at Rec Hall Saturday afternoon.

The alumni remained animated throughout the game, arguing calls and celebrating points scored on the varsity squad.

Following the Nittany Lions' victory, the alumni split into two squads, named on the scoreboard as "Old" and "Really Old," for what the alumni liked to call the "Legends Game." The match was won by the Old team, 30-23.

"It's just great having the family back," coach Mark Pavlik said of the weekend. "You see a lot of the young guys come back that I've had the pleasure of coaching for the past 15 years and the older guys are still coming back and having a great time. This is a very special day of the year for us."

To view the article, click here, or past the following URL into the address bar of your web browser:

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2009/01/18/mens_volleyball_team_handles_a.aspx

NOTE: The Daily Collegian doesn't make any mention of the Alums defeating the varsity in the singing competition!

Jan. 21, 2009 Daily Collegian Article on Coach Tait

2009-01-21T21:10:00.000-05:00

From the January 21, 2009 Daily Collegian
By Michael Oplinger

Collegian Staff Writer

Ex-Coach Started Success

Forced to practice in Rec Hall after IM basketball ended or in the armory between two cannons, the club volleyball team struggled to gain respect from the athletic administration in its early years.

Forty years and 825 wins later, Penn State has established itself as one of the top volleyball programs in the country.

According to former players who returned for the annual Alumni match last weekend, Tom Tait is the reason for the program's development.

Read more, click here or paste the following into your web browser's address bar : http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2009/01/21/excoach_started_success.aspx

Team Photos

2009-01-01T23:02:00.004-05:00

Check out our new gallery of Penn State Men's Volleyball Team Photos. We need to complete the gallery with team photos from before 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1988-1991, 1993-2001, 2003-2005, 2007 & 2008. If you have a team photo from one of these years, please send it along to John Hartranft (PSUMVB 1983-86).

Calling all Alums! We are One Team on January 17, 2009!

2008-12-24T11:25:00.000-05:00

Greetings to the Penn State Men's Volleyball Family:

I know that you're all in the midst of your holiday preparations, but please take a few minutes, put your feet up and read on.

Before you do, though, please forward this email to everyone and anyone that you would like to see at the Alumni Match. I don't have everyone's email addresses.

Yak and I had our annual pre-Alumni match planning session at the Pittsburgh Chop House a couple of weeks ago. A $200 bar tab later, we had come up with the magic formula to make the 33rd Annual Alumni Match our best ever.

You.

In thinking about alumni matches past, we realized that the very best alumni matches have been the ones where the most guys showed up and had fun together.

So we decided that this year is going to be all about participation. Our goal is to get as many former Nittany Lion volleyball alumni back as possible, so that we may celebrate together, as a team, our 2008 National Championship. We'll celebrate the Women's team's fantastic 2008 season. We'll celebrate national championships won in 1994, 1999 and 2007. We'll celebrate the 1981 team (first to participate in the Final Four), the 1982 team (first to make it to the National Championship finals), the 1983 team (first to survive four years of Harpo), the 1986 team (first to play in the Final Four at home), the 1988 team (best team ever?), the 1976 team (for winning the USVBA Collegiate Division at Nationals), the 1978 team (for beating Nyack both at home and on the road).

You get the picture.

We're celebrating. You. Us. Our team.

In preparation for this big event, which we promise will be bigger and better than ever, I "wrote" a speech. Yak bet me that you wouldn't "get it". Prove him wrong.

With apologies to our President-Elect, it begins like this:

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that this is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of Nosmo King, this is your answer. It's the answer spoken by hitter and setter, short and tall, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - those who sent a message to the world that we are not just a collection of individuals: we are, and always will be, a team. It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hand on the ball and pull, but not twist, toward the hope of a better day. It's been a long time coming, but because of what we did, change has come. Before I go any further, I want to thank my partner, a man from the hardscrabble courts of Penn Hills, the Yak. And I would not be here today without the unyielding support of my best friend, the rock of our program and the love of my life, Harpo. I love you so much, and you have earned a new puppy. And while he's no longer with us, I know Dave Evans is watching, along with everyone who played from 1984 to 1987. I miss them, and know that our debt to them is beyond measure. To our leader, Mark Pavlik, and the greatest team ever assembled in the history of Penn State volleyball - we are forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done. But above all, I will never forget who the championship banner truly belongs to - it belongs to the Alumni.

There is more. Much more. To hear it, and its stirring crescendo-like finale, you must attend the 33rd Annual Alumni Match and Banquet, January 17, 2009!

I don't know whether change has come to America. We'll see. What I would like, though, is for change to come to the Penn State Men's Volleyball Alumni. That would be a good start.

So here's what I'd like everyone to do.

1. Make your reservations, now, at the Atherton. Don't delay. 814-231-2100.

2. RSVP. On or before January 9, please.

3. Send me a check, for $50/person, for dinner. That will permit Yak and me to achieve our second goal, to break even on the event. My address is below. If you want to pay via PayPal, that's even better. fguadagnino@reedsmith.com

4. Come. Celebrate. Have fun.

I hope all of you have a safe and happy holiday season and look forward to seeing everyone in January.

Guad

Alums Release 2009 Schedule

2008-10-10T11:24:00.005-04:00

Single match season to begin and end on January 17

The Nittany Lion Men's Volleyball Alumni have announced their single match season schedule for 2009. The match, against the Penn State varsity volleyball team, defending NCAA Champions, is generating much excitement among the PSU volleyball alums.

"January 17 can't come soon enough," stated Dave Bittner (PSUMVB '88) "Yeah, too bad it'll also be over before we know it" said John Hartranft (PSUMVB '86), "so we're aiming to put in our best performance. It'll be a make-or-break match for the alums this season."

The Penn State varsity will be entering the the January 17 match battle-tested from in their early season matchups against top NCAA teams Ohio State, Hawaii and USC at the Outrigger Invitational. View the Penn State varsity schedule here >>>

The alums, however, have a distinct advantage over the varsity in at least one critical area. "Our collective age is well over 12,000 years" reports alum leader Frank Guadagnino (PSUMVBC '78), "The varsity can't be more than a few hundred years old, so we'll certainly work that into our game strategy."

"Because our season is so short, we will live vicariously through the Penn State varsity team for all but one match this season" Hartranft said. Bittner echoed, "We're big fans of the PSU varsity, but January 17 will be payback time for the alums when we avenge our 30 or so losses to the varsity during the past 30 or so years!"

"And," Guadagnino reminded, "we're looking to win the Ball Pull as well."

Nittany Lion Legends Achieve Fame in Atlanta

2008-06-12T10:50:00.010-04:00

Official Photo from the 2008 USA Open Championships Affirms that Penn State Volleyball Alums Still "Got It"

The June 5, 2008 issue of Rotations (the official eNewsletter USA Volleyball) featured, among the bikini-clad beach pros Tyra Turner and Rachel Wacholder and USA national team news, our own Frank Guadagnino (PSUMVB '78) setting during the 45s competition in Atlanta in May.

Photos courtesy of USA Volleyball. In the meantime, any other photos of Nittany Legends out there? Oh, did you see the photo of Tyra and Rachel? Almost missed that one... I was admiring how Frank's set has absolutely no spin whatsoever....

National Champions! (of tailgating...)

2008-05-16T14:39:00.011-04:00

Not to be outdone by the 2008 NATIONAL CHAMPION Penn State Mens Volleyball team, our own Nitttany Lion Legends strut their stuff outside the Bren Events Center at UC Irvine, where PSU defeated Pepperdine 3-1 to claim the NCAA championship.

OK PSU volleyball alums/legends, who is the oldest legend featured in this photo?

Thanks to Dave Bittner (PSUMVB'88) for submitting this photo (Dave, it looks like your left arm is in pretty good shape!)

An Alum Perspective of the 2008 National Championship

2008-05-05T20:47:00.003-04:00

Submitted by Dave Bittner (PSUMVB '88) ...This is good! Read it!

Fellas:

I just returned home from Irvine, having seen our boys win it all. It was something truly special. Maybe '94 was more important, because it was our first championship (and the first by a non west coast team), but since I didn't see that one in person, this one was the most important from my point of view. Thought you might be interested in some of the highlights from the perspective of a fellow alum. I'm hoarse from screaming at the match, so it's handy that I'm typing this. Guad, I'm sure I've left out some important stuff, so please add as necessary.

Here we go... When I arrived about 2 hours before gametime (having just made a 5 1/2 hour nonstop drive from Phoenix to Irvine), I met Guad and Skids for some tailgating on the roof of a parking garage overlooking the arena. (In answer to the question I know you're asking, Yarros, we were drinking cans of Bud Light and shots of Canadian Club.) About 25 people were there. Of those, 10 or so were former players. By age, it went Guad, Skids, Kissinger, Mull. Then a big gap. Then me. Then another big gap. Then Hodge, Proper, Meerstein and a few others from the '00s whom I don't really know. In addition to team alums, there were 3-4 were current and former players from the PSU women's team, 4-5 parents of current and former men's players and a few groupies/cattle.

As I was talking to John Cott, the former PSU roommate of Guad and Skids, I saw over his shoulder that Meerstein, some kid named Boner (I shit you not), and one of former players from the women’s team were taking their clothes off. Must have been some kind of double dog dare gone awry. Anyway, they peeled down to their underwear and were posing. Guad was laughing along until he saw the camera phones emerge. Flashing before his eyes were visions of this seemingly harmless antic ending up on BadJocks.com. So much for our hopes of getting Guad that Board of Trustees seat.

Shortly before match time, we wandered into the arena. We had great seats, 15 rows from the court. In the Penn State section, there were 200 or so hardcore PSU fans, about 15 of which were former players. Other PSU fans were in the building, but they were too few and far between to make much noise.

As for Pepperdine, the only fans they had in a concentrated group were the ones who assumed the free tickets given up by the Long Beach fans who left after their team lost Thursday. They were noisy but not nearly as raucously invested as we were. Jeff Stork was the only former player from Pepperdine that I saw in attendance. What a pitiful turnout for them, especially since their campus is only an hour or so away from Irvine. Maybe the rest of their former players were “on mission,” if you catch my drift. I did see a guy who looked really familiar from the days when I played. But I think it was Lee Nelson from UCSB, the guy they called Grape Ape.

As the teams were finishing their warm up, I took what I call "the coaching inventory." That's where I see who's on each team's coaching staff and decide how lopsided the mystique factor will be. Per my review of the respective benches, our coaching staff consisted of Pav, a Neanderthal former player from Ohio State (I think his name is Colin and he seems like a good guy, but I still like making fun of OSU, even though we’re now coaching bedfellows with them ~ yyyyuck), and some short, fat kid. Pepp's coaching staff was Marv Dunphy, Rod Wilde and Gary Sato. Yikes.

The match began, and the atmosphere was electric. I'll spare you the Pav-like details since I'm sure you can find the play-by-play in his recap (plus I bet you watched the ESPN2 broadcast, except for Hogan, who was probably watching Bassmasters), but suffice it to say... Game 1 was heartbreaking. We had a commanding lead then let it slip away. There was no magic man to drive balls off the top of the Pepp block like Keith did in Kansas City in '87. I was preparing myself for the disappointment of watching yet another PSU team, who was equal to the West in talent, lose due to inferior drive and confidence.

But Penn State came back strong in game 2, and after surviving two Pepp game points, evened the match at 1-1. Then, in game 3, the intensity, drive and confidence that other recent PSU squads so sorely lacked kicked in for the Lions. Some strange combo of Anderson's power, Holt's irreverence, and De Valle's hot-blooded Puerto Ricanness was the magic formula they needed. They won game 3. Then, went up by 8 or so points early in game 4. WE ARE PENN STATE was ricocheting off the walls. Our brains were telling us that it should be an insurmountable lead (in rally score world) and it was time to start enjoying the inevitable victory, but our stomachs were telling us to keep worrying, which we did. But watching us stuff Paul Carroll repeatedly in game 4 sent us into a frenzy. When he hit the ball out for match point, the place erupted.

During the postgame festivities, the team was awarded the trophy and their championship watches from the NCAA (I think the rings come later thru PSU). Handing out the watches was our own Shakes, doing his NCAA committee duty ~ his final year in that role. One of the moments I won't soon forget was when Pav accepted his watch from Shakes. He gave Ron a hug that lasted for about 30 seconds and brought Pav to tears. It was really moving.

Soon we descended to court level to celebrate with them (and ripoff some sport-court floor tiles as a memento). When leaving the gym, Guad bought every single T-shirt, hat, ball and other piece of PSU/championship merchandise the souvenir stand had left. He had to tell them 3 times that he was serious when he said, "give me everything you got that says Penn State." They finally did.

After the match, we returned to the rooftop for postgame tailgating (after Skids and I attempted to steal the NCAA banner on the bridge over the street leading to the arena). Someone had beaten us to it (I think it was Meerstein ~ who needs to forward the banner to some bar Guad knows in Saxonburg, PA. Frank says that's where the 2006 banner flies now). So, Skids and I just went back to the tailgate and fired up some cigars. More Bud Light, more Canadian Club. More WE ARE PENN STATE ringing across the sky of UCI. Shortly thereafter, a campus cop kicked us out.

Later, we went to the Hyatt, where the team was staying. We hung out with the team at the hotel bar. More WE AREs rang out. And Skids led the whole place in a rendition of Ol' Black Water. It was a good time. Halfway through the celebration, AD Tim Curley sprung for a private reception in a room nearby. In there, Pav called us over while he checked his email on his handheld. It was great to see the congratulatory messages streaming in. He got 85 messages just in the time we were watching over his shoulder. We saw messages come in from John Hartranft, Guillo, Carlos, Bones, Ramon, Russ, Bones (again), coaches from other volleyball programs, coaches from other PSU teams, former players, parents of former players, campers, parents of campers. My favorite was one that said, "Congrats, Pav. You wouldn't remember me, but I was the P.A. announcer for the team in the early 90s. Now I work at ESPN as coordinator of SportsCenter. You can be damn sure I'm putting a highlight of Penn State win in tonight's top 10 countdown." Freakin' sweet.

When I got home, I was looking online for news coverage of the win. Though I knew they wouldn’t cover it, I ended up on CNN.com. That’s when my heart sank to my stomach. Right there, halfway down the list of headlines was the title: ““Students Strip to Skivvies Before Finals.” Guad’s worst nightmare had come true. Our naked teammates had ended up on national news. I clicked through to the story and found this video clip: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/05/05/von.arizona.asu.undie.run.ktvk. Boy, was I relieved.

Thinking back to the celebration at the Hyatt, I’ll always remember something Pav said. When he first entered the hotel after the match, the place went nuts. In response to chants from the crowd, he made an impromptu speech, standing on top of the nearest coffee table. He told us how overwhelmed he was, and in addition to all the normal stuff, like explaining how hard the team worked all season, he gave a lot of credit to the alumni who built the program. Though he didn't say it quite like this, it was essentially that... This edition of our volleyball program has reached its heights by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Yes, indeed it has.

PSU MVB History (ca. '69-'75) by Jeff Keller

2008-02-18T12:33:00.007-05:00

If you haven't yet found the Penn State Men's Volleyball Booster Club wiki, here's a REALLY good reason to find it now: Jeff Keller (PSUMVB '73) has written an entertaining history of the PSU Volleyball Club, ca. 1969-1975. Thanks to Frank Guadagnino (PSUMVB ' 78) for posting Jeff's piece to our history wiki page.

Jeff writes about a few road trips from the early years, success at the ECVL Open tourneys, and a few of the PSU volleyball legends that are the pioneers for the Penn State varsity program.

Do you have more Penn State volleyball history to add to our wiki? Stories? Photos? Information? You can email them to psumvbc at gmail dot com, or join our wikispace (to join, you'll need to create a Wikispaces account, then make a request to join our space.).

Image of the Month: January 2008

2008-02-01T19:03:00.005-05:00

What would William G. Morgan, inventor of the game of volleyball, say about the "Ball Pull"? Penn State's annual Ball Pull competition followed a spirited Alumni vs. Varsity volleyball match on January 12, 2008. No serious injuries occurred during the pulling of the ball.

What Do YOU Think?

2008-02-01T19:02:00.013-05:00

What types of interesting, timely, and relevant content should the Ball Pull Blog feature for the Penn State Men's Volleyball community?

"Talent Imitates, Genius Steals" - T.S. Elliot
May we say we're no less than genius for tapping the feed from the PSU Men's Volleyball Page at www.gopsusports.com for our substantive content. Now we need to convince all of you talented (i.e. willing) alums and friends to submit news items, information about upcoming events, photos, stories that get better with age, lessons learned, jokes, etc. Draw us a cartoon. Write a poem. Inspire us! Send your emails to psumvbc at gmail dot com.

So, if you're not yet up to the challenge of writing compelling articles that gets our readers coming back to Ball Pull Blog again and again....see our challenge to you in the post, A Challenge

A Challenge

2008-02-01T19:01:00.009-05:00

OK, here's the challenge:

Sam (pictured on the left) will remain on the front page of the Ball Pull Blog until we get at least two different contributors to submit two interesting articles.

There it is folks. The ball is in YOUR court!

Email us at psumvbc at gmail dot com

What do YOU think?

(with apologies to Sam, the world's ugliest dog, and with thanks to http://samugliestdog.com)