Harlan Cohen (November 6, 1934 – March 19, 2020) was an American

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

coach who led both the United States men's and women's national teams during the mid-1960s. As a player, Cohen was a member of Team USA's volleyball team at the 1965 Maccabiah Games in Israel, along with Gene Selznick, who had played on world championship teams. Cohen coached the men in 1966. He coached the women to a gold medal at the

1967 Pan American Games The 1967 Pan American Games were held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from July 23 to August 6, 1967. Winnipeg was chosen as host of the Pan American Games on its second try. It first bid for the 1963 Games at the 1959 PASO meeting in Chicago ...

and a silver medal at the 1967 World Championships in

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. He was head coach of the USA women's team for the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. Cohen coached at

Santa Monica College Santa Monica College (SMC) is a Public university, public, community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. Althoug ...

alongside Burt DeGroot from 1961 to 1972. Their teams won seven

USA Volleyball USA Volleyball (USAV) is a non-profit organization which is recognized as the national governing body of volleyball in the United States by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). It i ...

(USVBA) college championships. He later was the head coach at

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and t ...

from 1975 to 1976 where his team won the USVBA championship in 1975.

Recognition

*In 1990 he was inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...

. * Cohen received the George J. Fisher Leader in Volleyball Award from

in 1999. * In 2000, he was awarded an All-Time Great Volleyball Coach Award from USA Volleyball.

References

Sources

* *
Biography
at the

1934 births 2020 deaths American volleyball coaches Pepperdine Waves men's volleyball coaches Volleyball players at the 1963 Pan American Games American men's volleyball players Maccabiah Games competitors for the United States Maccabiah Games competitors by sport Competitors at the 1957 Maccabiah Games Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in volleyball Santa Monica Corsairs coaches UCLA Bruins coaches Sportspeople from Los Angeles American Olympic coaches Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games Volleyball players from Los Angeles UCLA Bruins men's volleyball coaches {{US-volleyball-bio-stub