Kent Steffes (born June 23, 1968 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is a former professional beach volleyball player. Steffes received his AAA beach rating while still attending Palisades High School. He was named the 1986 National High School Player of the Year and was the nation's most highly recruited high school senior. In 1987 with partner Forrest Smith he won the World Championships in San Diego. He enrolled at Stanford University and played for one season before transferring to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

where he graduated with a degree in Economics. While a

Bruin Bruin, (from Dutch for "brown"), is an English folk term for brown bear. Bruin, Bruins or BRUIN may also refer to: Places * Lake Bruin, ox-bow lake of the Mississippi River located in northeastern Louisiana ** Lake Bruin State Park * Bruin, Ke ...

he joined the AVP Tour full-time in 1988. Steffes earned the AVP No. 1 ranking at age 22, the youngest player to do so in the history of the sport. Steffes and playing partner

Karch Kiraly Charles Frederick "Karch" Kiraly () (born November 3, 1960) is an American volleyball player, coach and broadcast announcer. In the 1980s he was a central part of the United States men's national volleyball team, U.S National Team that won gold ...

won the inaugural beach volleyball gold medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. During the 1990s Steffes teamed with numerous partners to win over 110 events. Steffes' career lasted from 1988 until 1999. As of October 2022, Steffes has the highest winning percentage in the history of the sport (48.6%) and in 2020 was inducted into the USA Volleyball Hall of Fame as All-Time Great Male Beach Player Award. Steffes graduated from UCLA in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in economics. That same year he was a member of the AVP Board of Directors, and served as Secretary. In 2000 he enrolled in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford, where he graduated in 2002. He has two children and lives in Los Angeles where he writes and works in the financial industry. Steffes is the co-author of the book Kings of Summer: The Rise of Beach Volleyball. Together with his co-author Travis Mewhirter, it chronicles the rise of beach volleyball from a 1970s rebel culture to inclusion in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. The book features an in depth look at the quarterfinal match which many consider the "Match of the Century."

Awards and honors

* "Most dominant player of the 1990s" * USA Volleyball Hall of Fame Inductee (2020)- All-Time Great Beach Player * CBVA Hall of Fame (2004)

References

External links

* * * * * 1968 births Living people American men's beach volleyball players Beach volleyball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic beach volleyball players of the United States Olympic medalists in beach volleyball Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from California {{US-volleyball-bio-stub