Ron Lang Interview. August 30th_2018 Part 1

11/01/20 • 43 min

Ron Lang Interview. From August 30th_2018 Part 1
Ron Lang Discusses:
- Why he thinks Gene Selznick is the GREATEST American volleyball player in history, ever!, the strategy he would use playing against the modern day best player, Phil Dalhausser, a classic story of playing a young Jim Menges when he taught him a lesson!, how he didn't play the game to make friends, but rather looked at it as a business, and did his BEST to crush and demoralize the competition so they wouldn't think they had a chance against him, how he moved on from Gene Selznick to Ron Von Hagen as a partner, and why, what he did as a digger that made him so successful, some of the best hitters he faced over his career, and his recollection of the legendary '68 Manhattan Beach Open final played in the dark between him and Von Hagen vs. Larry Rundle & Henry Bergman, and how he handled that devastating loss...

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Previous Episode

Ron Lang

Ron Lang. First Interview. May 20th, 2018
Ron Lang Discusses:
- His start in the sport when he went to the beach in 1954 to surf as teenager and couldn't surf due to the jelly fish in the ocean, and saw Richie Cooper and Harry Cohen from the Hollywood Y volleyball team playing beach volleyball, and played with them, how they were hard on him while teaching him the nuances of the game (which drove him nuts, but served him well!), playing in his first tournament in '56 with Dick Davis and beating the legendary team of Gene Selznick & Bernie Holtzman in the first round and realizing he could be successful in the sport with the right partner, how magical the sport was during that era when players played for bragging rights, how he developed his mindset to not be friends with his opponents, but rather beat their brains in, how amazing it was to have played alongside Gene Selznick, and Ron Von Hagen as partners, and what made each SO SPECIAL in their own way, the BEST team he ever competed against over his career, his recollection of the legendary '68 Manhattan Beach Open when he and Von Hagen battled Larry Rundle & Henry Bergman for 7 plus hours between the winners finals, and the finals played in the dark, how he became a legendary digger by watching his opponents during warm ups, and then positioning himself during games where he knew they liked to hit, the rivalry between Gene Selznick and Mike O'Hara on the beach, a classic story later on with a young Kent Steffes over dinner, what he's up to now days, what he's most proud of from his career, his thoughts on the new game and rules, and his amazing mind and strategy when it came to playing the game.

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Next Episode

Jeff Jordan - Part 1

Jeff Jordan - Part 1 Interview.
Jeff Discusses:
- Growing up in the South Bay as a talented baseball and basketball player, how he learned the sport of volleyball during a class at UC Irvine in College, playing in the Manhattan 6 man tournament with Ted Dodd, and being recruited by Pepperdine Coach, Harlen Cohen, to play indoors alongside Ted at Pepperdine on a scholarship where he earned ALL-AMERICAN honors in '75 , playing on the work up yellow court at Marine street during the summer and being invited to play on the main Orange Court by Mike Cook, winning his first A tournament on the beach, some classic stories from the Manhattan 6 Man tournament, where he won 3 titles as captain alongside the teams he put together, his reffing career for the 6 man over several decades, and also reffing on the AVP tour for a decade, his time coaching the sport, including 2 stints as an assistant coach for two of the GREATEST high school programs and Coaches in California for Bill Ashen's Laguna Beach Artists, and Mike Cook's Mira Costa Mustangs, the best beach match he ever witnessed on the beach when Mitch Malpee & John Gonzalez took on Kirk Kilgour & Doug Dunlap and dug them countless times even though they ultimately lost, and how amazing Matt Gage and Jim Menges were as a team.

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