Hall of Fame: Brian Lewis (Corona del Mar)

Richard Dunn

The years of playing professional beach volleyball in front of

thousands of fans and an NBC television audience are probably over, or

close to it, for Brian Lewis.

If that’s the case, at least the former Corona del Mar High and Orange

Coast College standout can say he enjoyed a Hall of Fame career.

Lewis, who played some of his best volleyball in 2000, has been in “a

holding pattern since October” because of management problems on the

Association of Volleyball Professionals Tour.

The 12-year pro, who has won over $900,000 on the AVP Tour, was once

the epitome of a tanned, muscle-bulging pro beach volleyball heartthrob.

While Lewis continues to work out regularly and is in the best shape

of his life, he spends most of his time now with his family, which

includes a 2-year-old boy and an infant son.

“That’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s truly

exciting,” Lewis said a year ago, referring to his first son, Dylan.

Lewis and his wife, Pamela, had their second child, Carson, on April

27. “I can’t tell you how incredible it is,” he said of having a second

son. “I do what I can to help out. Whatever the team needs, I’m willing

to do.”

For Lewis, 33, working hard has always kept him on top, because

there’s no advantage in his game at 6-foot-1.

“When Mike Whitmarsh gets tired, he’s still 6-7, and when Brian Lewis

gets tired, he’s still 6-1,” he said. “I’ve got to make sure (getting

tired) doesn’t happen too often.”

Lewis, who climbed to the AVP Tour’s No. 3 ranking last year with

partner Canyon Ceman of Manhattan Beach, has yet to play an AVP Tour

event in 2001, mainly because of the tour’s questionable management and

extremely low payouts for players, which has led to fiscal straits. Some

tour events have even been canceled, like the tournament in Chicago in

June.

“I signed up to play volleyball and now it’s turned into cricket,”

Lewis said of the tour, which, he added, has probably reached rock bottom

in terms of the confusion and chaos that has surrounded it the past four

years.

The tour lost its television contract with NBC in 1997 and has

sputtered ever since with sponsorship dollars. But, thanks to his

predecessors like Steve Timmons, Randy Stoklos, Kent Steffes and Sinjin

Smith, Lewis was able to play during the pro beach volleyball heyday and

earn a decent living.

“I know I can go out there and compete and be successful and make

money,” he said. “I’m feeling better than I ever have.

“I’ve had a great time being able to say I play professional beach

volleyball. Just to say I play is a great honor. I’m very happy that the

people before me, like Stoklos and Timmons, put me in a good position

where I could make a good living for eight to 10 years. I’d like to

maintain that for some younger players.”

In his first year playing organized volleyball, Lewis helped Corona

del Mar win the CIF Southern Section 4-A championship in 1985, his junior year.

After graduating from CdM in 1986, Lewis played two years at Orange

Coast, leading the Pirates to state championships in 1987 and ’89.

A two-time state community college men’s volleyball Player of the

Year, Lewis turned pro soon after his last spike at OCC, and, after

taking his share of lumps, he finally reached the zenith of his playing

career when he captured his first AVP Tour title -- the prestigious

Cuervo Gold Crown in Clearwater, Fla., with partner Pat Powers in 1992.

“That was one of my most memorable moments,” he said. “It was a

combination of years of hard work and having one goal (to win on the AVP

Tour), then having it come to reality was overwhelming at the time ...

Jose Cuervo was considered a major back then, if we ever had majors.”

Including international titles, Lewis has won 15 tournament

championships in his career. But his first at the Cuervo Gold ranks at

the top.

Lewis, an avid surfer, was inspired to play volleyball after watching

Timmons (Newport Harbor, OCC) lead Team USA to the gold medal at the 1984

Olympic Games in Los Angeles with his father.

Among Lewis’ highlights is “just the fact that a lot of people told me

(a pro volleyball career) wouldn’t happen for me. I really used that as

inspiration to push myself. Not only to prove them wrong, but to prove to

myself that I could pull it off.”

Next on his agenda is organizing an amateur volleyball tournament at

the Newport Dunes in October. He’s currently looking for a title sponsor.

Lewis, who lives in Huntington Beach, is the latest honoree in the

Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame.