Top of his game

Mike Sciacca

Like many Laguna Beach youngsters, Dain Blanton got a taste of beach

volleyball at a very young age.

He remembers going down to the beach with his brothers and friends for

an overnight camp out, which, at the time, was the only sure way one

could reserve a seat for the very popular Jose Cuervo Beach Volleyball

Championship, held every June in Laguna Beach.

“The place was packed in those days,” recalled Blanton of those

tournament days in the early 1980s. “Seeing the games and the big crowds

really got me fired up.”

Those days had a great bearing on the Laguna Beach native, who, as

locals know, by now, went on to have a stellar volleyball career.

That career continues to flourish to this day.

The 30-year-old is in the midst of preparations for the Huntington

Beach Open, which opens today with qualifying competition at the south

side of the Huntington Beach Pier.The tournament is the first of seven

stops on the 2002 Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour that will also

touch down in such places as Hermosa Beach, Santa Barbara, Belmar, N.J.,

Manhattan Beach, Chicago and Las Vegas.

Forty-eight of the world’s best volleyball athletes will be fighting

for a share of more than $1 million in AVP tour prize money.

Blanton and his on-court partner, Carl Henkel, a 1996 Olympian, are

not required to play a qualifying match. Their first match will take

place on Saturday.

The tournament, which features both men’s and women’s competition,

concludes Sunday with championship round play.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to play in Huntington Beach for a few

years and it’s rare that I get the chance to play in Orange County,” he

said. ‘

The 6-foot-3, 205 Blanton, a 1990 graduate of Laguna Beach High, was

MVP of the Pacific Coast League as a senior and was a two-sport All-CIF

athlete in volleyball and basketball. He was also all-state in basketball

in 1990, when Laguna Beach played for a CIF championship at the Los

Angeles Sports Area.

After turning down several college basketball scholarships, he

followed his heart and concentrated on volleyball. He received a full

scholarship to play at Pepperdine University where he helped lead the

Waves to the 1992 NCAA title. He has played professionally ever since

graduating with a degree in public relations from the Malibu campus in

1994.

In 1997 Blanton became a pioneer in the sport of beach volleyball by

becoming the first African American professional player in the history of

the sport to win a major title.

But he says he reached the pinnacle of his career at the 2000 Summer

Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

Along with teammate, Eric Fonoimoana, the duo won the gold medal by

upsetting the world’s top seeded team from Brazil in front of an

enthusiastic crowd in excess of 10,000.

“In that moment I reached the peak of the sport,” Blanton said. “It

was such an amazing experience in Sydney to begin with, but winning the

gold medal made it an out-of-this-world experience.”

He says that while he continues to train and play in tournaments

worldwide, his ultimate goal is to play for the U.S. in men’s beach

volleyball at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Blanton, who has earned his teaching credential, will start fighting

for a spot on the U.S. team when qualifying play begins in January of

2003.

But for now, his sights this weekend are set on the Huntington Beach

Open. Blanton, a winner of six event titles who has earned more than

$500,000 in his pro beach volleyball career, and the 6-7 Henkel, are

seeded 14th in the men’s tournament.

“I plan on having a great time in Huntington,” added Blanton, who, in

1997, established “Dain’s Day at the Beach,” a sponsor driven series of

volleyball clinics that expose kids throughout Los Angeles’ urban areas

to the sport. “Of course, though, we’ll be there to win.”