Eugene Selznick

{{Short description|American volleyball player and coach (1930-2012)}}

{{Infobox volleyball biography

| name = Eugene Selznick

| image =

| caption =

| fullname = Eugene Bleecher Selznick

| nickname =

| height = 6'2"

| birth_date = {{birth date text|March 19, 1930}}

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| death_date = {{death-date and age|June 10, 2012|March 19, 1930}}

| death_place =

| medaltemplates-title = Medal record

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }}

}}

Eugene Bleecher SelznickAccording to the State of California. California Birth Index, 1905–1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Searchable at http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/39461 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427102456/http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/39461 |date=2011-04-27 }} (March 19, 1930 – June 10, 2012) was an American volleyball player and coach.{{cite web |url=http://www.bvbinfo.com/player.asp?ID=295 |title=Gene Selznick; United States |publisher=Beach Volleyball Database |access-date=August 18, 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/more/wires/06/11/2080.ap.bvl.obit.selznick.2nd.ld.writethru.0617/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616054422/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/more/wires/06/11/2080.ap.bvl.obit.selznick.2nd.ld.writethru.0617/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 16, 2012 |title=Beach volleyball legend Gene Selznick dies in LA - - SI.com |publisher=Sportsillustrated.cnn.com |access-date=2012-06-12}} He played on world championship and Pan American Games championship teams. He was also inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Early life

Selznick, who was Jewish, was born in Los Angeles, California.{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/EugeneSelznick.htm |title=Eugene Selznick |publisher=International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame |access-date=August 18, 2011}}{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofje00post |url-access=registration |quote=Eugene Selznick. |title=Encyclopedia of Jews in sports |publisher=Bloch Pub. Co. |year=1965 |author1=Bernard Postal |author2=Jesse Silver |author3=Roy Silver |access-date=August 18, 2011}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dAq4TGQsWwwC&q=%22Gene+Selznick%22&pg=PA224 |title=Day by day in Jewish sports history |year=2008 |author=Bob Wechsler |isbn=9780881259698 |access-date=August 18, 2011}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AgmDAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Gene+Selznick%22 |title=Encyclopedia of Jews in sports |date=October 9, 2008 |access-date=August 18, 2011|last1=Postal |first1=Bernard |last2=Silver |first2=Jesse |last3=Silver |first3=Roy }} He also lived in Canoga Park, California.[https://web.archive.org/web/20120614201455/http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/12/local/la-me-gene-selznick-20120612 Baxter Holmes, "Gene Selznick Dies at 82," Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2012] Selznick attended Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles.{{cite news |url=http://rafu.com/news/2011/06/gymnast-sakamoto-inducted-into-lausd-sports-hall-of-fame/ |title=Gymnast Sakamoto Inducted into LAUSD High School Sports Hall of Fame |publisher=Rafu.com |date=June 8, 2011 |access-date=August 18, 2011}} He was a physical education major in college, and first began to play volleyball in 1949.

Volleyball career

Volleyball teams that Selznick played on won seven U.S. Open Volleyball Championships in 1951–53, 1956, 1960, 1965, and 1966, as well as seven runner-up titles. He was the USA Volleyball (USVBA) MVP in 1959, 1960, and 1962.{{cite web |url=http://www.volleyhall.org/selznick.html |title=Honorees |publisher=Volleyball Hall of Fame |access-date=August 18, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330225754/http://www.volleyhall.org/selznick.html |archive-date=March 30, 2012 }}

He was captain of the United States men's national volleyball team from 1953 to 1967. His teams won the 1960 and 1966 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championships.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J8aa1PGXkFEC&q=%22Gene+Selznick%22&pg=PA125 |title=Misty: Digging Deep in Volleyball and Life |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2010 |author1=Misty May-Treanor |author2=Jill Lieber Steeg |isbn=9781439155776 |access-date=August 18, 2011}}

Selznick's teams also won gold medals at the Pan-American Games in 1955 and 1959. He was a member of the U.S. volleyball team at the Maccabiah Games in 1957, 1961, and 1973.{{cite web |url=http://www.maccabivolleyball.com/ |title=Maccabi Volleyball |publisher=Maccabi Volleyball |access-date=2012-06-12}}

He was an early supporter of California beach volleyball, and was designated the "First King of Beach Volleyball".{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/beachvolleyball0000kira |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/beachvolleyball0000kira/page/4 4] |quote=Gene Selznick. |title=Beach volleyball |publisher=Human Kinetics |year=1999 |author1=Karch Kiraly |author2=Byron Shewman |isbn=9780585230450 |access-date=August 18, 2011}}{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/volleyball0000sher |url-access=registration |quote=Gene Selznick. |title=Volleyball |publisher=Lucent Books |year=2002 |author=Victoria Sherrow |isbn=9781560069614 |access-date=August 18, 2011}} Selznick played with Ev Keller to win the 1950 California Beach Men's Open. He later played with partner Don McMahon. He won every Laguna Beach Open from 1955 to 1961.

Selznick introduced Wilt Chamberlain to volleyball, and took him on a national tour in the 1970s.

Coaching career

Selznick coached the US women's volleyball team, which won the gold medal at the 1963 Pan American Games and the 1964 Olympic Games. He also coached women's teams that won six USVBA titles (1959–61, and 1963–65).

Selznick coached Olympic athletes Carl Henkel, Misty May, Holly McPeak, and Sinjin Smith.

Honors

Selznick was named to the All America first team 10 times, beginning in 1951.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OolLAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Gene+Selznick%22 |title=United States Olympic book |year=1957 |author=United States Olympic Committee |access-date=August 18, 2011}} He won the 1956 international competition All-Star team MVP honor of "Mr. All-World".

The FIVB named Selznick as one of the top American players of the 20th century. The U.S. Volleyball Hall of Fame honored him as the "All-Time Great Male Player". In 1995, Volleyball magazine called him the "Karch Kiraly of his era."

Selznick was elected to the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1988. In 1990, he was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.{{Cite web|url=https://scjewishsportshof.com/selznick.html|title=Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Home}} He was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.

References

=Sources=

{{cite news |last=Vitello|first=Paul |date=2012-06-16 |title=Eugene Selznick, Beach Volleyball Pioneer, Dies at 82 |newspaper=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/18/sports/eugene-selznick-beach-volleyball-pioneer-dies-at-82.html}}