GREG BARNETT
Sports Editor
Two things are the same since the 1978 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team captured the university’s first national championship — Head Coach Marv Dunphy is still leading the Waves in his 24th season as coach and Firestone Fieldhouse is still hosting home games.
During homecoming weekend, the championship team was invited back to commemorate the 30-year anniversary of the team’s victory. Nine members of the team — Jay Anderson, Mike Blanchard, Rod Wilde, Peter Balding, Tom Beard, Gary Cunitz, Brian Ehlers, Jay Iranon and Scott Rigg — returned to Firestone to be honored in a pre-match ceremony before the current Waves played UC San Diego.
“It’s pretty special, they all sound the same but they look a little bit different, but they’re really a special group of guys,” Dunphy said. “I’ve been around here for a couple of [championships], and I don’t think any one can top the first one.”
All-Americans Anderson, Blanchard and Wilde led the 1978 squad to a 21-4 record. They defeated cross-town rival UCLA, who had beaten the Waves three times during the season, in the NCAA championship match, held in Columbus, Ohio.
Pepperdine came back from a 2-1 deficit in the semifinal against Ohio State and outlasted UCLA to win a five-game match to capture the title. Dunphy said he recalls the team was down 2-1 and 13-6 in game four against Ohio State and came back to win.
In the championship, the Waves were up 2-1 but lost game four, 15-5. However, the Waves proved their toughness in the final game and won a close final game, 15-12.
Both Wilde and Blanchard said it was great to come back to Pepperdine and see some of their teammates. They said it had been 10 or 15 years since seeing some of them. They also were in agreement that Dunphy is one of the best coaches in the country and Pepperdine would be “stupid to get rid of him,” as Blanchard said.
“He’s been my mentor since I first came here,” Wilde said. “He keeps turning out great teams and great people. He’s one of the best coaches in the sport.”
Wilde, a three-time All-American setter, recently finished his seventh and final season as coach of the women’s volleyball team at the University of Wisconsin. He said he now plans to stay in the Midwest and get into consulting because he and his wife are both from the area and don’t want to leave.
Blanchard, a two-time All-American middle blocker, now works as a chiropractor specializing in sports medicine. It’s a family practice that he says “treats everything from the toes to the nose.”
The next 30-year anniversary is not until 2016 for the 1986 men’s volleyball national champions. Hopefully, the new arena will be finished by then and they won’t have to come back to Firestone Fieldhouse. However, according to Blanchard, the 1978 team had a great time coming back.
“Just to walk in this place, it gives me the chills,” he said.
02-21-2008
