Santa Monica in California and Waikiki Beach in Hawaii have claims to the name "birthplace of beach volleyball." According to records kept by Hawaii's Outrigger Canoe Club, the very first game of beach volleyball was played at the club on Waikiki Beach in 1915. It was in Santa Monica in the 1920s, though, that permanent volleyball courts were first set up on the beach and the game gained mass popularity.
Waikiki Beach
The Outrigger Canoe Club was founded in 1908. According to "The Sands of Time," a 2002 history of beach volleyball, the club's historical committee interviewed Ronald Higgins, an original club member, in 1978, about his memories of the first beach volleyball game. Higgins said that George David "Dad" Center, one of Hawaii's famous swim coaches, bought a volleyball net that was put up on the sandy beach "between the surfboard lockers and the canoe shed."
Santa Monica Playground
Many consider Santa Monica the true home of beach volleyball, along with surfing and skateboarding. The first permanent volleyball courts were put up on the beach at the Santa Monica Playground in the early 1920s. Families enjoyed playing beach volleyball at first, six to a team, and there weren't many rules. It wasn't until the 1930s that the first two-man game was played.
Tourneys and Celebrities
Volleyball tournaments with two-man teams started in the 1940s. Santa Monica's Recreation Department sponsored tournaments on Muscle Beach in 1944, 1945, 1946 and 1947, according to "The Sands of Time." In 1948, there were 5,000 spectators for the second annual Santa Monica State Beach Men's Beach Volleyball Tournament. In the 1950s and 1960s, beach volleyball became part of California's lifestyle, with celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and The Beatles coming to check out the scene at the courts.
Money
One of the reasons beach volleyball became so popular in the 1930s and 1940s was that it was inexpensive recreation for families during the Depression and for U.S. soldiers at Army bases around the world. One 1948 tournament offered a case of Pepsi as a prize. But in 1974, the San Diego Open had its first commercial sponsor, Winston Cigarettes, with a prize of $1,500. In 1976 the first "Olympic Championship" was held, with 30,000 spectators and a $5,000 prize, although it wasn't until 1996 that beach volleyball became an official Olympic sport.
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