Karch Kiraly Biography / Who Is Karch Kiraly
Karch Kiraly, born Charles Frederick Kiraly, is an American volleyball player, coach, and broadcast announcer. He was a central part of the U.S. National Team that won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games. Along with this, he has also won the gold medal again at the 1996 Olympic Games, the first Olympic competition to feature beach volleyball. He is the only player to have won Olympic gold medals in both the indoor and beach volleyball categories.
He is currently the head coach of the United States women’s national volleyball team.
Karch Kiraly Age
He was born on the 3rd of November 1960, in Santa Barbara, California, United States. He began playing volleyball at age 6. As he played, he received continuous encouragement from his father. He first participated in a volleyball tournament at age 11. He attended Santa Barara High School and played for the school’s boys varsity volleyball team. While he was studying there, the school team reached championships twice. In 1978, he was named the school’s sectional player of the year. Also, he played for the Junior National Team for about 3 years as he was still in high school. As of 2018, he is 58 years old.
Karch Kiraly Height
He stands at a height of 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m).
Karch Kiraly Family
He was born to Dr. Laszlo Kiraly, a former member of the Hungarian Junior National team, who encouraged him to play volleyball, and Antoinette Kiraly, his mother. He has two sisters Kati and Kristi Kiraly.
Wife & Children
He is married to Janna Kiraly. The couple lives together in San Clemente, a city in the orange county of California with their children. The couple has two sons Kristian and Kory Kiraly.
Karch Kiraly Career
From his freshman year in college, he played in the UCLA Bruins team as outside hitter and setter. In the years he spent playing for UCLA he accumulated a 123-5 match record, with titles in 1979, 1981 and 1982. He also earned All-America honors in all four years and garnered an NCAA Volleyball Tournament Most Outstanding Player in 1981 and 1982. He was placed at the UCLA Hall of Fame in 1992, and his jersey was retired in 1993.
In 1981, he joined the United States national team, playing as the outside hitter. He became the foundation of r the “two-man” serve reception system Doug Beal created in 1983. Here, he showed his skills as he led the team to the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics, followed by wins of the 1985 FIVB World Cup, followed by the 1986 FIVB World Championship. The team also won another gold medal at the 1998 Summer Olympics held at Seoul.
Karch was named the top player worldwide bt FIVB in 1986 and 1988. After the 1988 Olympics, he retired from the national team and played professional volleyball along with Steve Simmons from 1990 to 1992.
Beach Volleyball:
Karch Kiraly has played Beach Volleyball since he was 11 years old. He has garnered titles with 13 partners and in domestic events. He made it to the semifinals most of the time. he competed in beach volleyball his mid-40s. In his early years, he was intrigued by the fact that in Beach volleyball he could compete evenly with grown-ups. He got his breakthrough in beach volleyball in 1978, just after finishing high school, at the Hermosa Beach. In 1992 Kiraly left his indoor career behind, returning to the U.S. to play beach volleyball full-time on the AVP tour. In 1996 Kiraly returned to the Olympics, this time in beach volleyball, and won the gold medal together with his partner, Kent Steffes, the first ever awarded for men’s beach volleyball.
Over his career on the beach, Kiraly won over $3 million in prize money and earned considerably more in endorsements. He retired from beach volleyball in 2007. In total, he has garnered 148 professional beach volleyball titles, 74 of them with Steffes. He is also noted to have babysat Misty May-Treanor, the most successful female beach volleyball player, when she was just a child.
Broadcasting
Karch Kiraly broadcasted on ESPN. He also provided color commentary for the AVP on NBC’s Broadcasts. In addition, he was a beach volleyball analyst for NBC Sports at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Coaching
His coaching career started at the St. Margaret’s Episcopal High School. Here, he also coached his sons. Later, he was hired as an assistant at the US National Women’s Volleyball Team. His work with the team is considered a key role that led them to victory at the 2012 London Olympics. He became the team’s head coach in 2012. He led the team to victory at the FIVB World Championship. The team garnered a Bronze Medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Karch Kiraly Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of about 6 million dollars.
Karch Kiraly UCLA
Karch Kiraly attended UCLA where he studied biochemistry. He also played for the UCLA Bruins as outside hitter and setter. He led the team to the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship while he was still a freshman, and as a sophomore. In his four years, the Bruins compiled a 123-5 match record, with titles in 1979, 1981 and 1982 and, with the team, they went undefeated in the 1979 and 1982 seasons
Karch Kiraly Quotes
- “No volleyball play can begin without a serve, and the serve is the only technique that is totally under your control. In other endeavors, you cannot succeed without believing in yourself, and that belief is completely under your control.” ~ Karch Kiraly
- “When you’ve done everything you can to train yourself for competition, you’ll sleep well when the tournament is over, win or lose.” ~ Karch Kiraly
- “There’s nothing worse than the feeling of wishing you had another chance at a play because you weren’t ready. Every athlete has those feelings to mull over, and over and over … Don’t even expose yourself to the possibility of being caught off-guard. ” ~ Karch Kiraly
- “My general rule, which I have followed throughout my coaching career, is that everyone doesn’t necessarily get treated the same way, because I’m not sure that’s possible. But everyone has to be treated fairly. Moreover, they have to know and trust that they will be treated fairly. Dennis Green, NFL Coach There’s nothing worse than the feeling of wishing you had another chance at a play because you weren’t ready. Every athlete has those feelings to mull over, and over, and over… Don’t even expose yourself to the possibility of being caught off-guard.” ~ Karch Kiraly
- “Playing against better competition makes you better and more focused, so you can do what you have to, to win.” ~ Karch Kiraly
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