Joined OCC: June 20, 1974
Elected to Winged “O”: September 12, 1998
Jon Stanley has been with the sport of volleyball since its infancy. Born on July 6, 1943, the sport first caught his interest while he was at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah playing basketball. At that time, volleyball was simply a club sport. Upon graduating from BYU, Stanley came to Hawaii to take business graduate courses at the University of Hawaii.
“All my BYU acquaintances told me if I was looking for sand ball, I had to go to the Outrigger Canoe Club.” He fondly recalls the famous “sign up board”, and playing with Dodge Parker, Paul MacLaughlin, Ron Sorrell, Carl McGowan and Daddy Haine.
In 1964 volleyball became an Olympic sport, and Stanley was a member of the 1968 teams with fellow Winged “O” Tom Haine. Stanley recalls one of most memorable events during this era was the 1967 Pan Am Games whose round robin tournament format would decide which team would go on to the 1968 Olympic Games. Although the team struggled, the USA prevailed over Cuba in a rousing final to qualify the USA for the 1968 Olympics.
Stanley went on to play in the International Volleyball Association professional league in 1974. He played two years for the LA Stars along with Tom Madison and Dodge Parker; then another four years with the Denver Comets.
He has played his entire masters career with the Outrigger Canoe Club. Over three decades, he claimed various masters titles with teammates including Ilmar Tarikas, Chris Crabb, Randy Shaw, Charlie Jenkins, Daddy Haine, Jon Haneberg, Dave Shoji, Tom Selleck, Tony Crabb, Chris McLaughlin, Jim Bukes, Bill Baird, John Zabriskie, Tim Ralston, TC Gray, Jon Andersen, Mike Cote, Ralph Smith and Jay Anderson.
Jon worked at the Army’s Family Fitness Center but his real interest remains rooted in volleyball. He coached the Kaiser High School’s varsity boys team and, coached the Hawaii Junior Volleyball Club which included more than 100 boys and girls playing in various age group divisions (12s, 14s, 16s and 18s) for more than ten years. He also assisted University of Hawaii Coach Mike Wilton with the men’s team which enabled him to spend time on the court, teaching the game to the game’s future stars.
Jon’s oldest son, Clay, followed in his footsteps and has been a member of three Olympic Volleyball teams (2004, 2008 and 2012), no doubt with a lot of valuable coaching from dad.