They're Bound for Barcelona in Search of the Gold : Olympics: Ivie, Samuelson and Greenbaum got their start on area high school teams. Now they have a chance to rule the volleyball world.

By VITTORIO TAFUR

July 9, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Athletes can often bring fame to an area of the country. Take for example, western Pennsylvania, which has become known for producing NFL quarterbacks such as Joe Namath, Joe Montana and Jim Kelly.

Now consider the case of Southern California. The entire 1992 Olympic men’s volleyball team is from the area. The weather and the fact that “you can find a court anywhere,” according to middle blocker Bryan Ivie, combine to form a large-scale training ground.

“Southern California is the capital of volleyball in the United States,” hitter Bob Samuelson said. “Kids grow up playing so early.”

But if Southern California is the capital of volleyball in the United States--and by most accounts it is--then the South Bay has to be its most cherished resource. Of the 12 members of this year’s team, three are from the South Bay.

Ivie, of Mira Costa High, Samuelson, of Westchester, and setter Dan Greenbaum, of Rolling Hills, share more than geography: they didn’t begin playing volleyball until they were in high school.

Mira Costa Coach Mike Cook first noticed Ivie in his driver’s education class. Although he usually refrains from asking kids to try out for the team “because they have to want to,” he approached Ivie.

Why? “Because he was so tall,” Cook said.

The 6-foot-7, 215-pound Ivie grew up surfing, but as he outgrew his board he realized that volleyball could be his ticket to success.

Although he was a junior, Cook put Ivie on the junior varsity team.

That summer, Ivie joined the Torrance Volleyball Club and played every day. His improvement was rapid, something Cook attributes to “wonderful coordination.” As a senior, he led Mira Costa to a runner-up finish in the Southern Section 4-A Division final. Steve Yoder, then the coach at USC, was impressed with Ivie’s athleticism and offered him a scholarship.

Ivie helped USC win the NCAA title in 1988 and was named freshman of the year. After his sophomore season, he earned a spot on the U.S. National Team.

“I knew pretty quick that I could go far in volleyball, but I didn’t think it would be that quick,” Ivie said.

Ivie, 23, was named college player of the year twice and helped lead USC to a second NCAA title. His athleticism, powerful spikes and blocking ability have drawn comparisons to Karch Kiraly and Steve Timmons, two of the sport’s best players.

“He’s further ahead, as far as development, than anyone else at this stage,” U.S. Coach Fred Sturm said. “He’s a very talented athlete and he’s a very talented volleyball player. He’s capable of doing many things at a high level.”

Ivie shrugs off any pressure from expectations. “I can walk down a street anywhere in the U.S. and no one would know who I was,” he said. “Outside of Southern California, volleyball is not a popular sport.”

But Ivie, who will play on the two-man beach tour next summer, says “it would be nice to be recognized for your achievements. At least once in a while.”

Only five years after making his debut for Mira Costa, Ivie may soon get his wish.

If everything falls into place, the setter on the 1992 gold medal team will be the same person who was the setter on the 1988 gold medal team.

That is not what Greenbaum, 23, wanted to hear. He is competing for playing time with Jeff Stork, the returning starter.

“I’m competing every day,” Greenbaum said. “My role is to back up Jeff and he has tons of experience. The only major event I played in was the World Cup last year and that doesn’t even come close to comparing with the Olympics. But I’ve got to be ready to play.”

Greenbaum, who played with Ivie at USC from 1989-91 before making the National Team in May, wasn’t confident about making the squad until a couple of days before the selections were announced.

“Dan has improved a tremendous amount since he joined the team,” Sturm said. “He was the starting setter at the World Cup and the U.S. team finished third. After the Olympics, he’ll be in our program and he’ll be our starter.”

Greenbaum started playing volleyball in his neighbors’ back yard and joined his high school team to play with other kids from his block. He joined the Torrance Volleyball Club when he was 17 and has become a close friend of Ivie.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet that we’re going to the Olympics,” Greenbaum said. “When I get off the plane, get to the gym and start warming up for the first match against Japan, that’s when it will hit me.”

When the 6-5 Samuelson left Westchester to enroll at Pierce Community College, he was a two-time all-league basketball player who planned to eventually transfer to Syracuse.

“Another player on our team, Kevin Floyd, was going to Georgetown,” Samuelson said. “I had played basketball throughout high school and was planning to eventually move on and play big-time college basketball.”

But as a freshman at Pierce, he quit the basketball team, saying he wasn’t having fun. The time and energy that basketball had taken now belonged to volleyball, the sport he started playing as a senior.

In 1986, he was a two-time All-Western State conference selection and was named state player of the year. He played in the Olympic Festival, where his explosive style of play earned him the ranking of third-best middle blocker on the West Coast.

Although he was heavily recruited, Samuelson decided to attend Cal State Northridge. The reasons were twofold: He believed he could make an impact on the program and many of his friends at Pierce decided to attend Northridge.

Friends had become important to Samuelson.

During his sophomore year at Pierce, Samuelson started losing his hair. Friends first noticed bald spots and quickly his hair was gone. The condition is called alopecia.

“(Doctors) don’t know the conditions, why it happened or anything,” Samuelson said. “It’s run its course--I mean, it can’t get much worse.”

After he started losing his hair, Samuelson channeled his energy to volleyball. He avoided parties, bars, any social gathering, spending almost all of his time in the gym playing volleyball.

“I had a girlfriend, a couple good friends and volleyball,” he said.

As a senior at Northridge, Samuelson was third in the nation in kills a game (6.5) and earned honorable mention All-American honors. It was after his senior year that he was asked to try out for the National Team.

“You’ve got 12 to 24 players in camp, coming and going, and you’re constantly trying out,” Samuelson said. “And with the older guys coming back (six players from the 1988 team), it was hard for some guys to know where they stood.”

At the World Cup in Tokyo in December, Samuelson started believing that he would earn a spot on the national team. “I drove myself to be good enough where they couldn’t afford to not take me,” he said.

Sturm plans to use Samuelson as the first player off the bench. He will be a hitter or middle blocker.

“I think about the Olympics every day,” Samuelson said. “The whole thing, the ceremonies, playing. . . . It’s something I’ve dreamed about.”