Born and raised in San Francisco to a family of Olympians (including a fellow OC Hall of Famer from the 1924 Olympic Rugby team), Al Monaco, Jr. joined the Club as a junior and developed an interest in sports through the weekly junior workouts. Introduced to volleyball by the Armed Services team on the Marina Green, he eventually helped the United States become a dominating international force in volleyball.
He attended UC Berkeley for both undergrad and law school, playing on intramural teams. He joined the Club’s competition team in the early 1960s and, while on active duty in the military, he competed for both the OC and the All-Army teams. The All-Army team won the Inter-Service Championship in 1964. Al represented the Club for twelve years, when the team consistently ranked among the top 10 in the nation. The 1967 team took 3rd place at the AAU Nationals. He would go on to serve the Club as a commissioner and coach.
In 1973, he was appointed as USA Volleyball’s first executive director. During his tenure, the US won their first Olympic volleyball medals; men won Olympic gold in 1984 and 1988 and the women won silver in 1984. He “retired” from sports leadership for several years, before being appointed as the USVBA representative to the US Olympic Committee (USOC) board in 1997. He then served two terms as the USVBA president from 2000 to 2008. His tenure culminated with the US playing in all five gold medal volleyball matches during the Beijing Olympics. He is a member of the Volleyball Hall of Fame.
