Misty May-Treanor
Fresh off her gold medal win in the Beijing Summer Olympic Games, Misty May-Treanor is competing this year on “Dancing with the Stars.” She will be paired up with fan favorite Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
Misty May-Treanor was both on July 30, 1977 in Los Angeles, California. She played volleyball at the Santa Monica Pier with her volleyball playing parents Butch and Barbara while growing up. She was eight years old when she competed in her first tournament with her dad, who was on the 1968 U.S. volleyball team. Misty went to high school at Newport Harbor High School where she played on the volleyball team. The team won state championships for indoor volleyball in 1992 and 1994. Although they didn’t win the championship in 1993, Misty was named the Division I All-CIF Player of the Year. In 1994, she was named the best girl’s volleyball player in the nation by USA Today.
Misty attended college at California State University in Long Beach, graduating with a BA in Kinesiology/Fitness. She was named the Big West Conference Freshman of the Year in 1995. She made the All-Big West First Team in 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998 and was named the Big West Player of the Year in 1996, 1997 and 1998. In 1997 and 1998, Misty was named to the Division I All-American First Team and given the Player of the Year award. In 1998, she led the volleyball team to a 36-0 record, winning the Division I NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship. That same year, she won the Honda-Broderick Cup, which goes to the top female college athlete. In 2004, she was inducted into the Long Beach State Athletics Hall of Fame.
Misty turned professional in 1999, playing her first match on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) tour, even while still a college senior. That summer, she joined the U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team, but quit soon there after, saying “volleyball was not fun anymore.” She teamed up with Holly McPeak for a beach volleyball career. Although they were behind in the Olympic qualification process, they had a great 2000 season, winning their first tournament at a United States Volleyball Association (USAV) event. That win plus three Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) wins led them to qualify for one of the two openings for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney where they finished in 5th place.
After the 2000 season, Misty teamed up with Kerri Walsh. In 2002, Misty and Kerri were the FIVB tour champions with eight tournament wins. They were named the AVP Team of the Year in 2003 after an undefeated season. They won the gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and then kept that streak alive by winning gold at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. Those back to back victories made Misty and Kerri the only beach volleyball team to win consecutive gold medals.
In her career, Misty has won the highest number of women’s beach volleyball tournaments (103), has the most career earnings for a female beach volleyball player ($1,751,408), and has the most international beach volleyball career wins (38).
Misty started working as an assistant coach with the Irvine Valley College in 2001. She married Florida Marlins catcher Matt Treanor in November 2004. The couple has a home in Coral Springs, Florida and in Long Beach, California. She is close friends with Dallas Mavericks basketball star Jason Kidd, who was watching from the stands as she won her Beijing gold medal. In addition to volleyball, Misty also likes to play soccer and tennis as well as dance.
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