2009 All-Time Great Player - Arthur Alper
Arthur Alper
2009 All-Time Great Player
Art Alper was born in Los Angeles on June 4, 1928. During his formative years his family would vacation at the beach in places like San Diego and Balboa Island, a portent of good things to come. He went to John Burroughs Junior High and Los Angeles High School. Alper was a star basketball player at L.A High and, after his senior year there, was named to the All-City First team as well as being named the Western League player of the year.
Alper went on to play basketball at UCLA for Coach John Wooden. He worked up to a starting guard position by his senior year and, in each of his three years on the varsity team, UCLA was league champion. Alper was known as a tough rebounding guard and, for his efforts, had his nose broken five times.
During his years in high school and college, Alper found a way, typically by bus, to make it to the beach to play volleyball. During high school many of the local kids would go to the beach at what was then known as the "Roadside Rest" in Santa Monica. Later on Alper would frequent Sorrento Beach, with the occasional foray to State Beach. A couple of years after graduating from UCLA, he got married to Ann Fitzpatrick and, naturally, then got a membership at a beach club called "The Santa Monica Swimming Club".
The guys from the club would play six man matches against other beach clubs, including the Bel-Air Bay Club, The Beach Club, and the Del Mar Club. During this period Alper was also active in basketball, playing with a semi-pro AAU team sponsored by Kelbo's. He also worked part time, somehow, to play indoor six man volleyball.
Alper's most successful years in volleyball came during the mid- to late-1950s.He joined the Hollywood YMCA "Stars" in 1955. Those teams won the national open championship in each year from 1956 through 1959. Alper was a starting hitter for the team all four years of the championship run. He was named as an All-American in each of those years he started for the team, with the exception of 1958.
Alper was also a starter on the National Team. In 1956 the team toured Europe, including stops at Denmark, Holland, Switzerland and Belgium, and later played at the World Championships in Paris, taking fourth place. In 1959 the National Team won the gold medal at the Pan American games, by beating Brazil in Chicago. The National teams included Hall of Famers Mike O'Hara, Rolf Engen and Gene Selznick, as well as seven-time first team All-American Bill Olsson.
Alper wound down his indoor volleyball career by playing two years with good friends from Stockton, regular weekend games at the Sand & Sea Club in Santa Monica, and the occasional six-man beach tournament with the never to be forgotten "Eighth Street Wonders".
