U.S. Olympic Athletes

Clay Stanley

  • Home:  Honolulu, Hawaii
  • Birth Year:  1978

Position: Opposite
Height: 6-9 (205cm)
Weight: 230 lbs (104kg)
College: Hawaii
Joined Team: November 2000

PERSONAL: Born Clayton Iona Stanley on Jan. 20, 1978 in Honolulu, Hawai'i... Parents are Jon Stanley and Sandra Haine... Has three brothers: Reese Haine, Wil Stanley and Jon Stanley, and two sisters Taeya Stanley and Natasha Haine... His father played on 1968 Men's Olympic Volleyball Team and is a member of the Volleyball Hall of Fame... His mother played in the IVA for the Denver Comets... Clay's late step-grandfather, Tom Haine, was also on 1968 Men's Olympic Volleyball Team... Many members of his family were on hand to see Clay with the Olympic gold medal in 2008 in Beijing, where he was named the MVP of the tournament... Clay did not play volleyball in high school. Kaiser High School in Honolulu did not have a boys' team when he was there... He played basketball, occupied the goal in water polo and skateboarded... He took up volleyball after having fun at a Junior Olympics tournament when he was 17... Nicknamed "Bird"... Majored in Spanish at Hawai'i... Enjoys surfing and playing video games.

MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: 2012- NORCECA Men's Continental Olympic Qualification Tournament (gold medal). 2011 – FIVB World Cup… NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship (Silver Medal)… FIVB World League. 2010 - FIVB World Championship... FIVB World League. 2009 - NORCECA Continental Championship (Silver Medal)... 2010 FIVB World Championship Qualifier for NORCECA Group F (Gold Medal)... FIVB World League. 2008 - Olympic Games (Gold Medal)... FIVB World League (Gold Medal)... NORCECA Continental Olympic Qualifying Championship (Gold Medal). 2007 - FIVB World Cup... NORCECA Continental Championship (Gold Medal)... Americas' Cup (Gold Medal)... FIVB World League (Bronze Medal). 2006 - FIVB World Championships... FIVB World League. 2005 - NORCECA Continental Championships (Gold Medal)...World Grand Champions Cup (Silver Medal). 2004 - NORCECA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (Gold Medal)... Japan Tour...Houston Series... USA Global Challenge (Gold Medal)... Serbia and Montenegro Tour (Silver Medal)... Olympic Games (Fourth Place). 2003 - Colorado/Nebraska Tour... Canada Tour... NORCECA Zone Championships (Gold Medal)... World Cup (Fourth Place). 2002 - Louisville Tour... Bulgaria Tour... Greece Tour... Florida Tour... World Championships. 2001 - Japan Tour... World League... NORCECA Zone Championships... Jeep America's Cup. 1999 - World University Games... Pan American Games.

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012- Named tournament MVP at the NORCECA Men's Continental Olympic Qualification Tournament...Team's second-leading scorer at the NORCECA Men's Continental Olympic Qualification Tournament with 61 points on 40 kills, 11 blocks, and 10 aces...His hitting efficiency was .500 and his kill percent was 55.5. 2011 – Clay was named the USA Volleyball 2011 Male Indoor Athlete of the Year… He took over as U.S. team captain for the NORCECA Continental Championship when former captain Reid Priddy could not compete due to injury. Clay continued as captain at the FIVB World Cup… Clay finished the 2011 season as the team’s second-leading scorer with 373 points in 97 sets played. He led the team in aces with 53 (.55 aces per set). He was second kills (265/2.73 kills per set), blocks (55/.57 blocks per set) and digs (138/1.42 digs per set)… Clay was the team’s second-leading scorer and 16th overall at the FIVB World Cup with 125 points on 89 kills, 22 blocks and 18 aces, even though he did not play in the team’s final three matches. Clay led the team in aces and finished second overall. He led the team in blocks and was 14th overall. He was second on the team in attacks and 10th overall... Clay suffered an ankle injury in the first set of the first match of the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship, but came back to help the United States defeat Cuba in pool play and started against Puerto Rico in the semifinals and Cuba in the final… He ended up scoring 40 points in 13 sets played on 28 successful attacks (44.4 kill percent), five blocks and seven aces. The U.S. Men finished second in the tournament and advanced to the FIVB World Cup… Clay was one of three players to compete in all 58 sets of the FIVB World League. He was the team’s second-leading scorer with 208 points on 152 kills (39.2 kill percent), 28 blocks and 28 aces... He finished pool play first among all servers with 25 aces… The U.S. Men finished second in their pool in World League and advanced to the final round where they placed seventh. 2010 – During the winter of 2010-11, Clay played for Ural Ufa in the Russian Super League… Clay was named the USA Volleyball Men's Indoor Player of the Year for 2010... Clay finished the season as the team's leading scorer with 252 points (3.82 points per set) on 191 kills (0.25 hitting percentage), 28 blocks (0.42 blocks per set) and 33 aces (0.50 aces per set). His kills and aces led the team. He also had 80 digs (1.21 digs per set), which was third best on the team... Clay played every set (33) of every match (9) for the United States at the FIVB World Championship in Italy where the team placed sixth. He was named the tournament's Best Server, finishing with 23 aces and 36 faults on 155 attempts for an average of 0.70 aces per set. Clay was the United States' leading scorer at the World Championship and sixth overall, finishing with 150 points on 109 kills, 18 blocks and 23 aces. His 18 blocks tied him for the team lead with David Lee and he was 11th among all blockers with an average of 0.55 blocks per set. Clay was second on the team in digs with 51 and 21 faults in 79 attempts for an average of 1.55 digs per set... Clay played in 33 sets in World League and was the team's best scorer with 113 points good enough for 31st among league players. He was also the team leader in points per set with 3.42. His 2.76 kills per set was the teams' second highest and he posted the team-high 91 kills. He tallied 12 aces (0.24 per set) and 10 stuff blocks (0.24 per set) while also posting 14 digs (0.35 per set). The U.S. Men placed second in their World League pool and did not advance to the final round. 2009 – Clay played the winter of 2007-08 with Zenit Kazan in the Russian Super League… Clay finished 2009 as the fifth-leading scorer on the team, finishing with 137 points on 107 kills, 16 aces and 14 blocks in 42 sets. His hitting percentage was 0.445. His 16 aces put him second on the team... Scored 22 points on 17 kills, four blocks and one ace at the NORCECA Continental Championship as the U.S. Men finished second... Clay helped the U.S. Men win the gold medal at the 2010 FIVB World Qualifier on Aug. 15-17 in Irvine, Calif. ... Clay played in eight World League pool play matches, splitting time with fellow opposite Evan Patak, and started both final round matches as the U.S. Men won their pool and went on to finish sixth. Clay finished World League pool play with 80 points on 63 kills, five blocks and 12 aces... Clay was the United States' third leading scorer in the final round with 18 points on 17 kills and one ace. 2008 – Clay played the winter of 2007-08 with Zenit Kazan in the Russian Super League… Clay finished the 2008 season as the team's co-leading scorer with 356 points (3.83 points per set) and as the team leader in service aces with 36 (.39 aces per set). He finished second on the team in kills with 281 (3.02 kills per set) and third on the team in digs with 112 (1.20 digs per set). He had a total of 39 blocks (.42 blocks per set), and a hitting percentage of 0.42... Clay was named MVP of the Olympic men's volleyball tournament as the U.S. Men finished with a gold medal. Clay was the top scorer of the tournament with 146 points on 116 kills, 15 blocks and 15 aces. He was also the leading server, averaging 0.45 aces per set. He was the leading scorer in seven out of eight of the United States' matches. Clay finished fifth among hitters with an efficiency percentage of 32.91... Clay helped the U.S. Men win their first World League title and was tied with teammate Reid Priddy for second in scoring in the final round. Clay finished with 63 points on 50 kills, eight blocks and five aces. Stanley's five aces put him fourth among all servers in the final round with an average of 0.33 per set. Clay had 11 aces in pool play to finish seventh overall... Clay was named the top server at the NORCECA Olympic Qualifier as the U.S. Men qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games. Clay finished the qualifier as the top U.S. scorer with 49 points on 33 kills, 10 aces and six blocks. 2007 – Clay played the winter of 2007-08 with Zenit Kazan in the Russian Super League… Clay finished the 2007 season with 39 aces to tie Reid Priddy for the team lead. He was fifth on the team in scoring with 281 points and averaged 2.81 points per set... Clay was the United States' leading server and fifth overall at the 2007 FIVB World Cup, where the U.S. Men finished fourth. He finished with 13 aces in 91 attempts and had an average of 0.33 aces per set... Clay was named Best Server for the NORCECA Continental Championship. He was credited with eight aces, 39 serve hits and 15 faults on 62 attempts for an average of 0.47 aces per set. He was also the United States' second-leading scorer and 13th overall with 59 points on 47 kills, eight aces and four blocks... Clay was the United States' leading scorer at Americas' Cup and second overall with 55 points on kills, six blocks and five aces... Clay was the United States' leading server, and fourth overall, in the final round of the World League tournament. He was credited with four aces, six faults and 17 serve hits in 27 attempts for an average of 0.29 aces per set. Clay did not rejoin the team for World League until the matches in France on June 8-9 because his Russian club team (Dynamo Kazan) played in the final of the Russian Superleague, which it won. 2006 - Struggled with a knee injury throughout the season... Was the team's third-leading scorer in World League matches with 94 points in 12 matches. Led the team in aces in World League play with 16. 2005 - Clay capped the 2005 season as a member of the USA squad that captured the silver medal at the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup in November in Japan... The Americans, who lost to defending Olympic gold medalist Brazil in the first match of the tournament, lost just one set the rest of the way as they defeated Japan (3-1), 2004 Olympic silver medalist Italy (3-0), Egypt (3-0) and China (3-0) en route to their fifth medal in five events this season... He led the United States in scoring in each of the five matches in Japan... Clay blasted 10 kills with two service aces and one block in the win over China and finished third among all scorers with 82 points on 65 kills, nine blocks and eight service aces... Scored a team-high 14 points as Team USA won its second-straight NORCECA Continental Championship with a four-set victory over Cuba on Sept. 15... The USA Men qualified for the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup with the gold-medal win. 2004 - Clay made his first-ever Olympic appearance in Athens, Greece as the USA Men finished fourth overall... Clay led the team and finished fifth overall in scoring with 110 points on 83 kills, 17 aces and 10 blocks... His 17 aces ranked second among all players in the tournament... His father, Jon, was a starter on the 1968 USA Men's Olympic Volleyball Team... Together, they become the first father-son Olympians in USA Volleyball history... Captured Best Server honors as Team USA qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, by winning the NORCECA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Caguas, Puerto Rico on Jan. 10... The men posted a perfect record of 6-0 en route to the gold medal, which included a come-from-behind, 3-2 win over Cuba in the championship match. 2003 - Named Most Valuable Player of the NORCECA Zone Championships in September after leading Team USA to the gold medal and a berth in the 2003 World Cup, the first Olympic qualifier... Led the United States in scoring (and finished 11th overall) at the World Cup with 128 points on 97 kills, 17 service aces and 14 blocks. 2002 - Rejoined the team in June and played an integral part in the team's success... Played in just 75 of a possible 141 sets during the year but still finished the season ranked first on the team in service aces (33), second in points per set (2.88) and third in kills (161) and in total points (216). 2001 -Led the team in service aces (24) and finished second in kills (217)... Tied for third in blocks (20) and added 79 digs while hitting .294 on the year... After the National Team season he played professionally for P.A.O.K. in Greece.

COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS: 2000 - Third-Team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation... Ranked in the Top 15 of the nation with a 5.53 kill average... Led the MPSF in aces and tied team record with 54... Finished career 10th on all-time kill list at Hawaii...Had 39 kills in two games, against then-No.1 Long Beach (Feb. 16) and against then No.4 UCLA... Against Long Beach (Feb. 16) also recorded nine digs and seven blocks... Was moved to middle blocker position on April 7, recorded 12 kills and eight blocks, a career-high. 1999 - Recorded a team-high 4.95 kills per game... broke Hawai'i's single-match kill record with 50 kills against UCLA... MPSF Player of the Week (Apr. 24)... Led the team in kills seven times... Three matches with more than 30 kills and four with more than 20 kills... Had back-to-back 30-kill matches with 30 against UCSB (March 6) and 32 at Long Beach (March 12). 1998 - Redshirted the 1998 season. 1997 - Played in 22 matches... Recorded 11 kills, two solo blocks and five block assists against USC (April 11)... Had 11 kills in his debut against UC San Diego (Jan. 17)... Had season-high seven digs against Cal State Northridge (March 7).

Updated May 25, 2012