James Menges was born on January 10,1951 and is an American former volleyball player, coach, and Association of Volleyball Professionals tournament director.
25 Facts About Jim Menges
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Jim Menges played college volleyball for the UCLA Bruins under head coach Al Scates.
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Jim Menges is best known for beach volleyball, where he was the game's most dominant player from the mid 1970s through the early 1980s.
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Jim Menges was a standout athlete at Santa Monica High School.
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Jim Menges earned All-American honors in his senior year at UCLA.
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Jim Menges started playing beach volleyball on Santa Monica's Sorrento Beach at the age of 17.
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Jim Menges commonly played with and against Tom Chamales, who had graduated a year before him from Santa Monica High, and Randy Niles.
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Jim Menges played volleyball for Al Scates while Lee played basketball as a guard for John Wooden during the Bill Walton era.
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Partner changes are common in Pro Beach Volleyball, and Jim Menges played with many of the game's top players.
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Besides Ron Von Hagen and Greg Lee mentioned above, Jim Menges partnered extensively in 1977 with Chris Marlow, and later with Matt Gage.
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At the time of the 1981 Manhattan Open Stoklos was a 20-year-old just out of UCLA, while Jim Menges was a beach veteran of 31.
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Jim Menges won tournaments pairing with Tom Chamales, Gary Hooper and Jon Stevenson.
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Jim Menges offered that with all said and done, Greg Lee was his favorite partner.
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Jim Menges retired in 1983, but came out of retirement in 1991 at the age of 40 to compete in the AVP Beach circuit.
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Jim Menges played in 15 more tournaments before retiring again.
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All told during his 13-year career Jim Menges entered 75 Open tournaments, advancing to the finals 62 times, and winning 48 events.
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Jim Menges won the Manhattan five times, winning titles in 1975 and 1978 with Greg Lee, in 1977 with Chris Marlowe, in 1979 with Sinjin Smith and in 1981 with Randy Stoklos.
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Jim Menges was considered king of the beach in the mid to late 1970s.
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Jim Menges has served as Tournament Director for the AVP Tour.
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Jim Menges was inducted into the CBVA Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1994.
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Jim Menges would wear down his opponents, placing a relentless pressure on them to avoid making mistakes in long side-out battles, while not allowing himself or his partners to make errors when it was their turn to receive serve.
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Jim Menges was the games best setter and an outstanding digger.
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Jim Menges prepared for tournaments just by playing the game, and he played game after game, spending all day at the beach every day.
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Jim Menges played for the fun of it and for the challenge of trying to prove himself.
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Jim Menges excelled at the mental and physical skills of two man beach volleyball, and these enabled him to dominate the game and define an era of the sport.