Cal State LA Athletics

An alternate to the 1964 United States Olympic volleyball team, Kathy Gregory starred in both volleyball and basketball at Cal State L.A. She was the team MVP and team captain in both sports as helped Cal State L.A. dominate women’s athletics in Southern California.

She has been a very successful college coach at UC Santa Barbara, where, at the end of the 2011 season, had coached the Gauchos to 850 wins. She guided teams to 27 NCAA Tournament appearances and seen her teams finished ranked in the nation’s top-25 on 27 occasions. She is one of only five Division I coaches to record at least 800 victories. She was won Big West Conference Coach of the Year honors seven times and was the AVCA National Coach of the Year in 1993. She is a four-time AVCA West Region Coach of the Year.

Gregory represented the United States at the 1970 World Games and the 1971 Pan American Games and she was also the captain of the professional San Diego Breakers.

Gregory dominated the sport of volleyball as a competitor and was named Women’s Beach Tournament Player of the Year in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1983 and crowned “Queen of the Beach.” Over that period, she captured two world championships and became only the third woman enshrined into the Volleyball Hall of Fame on Oct. 21, 1989.

She was named to the USVBA’s All-Era team from 1949-79 and Gregory also contributed to nationally-televised volleyball broadcasts.

In 1981, Gregory was recognized for her contributions to the advancement of women’s sports with the “Salute to Women” award.