May 5, 2008
PHILADELPHIA- Temple University head volleyball coach Bob Bertucci will be inducted into the YMCA Volleyball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2007, announced by the YMCA of the USA. A member of the YMCA for nearly 50 years, Bertucci's induction will be held at a luncheon scheduled in conjunction with the USA Volleyball Open Championships on Saturday, May 24, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Atlanta, Ga. This is Bertucci's second YMCA honor, earning the YMCA New York Metropolitan Area "Youth of the Year Award," based on YMCA involvement, leadership, organization, and achievement as a high school senior.
A 29-year coaching veteran whose teams have made numerous trips to the NCAA Tournament, Bob Bertucci is entering his 14th season as the head coach of the Temple volleyball team. Bertucci, a three-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year, is coming off a season where his team finished 9-4 in Atlantic 10 Play and captured its seventh A-10 regular season title. Described as an architect of the game, Bertucci has earned 282 wins at Temple, making him the winningest coach in program history. In his 13 years as head coach at Temple, Bertucci's teams have posted 20 or more wins nine times and earned four automatic NCAA Tournament bids, advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2002. His impressive career record of 634-331 includes an eight-year stint at the University of Tennessee (1979-86), where he led the Lady Vols to four NCAA appearances and three Southeastern Conference titles. He was the SEC Coach of the Year in 1984.
Bertucci was 8 years old when his lifelong dedication to the YMCA began. His father had acquired a membership at their neighborhood Staten Island YMCA, where Bertucci learned to swim and played volleyball. Under the direction of Scotty Mose, then director of Camp Greenhill (later the World Volleyball Center), Bertucci became fascinated with volleyball and joined the Staten Island Y men's AA team at age 15. He continued to devote his time to the YMCA, which he credits for giving him inspiration, direction, purpose and fulfillment.
After graduating from Springfield College in 1974, Bertucci took a job as Assistant Physical Director and volleyball coach at the Vanderbilt Y, where he helped the team qualify for the USA Volleyball National Championships in Reno in 1975. To date, Bertucci has written seven popular books on volleyball instruction and two books on football, and he has written and produced 13 videos on volleyball skills.
The YMCA Volleyball Hall of Fame was established in 1995 in celebration of the sport's 100th anniversary in the YMCA. In 1895, William Morgan, a Y instructor who felt that the popular sport of basketball was too strenuous for businessmen, invented volleyball at the Holyoke (Mass.) YMCA. Morgan blended elements of basketball, tennis and handball into the game and called it mintonette. The sport was renamed "volleyball" in 1896 to better describe how the ball went back and forth over the net. Volleyball's popularity quickly spread around the globe and became an official Olympic team sport in 1964. Today, 46 million Americans and an estimated 800 million people around the globe play volleyball regularly. Nearly 1,000 YMCAs offer volleyball programs for kids and adults.
Each year, the YMCA Volleyball Hall of Fame Committee selects individuals and YMCAs for induction into the YMCA Volleyball Hall of Fame. With the addition of this year's inductees, 73 individuals and 21 YMCAs have been inducted. YMCA memorabilia and historical data can be found in the National Volleyball Hall of Fame in Holyoke, Mass. Efforts are underway to establish a permanent site for the YMCA's Hall of Fame.
