Kent Steffes is a former professional beach volleyball player. Steffes received his AAA beach rating while still attending Palisades High School. He was named the 1986 National High SchoolPlayer of the Year and was the nation's most highly recruited high school senior. In 1987, he won the World Championships in San Diego with his partner Forrest Smith. He enrolled at Stanford University and played for one season before transferring to UCLA where he graduated with a degree in Economics. While a Bruin he joined the AVP Tour full-time in 1988. Steffes eventually teamed with Karch Kiraly, on the professional beach circuit. The two formed one of the beach's most successful partnerships. Steffes earned the AVP No. 1 ranking at age 22, the youngest player ever to do so. Along with doubles teammate Kiraly, they won the gold medal in beach volleyball at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the first to win the gold medal in this event. During the 1990's Steffes teamed with numerous partners to win over 110 events dominating the competition in the decade of the 90's. Steffes graduated from UCLA in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in economics. That same year he was a member of the AVP Board of Directors, and served as Secretary. In 2000 he enrolled in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford, where he graduated in 2002. Steffes has two children, Katharine Jackson Steffes, born in followed two years later by Conrad William Steffes, born.
Highest winning percentage in history of the sport
Kent Steffes Hall of Fame Biography USA Volleyball All-Time Great Male Beach Player Kent Steffes started playing indoor volleyball at the age of 12 before transitioning to beach volleyball where he advanced to become one of the most decorated players of all time. Kent’s talent emerged when a group of parents in Pacific Palisades, California started a club team. He played in many USA Volleyball Junior National Championship competitions, while also playing beach events during the summer. As the No. 1 recruit out of high school, Kent accepted a scholarship to Stanford University where he played freshman year before making the decision to go professional. That decision resulted in travelling the world and producing one of the most successful careers on the beach. Kent won his first AVP Tour Open in 1989 and was named AVP Best Up-and-Coming Player that same year. By age 21, Kent became the youngest Number-One-Player in the history of the AVP. He’d go on to win with numerous partners, capturing World Championships, World Cups, Manhattan Beach Open titles, and setting records such as: most wins in a single season, most consecutive wins, and highest winning percentage of all time. In the early 1990’s, Kent partnered with Karch Kiraly and together they won 63 of 75 tournaments during one stretch. But it wasn’t just winning, it was how they won. In one tournament, the pair yielded just 11 total points. Together they introduced the world to Beach Volleyball at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, bringing the first gold medals in the sport back to the USA. In 1997, Kent partnered with Jose Loiola, continuing his dominance of the decade. Kent retired in 1999 having amassed 110 tournament wins, $2.5 million in prize money, and the honor of being named Greatest Beach Volleyball player of the 1990’s.
