Volleyball legend, two-time Olympian Pete Velasco dies at 85

When Pedro “Pete” Velasco Jr. assisted coaches Eddie Kalima in volleyball and Larry Manliguis in basketball at Hilo High School in the mid-1990s, many probably had no idea he was a two-time Olympian.

Velasco, 85, who died at home in Pahoa on March 21, was a starting player on the U.S. Men’s Olympic Volleyball team in Tokyo in 1964, serving as team captain, and again in Mexico City in 1968.

The second time around, during the height of the Cold War, Velasco, as setter, led the U.S. team to a win over the heavily-favored Soviet Union squad.

“He was only 5-foot-10. He was the shortest player on the volleyball team. … His vertical jump, he would jump waist-high over the net,” Velasco’s daughter, Pattie Chur, told the Tribune-Herald.

The win over the Soviets was the highlight for the U.S. men, who didn’t advance to the medal round, finishing 4-5 in pool play. For the team, which had five players from Hawaii — Velasco, John Alstrom, Tom Haine, Butch May and Jon Stanley — it was progress for an outfit that finished 2-7 in Tokyo.

Velasco, by then a family man in his early 30s, returned to Hawaii afterward and finished his collegiate career in the 1969 and 1970 seasons at Church College of Hawaii, which is now Brigham Young University of Hawaii.

“He was probably the best player I’ve ever seen,” said Kalima, Velasco’s teammate at Church College. “When we played together at Church College, we played a match with UCLA, which was the best team at the college level.”

Velasco earned NAIA All-American status both years and was named the Outstanding College Athlete of America in 1970.

“He could jump. He could do anything. I’m seeing things he’s doing, and my jaw’s on the floor,” Kalima said. “The people who are still around who watched him play, they’ll never forget him.”

Considered by many the best men’s volleyball player in Hawaii history, Velasco also played basketball at the University of Denver more than a decade earlier.

In addition, he played top-level amateur club volleyball, first for Honolulu’s Central YMCA team, then a decade-long run of first-team All-American recognition with Outrigger Canoe Club. He was selected the national tournament’s most valuable player in 1965.

“He was a great athlete, man,” said retired BYU-Hawaii volleyball coach Wil Navalta. “He could spike with his left and right hand, and he was very quick. And he could handle the ball. Great athlete, great skills, very akamai, everything.”

After receiving his bachelor’s degree, Velasco went to BYU in Provo, Utah, where he earned a master’s.

He and Kalima also started a club volleyball team, Lokahi, which became a longtime fixture in both the men’s and women’s divisions at the Haili Invitational Volleyball Tournament in Hilo.

“All his kids could play like him, the boys and the girls. I coached all of them,” Kalima said. “I gave back what their dad shared with me, to help me be a better player and a better person.”

“He knew how to teach his kids,” added Navalta. “I had three of his sons play for me my first year at BYU-Hawaii — Pedro, Philton and Philip. Long story short, we came to the Haili tournament, and we were playing in the open division. I think we came in third place in the open; we lost to Outrigger.”

Velasco became a teacher of at-risk students at Hilo High and later retired from the state Department of Education.

Leroy Simms, a retired Hilo High athletic director, said Velasco, a father of seven, “had a heart for the kids.”

“Pete really had an influence on a lot of kids,” Simms said. “And he was just a quiet, soft-spoken gentleman.”

”The thing about Pete was, he was intense, although he was a very humble individual,” Simms continued. “When he had a point to make, with either an adult or a young person, you could see it on his face. He was in the background, but his willingness to share from his heart how to be a better individual was always in the forefront.”

Simms also shared a story about Velasco that helped make him the stuff of legends.

“In the Radford High School gymnasium, I saw Pete jump up on top of an upright piano,” he said. “Two feet, straight up, from the floor — on the top of the piano.”

The Honolulu-born Velasco was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1980, the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1997, and the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

Chur said the family is extremely close and called her dad “a very loving father and husband.”

“He was married to my mom for 65 years before his passing,” she said. “People talk about his legacy as a basketball and volleyball player, but he loved his family first. He was great with the grandkids.”

Visitation is 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturday at Ballard Family Mortuary in Hilo, with service at noon.

Velasco is survived by his wife, Adelaide Velasco; children, Pedro (Paulette) Velasco, Powell (Joey) Velasco, Prenda (Lee) Moe, Prandi (Joseph) Guerreiro, Pattie (Darren) Chur, Philip (Bridgette) Velasco and Philton Velasco; 17 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.