Holly Hanging It Up
2004 Olympic Bronze Medalist - Holly McPeak
This isn’t breaking news or anything, I just wanted to talk about it for a second.
Holly McPeak competed in her first professional beach volleyball tournament way back in 1987. The woman has been putting in her time as one of the greats for over twenty-two years. Think about that for a second. Why? Because it’s unheard of. Granted, the women’s side of the draw back then was a mere after-thought. Not until her husband, Leonard Armato, came in and re-launched the AVP in 2001; guaranteeing equal prize money for each gender, did the women’s side of the game begin earning respect.
Of course, we all know what further legitimized the women’s half of the draw in the sport of professional beach volleyball, Misty and Kerri. But, in order for Misty and Kerri to even exist as household names, we have to pay tribute to Holly. Seriously, it’s quite possible that without Holly bravely paving the way, who knows, maybe we would have never heard of Walsh or May? Lord knows Holly taught Misty everything she knew during their Olympic campaign in 2000, which May then wisely passed on to Walsh less than a year later, and the rest is double Gold Olympic history.
There are actually only a couple of things I wanted to touch on when I started this blog, so before I get out of hand, here they are: Holly deserves enormous thanks from every player, man or woman, which has ever played the game for being a consummate professional, for playing the game with diehard passion her entire career, for working harder on the sand and in the gym than any other player on tour, for winning the Olympic Bronze Medal in Athens, 2004, for caring about the sport more than any other female player in history, for being incredibly generous with her time to the fans and supporters of beach volleyball, for understanding her role as a spokesperson and always conscientiously establishing herself as a great example for others, AND, the most important one, dealing with Leonard Armato on a daily basis at not only work, but also her own place of residence.
Perhaps you find that last sentence humorous, but trust me, it’s not meant to be. It must take a certain kind of person to put up with Leonard and his never ending smarminess, and Holly has done it for years. Not to mention, since his firing, she’s remained almost silent. Who knows how she really felt about the whole thing inside; well, besides her Facebook status update the day he was canned, “Holly McPeak IS NOT HAPPY.” Regardless, she showed up, competed hard, and as far as I know, never spoke out negatively to the media or her fellow athletes about the situation. Granted, she placed 9th in each of the opening three tournaments, one of which, she went 0-1 in single elimination down in Florida, so there’s a good chance her play was doing the talking for her.
Bottom line, it was only a matter of time before she called it a career. Can you imagine continuing to play on a professional tour your spouse, who was in charge, just got canned from? To say the least, it must have been hard. I’m almost surprised it took her this long. And I am a little saddened she didn’t go out with dignity last year when she had proposed a retirement year from the start. Hind sight is always 20/20, that’s not a surprise; competing on the AVP without Holly McPeak is.
There’s no chance in hell she would ever read this, but I would like to wish her well anyway. A new chapter is about to unfold for one of Beach Volleyball’s Grandest Champions. Good luck Holly McPeak, the sport will miss you.
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I agree Hans! Thanks for the awesome time on the beach Holly…wish you the best and hope to still see you in the announcers booth!
Wonderful tribute to an icon of pro VB!!!
Hans
I have been a player and now a reluctant internet junkie on v-ball sites (as I can’t seem to find a decent game in the neck of the world I am currently living in), but all the posts I have read on your site have a subtle tone of dislike towards Leonard. Again, I don’t have 1% of the details you have, but just some advice I would like to pass on (take it as you will) that I received from one of my mentors…..Don’t burn too many bridges. From what I hear, a guy like Leonard will land back on his feet one day and you will never know where you will run into him again in future career endeavours. Make your peace now, as the continued bashing make come back to haunt. As you stated in this last blog, Holly seemed to take the “high-road” on this one. Considering her vested interested with Leonard, that is awfully big of her….and she is on 5′6″. Also, your rants are starting to sound like a broken record, don’t take that too personally.
Personally, I love reading disparaging comments from “Anonymous” sources. There isn’t anything quite like anonymity to substantiate the written word. Not to mention, topping it off with weightless words regarding topics you know nothing about.
I would hate to burn a bridge with a man that suspended me on multiple occasions for instances such as: wearing a tank top that stated my only sponsor, the W Hotel San Diego, on stadium court in Hermosa as Aaron and I beat Phil and Todd. Pre-match, he didn’t know who I was, after the match, he flew off the handle and suspended me until I took off the jersey and never wore it again, despite the fact that I had established the partnership with W Hotel San Diego years before Hilton came on board. After receiving proof, through a written contract, that I did have an established sponsorship agreement with the W Hotel, he tried thwarting me through a different route; that I could not advertise via jersey or shirt, as stated in the 4-year contract we all signed in 2004. Funny thing is, in 2008, Cuervo called; an AVP corporate brand sponsor, which he contested my involvement with them from the start and attempted to have Cuervo remove me from the team, but Diageo head, Greg Leonard, hand picked the athletes he wanted for “Team Cuervo,” so Armato couldn’t do a thing, and what happened? The brand made me a nice new tank top with Cuervo across both the chest and the back. Oddly enough, no problem. Advertising via jersey or shirt seemed to be “re-opened” for the players.
He also temporarily suspended me for writing a blog that turned out to be 100% truth, which I knew when I was writing it, but he personally attempted to discredit me saying everything was lies, and then forced me to immediately remove it from my miniscule little site if I ever wanted to compete on tour again. Every match the rest of the year, I played on the furthest court available.
At the risk of sounding like a “broken record,” I’ll stop at two, but I will bring to light one more story worth noting; Leonard arrived, with Bruce Binkow, an hour early for a private meeting between Jason Ring, George Roumain and “Maui and Sons” in 2004, that would have brought hundreds of thousands of dollars to the pockets of two of the AVP’s brightest young athletes, and instead of supporting them, he connivingly tried to bring “Maui and Sons” on as a corporate sponsor instead of a personal athlete’s sponsor. Stating how much further their money could go in the tour’s hands instead of Jason’s and George’s. “Maui and Sons” resented the deception being demonstrated by top management and pulled their money on everything. Jason and George lost out on a financial deal that could have substantiated their careers. Following, Leonard didn’t apologize, he instead screwed over Jason on a subsequent “Lift Off” sponsorship deal, who Jason was the face and name for at the time, and informed him that the AVP would do all the negotiating for athletic endorsements and determine who was worthy of a corporate sponsorship. Leonard gave the deal to other players he deemed more worthy, or were essentially willing to sell out, and listed Ring as public enemy #1. When we played together, it was debatable who was lower on the totem pole. Honestly.
I’ve only rehashed stories about two players, myself and Ringer. I could mention 20 other instances where variations of the same thing happened to different players across the board, all because of Leonard. Bottom line, Leonard was never a guy that cared about the players; why do you think there was so much dissention? I’m not the only one who feels this way, 90% of the tour does. I just happen to be the only one willing to speak his mind about it; which, obviously, has become overbearingly redundant.
And just so we’re clear, if I need to be 100% fake and bite my tongue about what kind of person he truly was in order to receive help from him later on in life, should that God-forsaken moment arise, what kind of person am I? Seriously.
Not redundant at all. The tour has obviously been a mess for quite some time now and it is vital that someone continue to speak out.
I don’t see your comments as negative or as a broken record, I see a person passionate about a sport who wants to see said sport be a success. As long as your critical analysis is focused on positive change (which it is), then it will always be needed.
And even though you did not need to defend yourself to an anonymous internet source who knows nothing of what he speaks, thanks for sharing just a bit more about the life of an AVP player.
If there are no signatures, then game on! Verbal gets you nothing. Sorry to say, but that is how many people look at business opportunities. One career that best describes some of these so called business people – LAWYER! LA is a lawyer and a sports agent (not sure if he is today?). We all know how they can be, when fighting for their client.
Hey Hans,
Keep up the great blogging – obviously there’s no clause in the recent contract about disparaging the AVP! And who can ever forget last year’s remarks about the AVP that you posted and then yanked in record time!
Holly was indeed a great champion for the sport, in so many ways. Her undying love and commitment will likely never be matched.
We’l always remember for not only her bronze medal with EY, but for the women she trained, as her short-term partners, who moved upwards and onwards (Branagh, Boss/Kessy).
And regarding Armato, we all feel your pain etched by man who was too ol’ skool for the sport. His pompAssness and dictatorship obviously did not sit well with the players, certain sponsors, and the USAV. However, he did lead the AVP out of bankruptcy and into the limelight- especially during the Olympic years when the AVP took advantage of a sizeable windfall for sure.