Irvine, CA – May 26, 2022 – USA Water
Polo is proud to announce the 38th induction class for the USA Water Polo Hall
of Fame. This year's class represents the complete water polo experience:
athletes, coaches and referees with involvement at the age group, collegiate,
masters and Olympic levels.
Layne Beaubien, a three-time Olympian
and 2008 Olympic silver medalist, and Kelli Billish-Fitter, a women's water
polo pioneer and FINA World Championship bronze medalist, join this year's
class. Bob Corb, a veteran referee who whistled at world-class events around
the globe, will be inducted alongside Russ Hafferkamp, a masters water polo
champion, coach and author. Rounding out the group is John Vargas, an Olympian,
Olympic team head coach and NCAA champion.
Join us on August 26 at 12 p.m. PT
for the Hall of Fame Induction luncheon at the Irvine Marriott in Irvine,
California. To purchase individual tickets or tables, click here. To learn more
about the Hall of Fame, including a look at all the past inductees, click here.
Congratulations to all the inductees!
More on the 2022 USA Water Polo Hall
of Fame Induction Class:
Layne Beaubien
Born on the Fourth of July, in the
year of the Bicentennial, it was perhaps a foregone conclusion that Layne
Beaubien would represent Team USA. A native of Coronado, California, the
6-foot-6 Beaubien carved out a career as one of the best defenders in the
world, competing in three Olympic Games (2004, 2008, 2012). A star at Coronado
High School, where he was named CIF player of the year in 1993, Beaubien played
collegiately at Stanford University, joining the Cardinal in the fall of 1994,
and found immediate success with a NCAA Championship. The title was part of a
run on The Farm that saw Beaubien become one of the best players in the college
game, earning MPSF player of the year honors in 1998.
After an unsuccessful bid to make the
2000 Olympic team roster, Beaubien reaffirmed his commitment to water polo and
became a mainstay for the stars and stripes. He racked up three Pan American
Games gold medals, a FINA World League Super Final silver medal and was part of
the history-making squad at the 2008 Olympic Games that claimed silver—the
first Olympic medal for the U.S. men in 20 years.
While competing for the United
States, Beaubien also became a sought-after player abroad, capping up for clubs
in Hungary, Greece, France and Brazil. He holds the distinction of being the
first American to play for a Hungarian club. Discovered by Hungarian legend
Tamas Farago, he joined KSI in 1999 That fall, he represented the US on the
"Best of the World" team in the famed all-star game in Budapest that
featured Olympic greats from the past and present.
Domestically, he's both played and
coached for the New York Athletic Club, winning a variety of championships and
joining the NYAC Hall of Fame in 2009. Beaubien is purported to be the first
player in the sports history to win national club championship on three
continents, taking titles with Fluminense (Brazil) in 2007, Marseille (France)
in 2008 and with the New York Athletic Club (USA) on multiple occasions. Beaubien
retired from international play following the 2012 Olympics but has stayed
involved in the game by coaching clinics and supporting Team USA. In 2013 and
2015 he was the assistant coach for the USA representative from UCLA at The
World University Games, helping guide the Americans to a bronze medal finish in
Gwangju in 2015.
Kelli Billish-Fitter
Part of a pioneering era in women's
water polo in the United States, Kelli Billish-Fitter capped up for the USA
Water Polo Women's National Team from 1984 to 1991, earning a silver medal at
the 1989 FINA World Cup and a bronze medal at the 1991 FINA World
Championships.
Already a member of the Illinois
Water Polo Hall of Fame, Billish-Fitter started playing water polo with Chicago
Park District in the mid-1970s before joining the boys water polo team at
Evergreen High School. A girls team was started one year later, and
Billish-Fitter excelled at the game, winning a state title and twice earning
player of the year honors. She'd also go on to compete at the Junior Olympics
in 1980 and 1981. After competing at the Junior Nationals in 1981,
Billish-Fitter began her college career at Slippery Rock in Pennsylvania under
the tutelage of legendary coach Richard "Doc" Hunkler. As her college
career wound down, her National Team career took off with the Junior National
Team in 1983 and then the senior squad. At the same time, she continued to play
high level club water polo with the Northern Virginia Water Polo Club.
If there was an important water polo
tournament in the 1980s and early '90s, Billish-Fitter was likely there.
Alongside Team USA competition, she competed at Senior Club National
Championships, USAWP Collegiate National Championships and seven Olympic
festivals concluding in 1993. She's remained an active water polo player since
then, capping up at Masters competitions for Oakland Water Polo, Honolulu Water
Polo and Anuenue Water Polo; she earned All-American honors in 2018 and 2019.
Outside of the pool, Billish-Fitter
has been a longtime coach in Connecticut, Illinois and Hawaii, and has led
clubs and high school programs, including Fenwick and Kamehameha.
Billish-Fitter guided Fenwick girls to a state title in 1999 and the Kamehameha
girls to runner-up finishes in 2007 and 2008.
Bob Corb
Like many elite referees, Bob Corb
started his water polo journey in the pool. A club player at Northeastern
University and then the University of Massachusetts, Corb transitioned to the
whistle not long after his playing days concluded. He founded the New England
Water Polo Referee's Association before migrating west to California in search
of the best available competition to officiate. Corb would advance through the
ranks, reaching the USA FINA list in the early '90s. He took on some of the top
assignments around the globe, including two Pan American Games, three FINA
World League Super Finals, three Junior Pan American Championships and a World
University Games.
A mainstay on the domestic front,
Corb was a longtime collegiate official and part of the crew at the first NCAA
Women's Water Polo Championship in 2001. He served as head referee at Junior
Olympics and Senior Men's Outdoor National Championships and was the NCAA
National Coordinator of Officials from 2009 to 2019.
Away from wearing the whites, Corb
coached a variety of clubs in Southern California, earning medals in Junior
Olympics play, and assisted in sports psychology for the USA Women's National
Team. At the administrative level, in addition to his work with the NCAA, Corb
served as the head of the Southern California Aquatics Federation, helped
launch the national women's collegiate championship and held a variety of roles
within USA Water Polo governance committees. In 2018 Corb received the Paragon
Award from the International Swimming Hall of Fame for his contributions to
water polo. He remains active in the game today as the Big West Conference
Coordinator of Officials.
Russ Hafferkamp
Some things just get better over
time—and that includes water polo player, coach and volunteer Russ Hafferkamp.
After an All-American career at UC Santa Barbara and time with Team USA leading
up to the 1980 Olympic boycott, Hafferkamp never strayed far from the game. A
perennial All-American selection and award winner that spans a 40-year-plus
playing career internationally and at the US open and masters division,
Hafferkamp has been a key part of more than 25 U.S. national championship teams
and five FINA Masters world championships, competing largely with The Olympic
Club and Santa Barbara Masters.
Hafferkamp has always found time to
be more than an athlete. He has coached more than 20 years with a variety of
programs, including UC Santa Barbara (men), UC San Diego (men), Cal Poly San
Luis Obispo (men), UC Berkeley (men and women), The Olympic Club (men and
women) and internationally in Australia (Tasmanian men). He has also coached
extensively with five separate men's and women's age-group and masters
programs.
Hafferkamp has long been a leading
pioneer and advocate for athletes within water polo, serving more than 12 years
in governance of USA Water Polo in a variety of roles. He was instrumental in
authoring legislation and funding for the formation of masters water polo and
fast-tracking athletes into officiating. A 2008 International Swimming Hall of
Fame honor recipient for water polo and member of The Olympic Club Hall of
Fame, he has also served as a researcher and statistician for NBC Olympics
during each of the Olympic broadcasts since Sydney 2000.
A longtime advocate and counselor in
helping athletes transition from sports to the working world, Hafferkamp
authored the book CareerBall: The Sport Athletes Play When They're Through
Playing Sports. To honor 120 years of water polo commitment, he published Water
Polo at The Olympic Club: A Century of Excellence. His latest project, a
children's book covering the COVID-19 pandemic, titled Fuzzy the Virus, was
released in 2020. Hafferkamp remains active in the game today, coaching,
playing and volunteering within water polo.
John Vargas
John Vargas has spent more than 40
years in water polo as a player and coach. He has found success at every level,
including high school, college and the U.S. National Team. The youngest of
three water polo–playing brothers raised in Hacienda Heights, California,
Vargas was a standout at Los Altos High School before heading to UC Irvine, one
of the preeminent programs of the time. Vargas helped the Anteaters to a
National Championship in 1982 and twice earned All-American honors. He didn't
go far from the Irvine campus after his college days, becoming the head coach
at Corona del Mar High School. He continued to play for the Newport Water Polo
Foundation, winning three U.S. Open titles and working toward his Olympic
dream.
While his older brother Joe made
Olympic rosters in 1980 and 1984, Vargas found himself as the final cut for the
1988 roster. Never the biggest player in the pool, Vargas remained determined
and helped Team USA to a FINA World Cup crown in 1991. He broke through on the
Olympic stage at the 1992 Games in Barcelona with a fourth-place result.
From there Vargas focused on
coaching, joining the Team USA staff ahead of the 1996 Olympic Games, while
still coaching at Corona del Mar. He earned the top job with Team USA, winning
World Cup gold in 1997 en route to a sixth-place finish at the 2000 Olympic
Games in Sydney.
After a stellar run with Corona del
Mar that saw seven CIF titles and five runner-up finishes, it was off to the
college ranks. Vargas took the reins of the Stanford University men's program,
winning an NCAA Championship in his first season in 2002. In a 20-year run on
The Farm, he coached a host of Olympians and All-Americans, while winning five
MPSF titles and adding a second NCAA title to his résumé in 2019. He added to
that five second-place finishes and reached the semifinals on three other
occasions. He was also a mainstay on the club scene, guiding the Stanford Water
Polo Foundation to two US Open titles on the men's side. Vargas retired from
Stanford following the 2021 season, ending with 389 career victories.
About USA Water Polo
USA Water Polo, Inc., is the national
governing body for water polo in America, overseeing our United States Olympic
program as well as 20 championship events annually, such as Junior Olympics and
Masters National Championships. With more than 50,000 members, USAWP also is
the sanctioning authority for more than 500 member clubs and more than 400
tournaments nationwide. USAWP is committed to the development of the sport
throughout the U.S., fostering grass-roots expansion while providing a national
system of affiliated clubs, certified coaches, and officials. For more
information, visit www.usawaterpolo.org.
Greg Mescall
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