Elite athletes in professional sports are often compared to peers from their own era. Superstars are judged against the best from all generations. The truly special ones become linked to the hall of famers from every sport in the “Greatest of All Time” club

Meet “GOAT” club member Kerri Walsh-Jennings.

Walsh-Jennings had a tremendous indoor volleyball career — first Gatorade National Prep Player of the Year in 1996, a two-time NCAA champion at Stanford, four-time consensus All-American, the collegiate player of the year in 1999 and starting opposite on Team USA in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Only Kerri’s magnificent beach career could have rendered her indoor accomplishments pedestrian in comparison.

Kerri’s transformational run on the AVP Tour was rather serendipitous. When she teamed with Misty May-Treanor a beach Olympian with Holly McPeak in 2000. Walsh and May made their pro debut in Clearwater, Florida, in 2001 and finished seventh. That was a good start, but nobody anticipated the force of the launching pad it turned out to be.

One month later in their second event together in Oceanside, California, the duo finished first in dominating fashion. Potential quickly turned into production. Goals were accelerated. The last names were discarded. For the next 12 years they were simply referred to as Kerri and Misty with no other introduction required.

The greatest team in beach volleyball history went on to play 155 events together enroute to winning an astounding 104 tournaments. That win total included 63 in 75 starts on the AVP Tour during the sport’s most lucrative women’s era. Their batting average on the FIVB Tour was nearly as impressive, winning 40 of 77 starts including Olympic gold medals in Athens, Beijing and London. They won three world championships in the same time span to pad their resume’ for indisputable bragging rights as the greatest international team of all time.

There were also streaks that would make Joe DiMaggio envious. The pair won 89 straight matches on the AVP and FIVB Tours stretching across the 2003 and 2004 seasons. Most notably they won a record 19 consecutive tournaments from August 2007 to August of 2008, a milestone that can safely be etched in stone as unbreakable.

She won a record $2.6 million in prize money. With 135 total victories.

Kerri’s “Life after Misty” could stand alone as a top five Hall of Fame career. Despite being in full motherhood. She partnered with April Ross for a dominating run from 2012 to 2016 that included winning 12 of 13 AVP events and 11 more on the FIVB Tour and a Bronze Medal in Rio.

That capped Kerri’s incomparable Olympic journey with four medals and five total appearances.

Remarkably, Kerri’s accomplishments did not compromise a robust family life. She married AVP Tour men’s star Casey Jennings in 2005 and the couple won on the same weekend twice. They have three children all born in the peak of their professional athletic careers: sons Joey (2009), Sundance (2010) and daughter Scout (2013). Scout was along for the third gold in London when Kerri competed when she was five weeks pregnant.

Kerri has served as an inspiration to thousands of young girls who have benefited from collegiate scholarships created from the growth of women’s beach volleyball.

She may be done as a force at the net, but GOATs are never forgotten.