With 14 career beach volleyball Pro Tour wins and nearly 80 top four finishes with 12 different partners, Dane Selznick was an easy pick as one of the "Legends of the Beach" in 1997, a designation coming on the heels of a memorable playing career that has transitioned into a successful coaching career for international and national players.

Known as one of the game's most unyielding defensive players (he was named one of Volleyball Magazine's Top 10 defensive players of all time), Selznick began playing at Santa Monica's State Beach at the age of 15 in 1971. His beach career began four years later, and by 1980 he had won the World Championships in Redondo Beach with partner Andy Fishburn.

"We had a great chemistry and really complimented each other's game," he says of his time with Fishburn. It was with Fishburn that Selznick had his most memorable win–in 1980 at Laguna Beach, where they came through the loser's bracket to win the tournament.

The game has certainly changed a lot since Selznick and his late father, beach volleyball pioneer and fellow Hall of Famer, Gene, dominated the courts. Selznick says he thinks players today will never really understand the days of getting to the beach early and "winning every game you play until the sun goes down." Still, he's happy that some things will probably never change about the beach scene: "The atmosphere, the girls in bikinis, jumping in the ocean after a game and all the hard work it takes to become successful."

written by:: Jill Gottesman