Our tribute to one of the masters of the game

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There’s only one Todd Rogers. Photocredit: Cameron Baird.

It only feels right that our Tuesday Talent feature this week pays homage to a true legend of beach volleyball.

Todd Rogers called time on his competitive involvement in the sport at the weekend, playing his last match of a glittering career on Saturday in the AVP Manhattan Beach Open.

The crowd and teammates past and present Dax Holdren, Sean Scott, Phil Dalhausser, Ryan Doherty and Theo Brunner – the latter two who will be playing at the Klagenfurt Major next week – paid tribute to Rogers, affectionately known as the Professor, during a special ceremony between Sunday’s championship matches on Manhattan Beach.

He won the Manhattan event three times in a row between 2006 and 2008, and those were just three victories that Rogers scooped in a career that saw him win gold no less than 80 times – 24 of which came on the international stage on the FIVB World Tour.

One of those 24 was particularly special for the Professor: Rogers, together with Dalhausser, romped to Olympic glory in 2008 at the Beijing Games.

And it was with Dalhausser – who was on hand to honor his former partner in crime on the court on Sunday – that Rogers achieved such incredible success. 

Todd and Phil Dalhausser high-five in Manhattan at the weekend. Photocredit: FIVB.

But it’s hard to believe that it took Rogers, now 42, almost four years to capture his first AVP tournament – and a further two years to win his first FIVB World Tour gold. But once he got that first victory – in the AVP Minneapolis Open – there was no looking back…

Rogers and Dalhausser formed a lethal partnership that lasted six incredible years that also saw them win not one but two world championship gongs – in 2007 in Gstaad and two years later in Stavanger. And while we’re preparing for the Klagenfurt Major next week, did you know Rogers and Dalhausser’s first FIVB success came in Klagenfurt back in 2006? No? Well now you know.

His beach volleyball CV says it all. Only four other players have won more gold medals on the international stage – only six men have won more competitions than Rogers in the history of the sport.

So what now for this living beach volleyball legend? More beach volleyball, of course. But the Professor will leave competing now and concentrate on coaching at the California Polytechnic University – passing down his knowledge of the game to those youngsters who dream of emulating the career he enjoyed on the sand.

Thank you, Todd. We salute you.