Hall of Fame
From the 2008 Hall of Fame program:
Dain Blanton was a star in both basketball and volleyball at Laguna Beach High School. He was offered several college basketball scholarships, but turned them down as he started to develop a passion for beach volleyball. Having been named Orange County’s Player of the Year in 1990, Blanton accepted a full scholarship to Pepperdine.
He had an exceptional career with the Waves, lettering for four seasons (1991-94) as an outside hitter. Blanton was a key member of the 1992 NCAA championship team. He was named to the All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation second team as a senior in 1994.
He ended his career well-represented in Pepperdine’s all-time records book. He still holds the Pepperdine record for digs per game (2.30), and previously held the career record for total digs (707). He now stands second in that category. In addition, he ranks 11th all-time in career kills (1,190).
On the single-season records list for the sideout era, he ranks both second and third in digs per game (2.89 in 1994, 2.66 in 1993) and third and seventh for total digs (237 in 1994, 221 in 1993).
Blanton graduated with his degree in public relations in 1994.
Blanton joined the AVP Tour in 1994, where he has earned 11 first-place tournament wins (nine domestic and two international). He was the first African-American to win a major beach volleyball event when he won the AVP Hermosa Grand Slam in 1997, the same year he also won an AVP Special Achievement award. Blanton was named the AVP Best Offensive Player in 2003, as well as that year’s AVP Team of the Year with Jeff Nygaard.
At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Blanton and partner Eric Fonoimoana won a gold medal in Beach Volleyball. Blanton became a two-time Olympian when he and Nygaard played in the 2004 Athens Games, which resulted in him becoming the first two-time U.S. male Beach Volleyball Olympian.
In 1997, Blanton created “Dain’s Day at the Beach,” which is aimed at helping children learn about and play beach volleyball. In 2004, Blanton was named the “fittest athlete” in Outside Magazine.
After 13 years of playing beach volleyball, Blanton is focusing his attention on sports broadcasting. He currently broadcasts for the Angels, Dodgers, Clippers, UCLA and USC. His future plans are to continue his sports broadcasting career and to continue sharing his love of beach volleyball. Blanton resides in Los Angeles, Calif.
