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Dain Blanton:
 
Dain Blanton
United States  
    
 
Vital Statistics
 

Photo: Ken Delgado
Birth Date November 28, 1971 (52 years old)
Home Town Laguna Beach, CA
Resides Los Angeles, CA
Height 6'3"
College Pepperdine
Web Site dainblanton.com/
  Best Finish Winnings
United States 1st (9 times) $519,298
   AVP 1st (8 times) $464,187
   AVP HWN* 3rd $6,750
   BVA 1st $6,250
   USAV 3rd $6,875
   Bonus Money   $35,236
International 1st (2 times) $207,485
   FIVB 1st (2 times) $207,485
Overall 1st (11 times) $726,783
 
Bio Bits

Dain Blanton's greatest accomplishments include winning the Olympic Gold medal for the USA at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 alongside former partner Eric Fonoimoana. He also is the first male African-American in history to win a major beach volleyball event, the AVP Hermosa Grand Slam in 1997.

 

In 2004 Blanton once again made history by earning a spot in the Athens Olympics and becoming the first two-time U.S. male Beach Volleyball Olympian. In his beach career he has played with six other U.S. beach Olympians.

He finished the 2005 season with the fifth most aces (57) and was ninth in digs (565) on the Tour while playing with Olympian Kevin Wong. Blanton teamed with Jeff Nygaard for the 2004 season. The duo came home six days after the Olympics and won the famed AVP Nissan Series Chicago Open for the second year in a row. In 2003, the duo captured three AVP titles in
San Diego, Chicago and Las Vegas and was named AVP Team of the Year.


Blanton has been a finalist on the hit show "The Bachelor", was named to US Weekly's "Hottest Olympians" list in 2004, and was also Outside Magazines "Fittest Athlete."


In 1997, Blanton created "Dain's Day at the Beach," which was created to provide children with the opportunity to participate in the non-mainstream sport of beach volleyball. The charity has formed relationships with various youth organizations around the country.


Blanton grew up in
Laguna Beach and was a two-sport athlete at Laguna Beach High School, turning down several college basketball scholarships. He began playing volleyball at age 11 because his older brother Kurt played. Dain was Orange County's Player of the Year and was named to Volleyball Monthly's "Fab 50" list as one of the nations top recruits. He also earned All-American honors at the Junior Olympics.


He graduated from
Pepperdine University with a degree in Public Relations, earned his teaching credentials.  The Waves won a National Championship in 1992 (his sophomore season) while he competed on the school's volleyball team.


Blanton was born in
Laguna Beach and currently resides in Santa Monica, California.


Olympics (two, gold, 19th, 0-3 Pool, 5-0 Elimination, 5-3 Overall):
• Qualified for Sydney 2000 Olympics as the number nine seed with Eric Fonoimoana. Won all five matches in bracket play, winning the gold medal, defeating Brazil's Ze Marco de Melo/Ricardo Santos in the finals.
• Qualified for Athens 2004 Olympics as the number eight seed with Jeff Nygaard. Went 0-3 in pool play and finished 19th.
 
 
Awards
 
  • CBVA Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame 2016
  • AVP Best Offensive Player 2003
  • AVP Special Achievement 1997
  • AVP Team of the Year 2003 (Jeff Nygaard)
 
Career Summary
 
United States
Season Assoc Played 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 7th 9th Money Points Rank 12th 13th 17th 19th 25th 33rd 34th 37th 57th CQ
1994 AVP 14 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 $13,520.75     0 5 5 0 2 0 0 0 0 0
1995 AVP 22 0 0 0 0 2 1 4 $39,425.00     0 7 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
1996 AVP 20 0 1 1 1 4 5 3 $75,565.00     0 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1997 AVP 22 1 1 4 4 5 3 0 $118,719.00     1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1998 AVP 18 0 2 7 0 2 3 2 $32,470.50     0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1999 AVP 10 2 3 1 1 3 0 0 $69,600.00     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1999 USAV 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 $1,875.00 68.0 29th 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2000 AVP 6 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 $22,000.00     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2000 USAV 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 $5,000.00 136.0 5th 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2001 AVP 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 $6,950.00 270.0 41st 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Season Assoc Played 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 7th 9th Money Points Rank 12th 13th 17th 19th 25th 33rd 34th 37th 57th CQ
2001 BVA 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 $6,250.00 144.0 3rd 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2002 AVP 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 $1,155.00 131.0 55th 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
2003 AVP 8 3 1 0 0 0 2 1 $40,005.00 1,109.0 8th 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2004 AVP 11 1 0 3 0 3 0 4 $29,300.00 1,199.0 9th 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2005 AVP 12 0 0 2 0 1 2 4 $23,437.50 1,184.0 19th 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2006 AVP 14 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 $14,062.50 901.0 29th 0 4 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
2007 AVP 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 $10,237.50 768.0 38th 0 2 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2008 AVP HWN* 3 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 $6,750.00     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2008 AVP 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 $2,625.00 298.0 57th 0 0 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
2010 AVP 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 $350.00 95.0 163rd 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total
(Rank)
  191
(35th)
9
(44th)
10 21 6 21 21 27 $519,297.75
(28th)
6,303.0   1 27 38 0 6 1 0 0 0 0
 
International
Season Assoc Played 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 7th 9th Money Points Rank 12th 13th 17th 19th 25th 33rd 34th 37th 57th CQ
1995 FIVB 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 $0.00 5.0 186th 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
1997 FIVB 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 $12,850.00 270.0 52nd 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1998 FIVB 7 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 $23,950.00 527.0 41st 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1999 FIVB 9 0 0 0 2 1 0 4 $26,750.00 708.0 26th 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
2000 FIVB 11 1 0 1 0 1 0 5 $25,500.00 766.0 22nd 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2001 FIVB 9 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 $27,500.00 686.0 21st 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
2002 FIVB 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 $9,485.00 267.0 55th 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 0
2003 FIVB 8 1 0 1 1 1 0 2 $43,750.00 998.0 22nd 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
2004 FIVB 9 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 $20,750.00 519.0 47th 0 1 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
2005 FIVB 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 $14,500.00 364.0 68th 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Season Assoc Played 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 7th 9th Money Points Rank 12th 13th 17th 19th 25th 33rd 34th 37th 57th CQ
2006 FIVB 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 $2,450.00 80.0 149th 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total
(Rank)
  68
(217th)
2
(119th)
1 3 4 5 6 17 $207,485.00
(120th)
5,190.0   0 7 13 1 5 0 1 1 1 1
 
 
 
 
Overall
Total
(Rank)
  259
(25th)
11
(76th)
11 24 10 26 27 44 $726,782.75
(47th)
11,493.0   1 34 51 1 11 1 1 1 1 1
 
* AVP Hot Winter Nights events are exhibitions and only count for tournaments played and prize money won.
 
Red denotes ranked 1st
 
Victory List
 
Victory Date Assoc Location Partner Seed Winnings
1 6/15/1997 AVP Hermosa Beach Canyon Ceman 7 $30,000
2 5/2/1999 AVP Clearwater Eric Fonoimoana 5 $10,000
3 8/22/1999 AVP Cleveland Eric Fonoimoana 2 $9,000
4 5/28/2000 AVP Santa Cruz Eric Fonoimoana 4 $8,000
5 9/26/2000 FIVB Sydney Eric Fonoimoana 9  
6 5/27/2001 BVA Oceanside Eric Fonoimoana 1 $2,500
7 6/8/2003 FIVB Rhodes Jeff Nygaard 24 $11,000
8 6/15/2003 AVP San Diego Jeff Nygaard 11 $7,250
9 8/31/2003 AVP Chicago Jeff Nygaard 8 $8,700
10 9/6/2003 AVP Las Vegas Jeff Nygaard 7 $15,000
Victory Date Assoc Location Partner Seed Winnings
11 9/5/2004 AVP Chicago Jeff Nygaard 3 $8,700
 

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