LEXINGTON, Ky. – Former Rainbow Wahine All-American Deitre Collins-Parker has been selected as one of the three inductees into the American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Class of 2008, along with Long Beach State women's coach Brian Gimmillaro and retired Stanford men's and women's coach Don Shaw.
The 2008 Hall of Fame class will be inducted in ceremonies on December 18 at the jostens Coaches Honors Luncheon, held in conjunction with the 2008 AVCA Annual Convention in Omaha, Neb.
During her years playing for the University of Hawai'i, Collins-Parker led her team to an impressive 138-15 record, guiding the school to the first-ever back-to-back volleyball National Championships in 1982 and 1983. In addition to earning three AVCA All-American honors during her collegiate career, Collins-parker won the Broderick Cup Award, signifying the nation's top female collegiate athlete, the first volleyball player to ever receive that distinction. Collins-Parker went on to compete at the national level, and played in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. Collins-Parker is now in her 15th year of coaching, and is currently the head women's volleyball coach at Cornell University.
Collins-Parker makes the effort to be a recognizable leader in the volleyball community, serving as a member of the AVCA Board of Directors, and the chairperson on the AVCA Minority Coaches Committee. In this position, she spearheads clinics for female minority coaches that are aspiring to pursue coaching positions at the collegiate level. She currently has membership with the AVCA, Coaches Accreditation Program, Kaepa Gold Medal Clinics, Black Coaches Association, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
After receiving her degree in communication from Hawai'i, Collins-Parker?s coaching career began at the University of Houston as women's volleyball assistant coach, and then continued at several other top volleyball programs around the country.
“(Collins-Parker) is an excellent ambassador for the sport of volleyball as she is known for her playing achievements while being very sincere and modest,” said Sarah Bernson, assistant volleyball coach at Cornell, in her nomination of Collins-Parker. “Even though her playing days ended in 1992, Deitre is continually being recognized for her playing ability and success.”
"If you want to know the quality people in volleyball, just look at this year's AVCA Hall of Fame class," said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. "The first volleyball player to win the Honda Broderick Cup awarded to the top woman athlete in the country, a coach who has trained players who have competed in over 10 Olympic games, and the coach with the highest winning percentage of any collegiate coach ever…and they were not in our Hall of Fame until this year. Remarkable people, outstanding achievements."
The induction of these three honorees now brings the total number of individuals honored to 44 in the six years of the AVCA Hall of Fame.
The AVCA Hall of Fame committee consists of Jeff Nelson (chair), Barb Viera, Brenda Williams, Julie Herman and Nona Richardson.
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