by Kevin Cody
Mike “Bones” Bright was the first Olympian to have graduated Mira Costa High School, where he was an All American basketball player, and a star volleyball player. Bright graduated in 1955, five years after the high school opened.
Bright competed on the USA National Indoor Volleyball team at the 1964 Olympics In Tokyo, the first year volleyball was an Olympic sport; and again at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City..
He also won a record five consecutive Manhattan Beach Open volleyball tournaments with partner Mike O’Hara. He was inducted in the California Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1995.
When not competing in volleyball, Bright competed in paddling events for the Los Angeles County Lifeguards. He won the 32-mile Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race in 1956, and 1957, and was inducted into the Hermosa Beach Surfer Walk of Fame in 1993.
Bright grew up in Hermosa Beach and was a member of the 17th Street Surfing Seals. They spent their summers surfing and playing volleyball, creating the model for what would later be marketed as “The Beach Lifestyle.”
Bright owned the Malibu Diver’s Club from 1969 until 1979. In 1975, a diving accident off Anacapa Island left him paralyzed from the waist down. But he remained physically active and co-coached the Pepperdine volleyball team with his wife Patti, who was also a two-time volleyball Olympian. ER
