by Kevin Cody
Public announcers are among professional sports’ most important, and most underrecognized figures.
Fans come alive when a Vince Scully announces, “Look who’s coming out of the dugout.” And they go home when a Chick Hearns announces, “This one’s in the refrigerator.”
Announcers rally not just fans, but also their teams, as when SoFi Stadium announcer Sam Lagana issues his signature call and response, “Whose house? Rams’ House,” at strategically critical moments.
The CBVA (California Beach Volleyball Association) helped redress this oversight within its own sport when it inducted former AVP courtside and broadcast announcer Jim “The Tank” Arico into its Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame during this year’s ceremony on November 7 at the Hermosa Beach Community Theater.
But not before the packed, 500-seat theater audience was shown a video of Arico pleading with Chris “Geetor” McGee to put in a good word for him with the Hall of Fame selection committee, composed of previous inductees. McGee, who succeeded Arico as the AVP announcer, is now a Lakers announcer. He is not in the Hall of Fame. Lagana, who preceded Arico as AVP’s announcer, was inducted in 2023.
The self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek video was an insider acknowledgement that induction was overdue for the barrel chested, gravelly voiced announcer who rallied AVP volleyball fans during the sports “Golden Era,” from 1985 to the early 2000s.
Adding to its insider humor was the audience’s knowledge that Arico has emceed what he calls the “gathering of the tribe” every year since the Hall of Fame inductions began in 1992.
Beach Volleyball Olympian Dax Holdren (Athens 2004) told the audience what Arico’s announcing meant to the players. Holdren and gold medal Olympian Phil Dalhausser (Beijing 2008) were also inducted into the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame at the November gathering.
“In 1997, Todd Rogers (HoF 2019) and I were on center court in the Hermosa Open against Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh (HoF 2000, 1996 Olympics silver medalists). We had no idea how we got there. Then I hear the announcer say, ‘On center court, Dax ‘Super Hero’ Holdren.’ At that time there were 50 Hall of Famers on the tour. I didn’t even know Jim, and he introduced me as a super hero. He made the players feel important.”
Arico’s rallying cry was, “It’s the AVP on NBC.” He’d shout it at the start of every broadcast and when the broadcast returned from commercials.
“To hear the crowd roar when I said that was an unbelievable high. It created a feeling of both exhilaration and accomplishment that I’ll never forget,” Arico said in his induction speech.
He compared announcing to storytelling, with a narrative full of plot twists, and colorful characters.
“I tried to take fans on a trip from first round games with the underdogs hopeful of an upset, to Saturday evening, which had some of the most exciting battles because these teams were fighting to make it through to Sunday, and receive a paycheck that would at least cover their expenses. Then came the crescendo, the championship match.
“You have to take the fans on a journey. Provide them with an understanding of the tournament’s nuances. Talk about the North Bay/South Bay rivalries, partner breakups, and injuries. You set the stage for what is to come.”
“We were a band of traveling gypsies,” Arico recalled, “introducing the beach volleyball culture across the country. They had no idea what was coming. They ate it up like hobos on a ham sandwich. People would show up for their first AVP tournament in Chicago. And then we’d see them next week in Milwaukee and then in Cleveland.”
“Women were there to see the bronze gods of beach volleyball. The guys were very interested in the Miss Miller Lite contests, which were hosted by yours truly and the one and only Steve Obradovich (HoF 2005 ).”
AVP’s button down sponsors, who included Miller Lite, Pepsi, Nissan and Microsoft, weren’t always thrilled with Arico’s circus ringmaster style.
“I didn’t play the music of the day. I didn’t like media on my stage holding player interviews, especially when I was trying to fire up the crowd for the upcoming match.”
“The sponsors would say, ‘Jim, the excitement during the Sunday finals was unbelievable. Can you maintain that excitement throughout the entire tournament?’
“‘Are you crazy? No,’ I’d say.”
“If I injected fake excitement leading up to the finals, I would not only lose my audience. More importantly, I would annoy the players, which is something you do not want to do.”
Arico recalled a tournament when gold medal Olympian Karch Kiraly ripped into McGee for understating the number of tournaments Kiraly had won. McGee recalled the incident in detail, when he introduced Arico.
“I just did my first ever AVP tournament. I rode on the shoulders of a giant, Jimmy ‘The Tank’ Arico. I felt good. I go into the players’ tent to get a sandwich. Kiraly is there. He and Adam Johnson had just won the tournament. Kiraly looks at me. ‘Chris. You said Kent Steffes (Kiraly’s Olympics gold medal partner) has the most wins in the ‘90s. He doesn’t. I have 75 he has 72.’”
McGee said he panicked.
“I told Karch, ‘Arico made me say that.’”
That evening, McGee went back to the condo he was sharing with Arico and told him what happened.
“Jimmy. You won’t believe it. Kiraly knows my name. And by the way, Steffes wasn’t the winningest player in the ‘90s. Also, by the way, I threw you under the bus and drove it over your head.”
“Jimmy told me, ‘Don’t worry. Nobody cares.’” McGee told the audience it was one of the most important pieces of career advice he has ever received.
Arico grew up in Ladera Heights. He was introduced to beach volleyball at the Westport Beach Club in Playa del Rey, where his first partner was Tim Hovland (HoF 2016). He played football and baseball at St. Bernard High School in Playa del Rey, and a year of baseball at Loyola University, before transferring to USC in 1980. After being cut from the USC baseball team, he took Hovland’s suggestion he become the USC volleyball PA (Public Address) announcer. Arico and Hovland were roommates, and Hovland was on the volleyball team. During their summers Arico and Hovland played together in CBVA tournaments, and local beach volleyball tournaments like the Gillis Invitational in Playa del Rey, which was the first beach volleyball tournament Arico announced.
“In ‘85, when Hovland, (who was playing on the fledgling AVP tour), asked if I’d be interested in becoming the AVP announcer, I said, ‘Let me get this straight. I’m going to travel with you guys, and introduce the sport I love to the rest of the country, and get paid for it?’
“For the next two decades, I found myself on tour with some of the best people and craziest characters I’ve ever met.”
After USC, Arico attended Loyola Law School, built a second career in real estate, married, and raised three kids in Hermosa Beach.
At 68, he continues to announce the four-player Seawright Tournament in Hermosa, and BarryBob Tournament in Manhattan, when he’s not winning them. Arico’s team won this past summer’s Seawright Tournament, and he and his son Sammy are the only father-son duo on the BarryBob perpetual trophy.
In 2021, Arico received the Seawright Tournament Live Like Doug Award, named in memory of Doug Schneider, a popular Hermosa Beach volleyball player who died in a 2014 dirt bike accident.
“When we presented the Live Like Doug award to Jim, it was the only time I’ve seen seen him speechless,” presenter Annie Seawright said. Arico and Schneider were close friends.
Arico also competes in the Manhattan Beach Six Man, as leader of Good Stuff’s “psychological interference,” lawyer talk for heckler.
Next summer he will lend his voice to the newly formed Martha’s Six Man open team, a successor to the aging Good Stuff team, which has been demoted up to the masters division.
Arico ended his talk with a rallying cry addressed to his new Six Man team, but meant for the whole tribe.
“Next year is our year,” he said, pumping his fist overhead.
Olympians Dalhauser, Holdren
also introduced into CBVA HoF
Gold Medal Olympian Phil Dalhausser and Olympian Dax Holdren were also inducted into the CBVA Hall of Fame at the Hermosa Beach Community Theater on Friday, November 7.
The 6-foot-9 Dalhausser, nicknamed “The Thin Beast,” won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with Todd Rodgers (HoF 2019). In 2007 the two won the AVP Tour title and were the FIVB World Champions. Dalhausser also won the Manhattan Beach Open seven times, most recently in 2018. Following the past season, at age 45, he announced his retirement, but is rumored to be reconsidering that decision. He did not attend the Hermosa Community Theater inductions because of a scheduling conflict.
Dax Holdren was the AVP Rookie of the Year in 1997. He went on to win 14 AVP opens, including the Manhattan Open in 2002 with Eric Fonoimoana (2013 Hall of Fame). The following year the Santa Barbara native won the silver medal with Stan Metzger at the Beach Volleyball World Championships in Rio de Janeiro. In 2004 the two finished fifth at the Athens Olympics.
For more information visit CBVA.com. ER
