As so many “grassroots” outdoor volleyball tournaments are started by beach doubles volleyball fanatics, who just want to get more, and more, of their friends together and have a great time playing a little volleyball and enjoying a beautiful sunshine day; so did the Vail King of the Mountain begin: with a few transplanted Californians and a whole bunch of dedicated Coloradans who were just beginning to see the sport of beach volleyball come into its own in Colorado. There weren’t many tournaments in existence in the Rocky Mountain Region at that time; and, the majority of those were on the Front Range (Denver, Colorado Springs, and Ft. Collins). The very first “King of the Mountain Open” took place at the Gold Peak area of Vail Mountain. There was one (1) sand court there at that time; and, that was where the Men’s AA was played. 12 teams participated in that first year, 1973, over July 4th weekend. But, I don’t think that the organizers ever dreamed that the Tournament would last this long; nor, become the second largest beach doubles volleyball tournament in the Country.
Volleyball “legend”, Monty McBride, was one of the original “founders” of this long-standing Vail tradition. And, along with his other cohorts, John Purcell (of Purcell’s Restaurant), Tom Roshkind, and “Santa” Kilgore (owner of Santa’s Chili Bowl and father of USC All-American and standout USA Olympic Team Member, Kirk Kilgore), McBride helped create one of the most popular beach doubles volleyball tournaments in the Rocky Mountain Region offering no more than dinners at local restaurants as prizes; although Vail Associates (as Vail Resorts was known at that time) did donate seasons skiing passes to the winners of the lone Men’s division. By the mid-80’s, the King of the Mountain was drawing upwards of 500 teams from all over Colorado to compete on the grass at the Vail Athletic Field and Ford Park; and, even, some vaunted Californians playing in the Men’s AA division (there were, now, two (2) sand courts at Gold Peak). Due to its proximity to the center of Vail Village, the sand courts at Gold Peak drew many spectators from the crowds attending Vail’s 4th of July festivities; as they could hear the raucous crowd cheering at those ”main courts”. Volleyball promoter, Leon Fell, took over the Tournament in 2001 and, alluding to Vail’s “family atmosphere” that had been created over time, he added junior’s divisions, a FREE junior’s clinic, special Father/Son and Father/Daughter divisions (it is held, now, every Father’s Day Weekend), and men’s and women’s seniors and masters divisions. Utilizing both the Vail Athletic Field and Ford Park, once again, along with the three (3) beautifully situated sand courts at the east end of the VAF, the annual Vail King of the Mountain Open has grown to be one of the Rocky Mountain Region’s favorite events, with, still, upwards of 500 teams participating in this idyllic setting at the beginning of summer. Many thanks to those original “producers” for having had the vision to start a tournament high up in the Rocky Mountains. And, many thanks to all of those players who have kept coming back to this Tourney year-after-year. |
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