Mike O'Hara

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameMichael Futch "Mike"•O'Hara
Used nameMike•O'Hara
Born15 September 1932 in Waco, Texas (USA)
Died1 February 2018
Measurements193 cm / 84 kg
AffiliationsHollywood Stars, Los Angeles (USA)
NOC United States

Biography

Mike O’Hara played volleyball at UCLA, helping them win two NCAA championships, and also played for the Hollywood YMCA team. After college graduation he earned 12 US Volleyball Association (USVBA) All-American awards. He played on the 1959 gold medal winning Pan American Games team, and added a silver medal at the 1963 Pan Ams. In 1967 the USVBA gave him its All-Time Great Volleyball Players Award. O’Hara also excelled on the beach, winning 38 open beach tournaments in the early years of the sport. He and Mike Bright won the Manhattan Beach Doubles Open for five consecutive years.

After retiring from playing O’Hara served as a USVBA board member, was a volleyball referee, did announcing for televised volleyball, and was the Commissioner of the International Federation of Volleyball World Series of Beach Volleyball. He was volleyball commissioner for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and served as a consultant to the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Organizing Committees. He worked in other sports as well, and was one of the founding members of the ABA (American Basketball Association) in the 1967, and formed the International Track Association in the mid-1970s, a professional athletics league that only lasted a few years. He ran his own sports company, O’Hara Enterprises Inc., which pioneered multiple professional and Olympic sporting endeavors. In 1991, he was named Man of the Year by the Boys and Girls Club of Venice.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1964 Summer Olympics Volleyball (Volleyball) USA Mike O'Hara
Volleyball, Men (Olympic) United States 9

Special Notes