Pete Velasco attended the University of Denver, and played for the Denver YMCA at the 1956 US Championships. He later returned to his native Hawai’i, playing initially with the Central Hawai’i YMCA team and then for many years with the Outrigger Canoe Club. Velasco was an AAU All-American from 1962 until his 1972 playing retirement. In 1965 he was named MVP at the US Championships. Velasco won a silver medal at the 1963 Pan American Games and a gold medal at the 1967 Pan Ams. His career started out with Pan American Airlines but he later became an outreach counselor at Hilo High School. In 1978 Velasco was the first volleyball player to be inducted into the Hawai’i Sports Hall of Fame. He is a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame and was inducted into the US Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1997. In 1980 the US Volleyball Association named him an All-Time Great Player.
United States