Press Release
March 28, 2011. The Centennial A. Provost “Pop” Idell Volleyball Tournament will take place in the Kutztown University fieldhouse on Saturday, April 2, 2011, and will run from 8:30 a.m. until probably 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. Established by Pop Idell in 1912 as the Philadelphia YMCA Open Volleyball Tournament, the tournament is the world’s oldest continuous volleyball tournament. The United States Volleyball Association Open Championship established in 1928 is the second oldest tournament.
William G. Morgan invented volleyball at the Holyoke , Massachusetts YMCA in 1895 as a less strenuous alternative to basketball to entice businessmen to exercise. Nine years later in 1904, Pop Idell discovered volleyball at the Germantown , Pennsylvania YMCA and fell in love with the game. Although Pop completed an apprenticeship in architecture, his passion for the game compelled him to become a YMCA physical director. His work at the Y would transform volleyball into an international and Olympic power sport.
Over the next fifty years, Pop invented the doubles (two-person) volleyball game, introduced women to volleyball, invented mixed (men and women playing together) volleyball, encouraged minorities to play the game, designed the first twelve-piece balanced volleyball in 1924 at the request of the Spalding Company followed in 1937 by the first net dedicated exclusively to volleyball (declining the standard inventor’s commission in favor of a reduced price to customers), was a founding member of the United States Volleyball Association (USVBA) in 1928, was a member of the first group recognized by the USVBA in 1946 as “Leaders in Volleyball,” and was a member of the inaugural class of the first Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1954. In 1922, Pop was one of the first individuals designated as “National” Referees. The 1928 Germantown Big Red team he coached won the first USVBA National Championship.
Pop is credited with developing seventy-five percent of the volleyball rules established for the sport during its first half-century. Slowly, he transformed the sport by helping to develop the overhand serve, the multi-player block, limits on the number of times a ball could be contacted on each side of the net, variations on the spike, the first All-American teams, the first referee and player evaluations and clinics, and the first motion picture of the sport to assist coaches in teaching the game (1940). He standardized the size of the court, designed the first color lines to distinguish the court, established standards for artificial lighting of courts, developed score sheets, encouraged colleges to establish volleyball teams, and emphasized good sportsmanship as integral to the game. Until the YMCA established a rule prohibiting Y employees from competing on Y teams, he was an early dominant player. From 1912 to 1919, his team had a record of 750 wins and 75 losses, including a period in 1918-19 during which his team won 125 straight games, before losing a game by one point, and thereafter winning 75 more consecutive games.
Tireless in his promotion of the sport, Pop traveled 7,000 miles throughout the country in 1927 to conduct clinics and introduce the sport. He worked to qualify volleyball as an Olympic sport. From 1920 until 1954, Pop wrote several articles annually for the YMCA/USVBA Guide published by Spalding, including a column on “Intensive Volley Ball” often referred to cumulatively as the early Bible of the game. Pop concluded his volleyball career by officiating at the 1962 USVBA National Championships held at the University of Pennsylvania . He passed away May 5, 1965, at Chestnut Hill Hospital .
Many winning teams at the Pop Idell Tournament have advanced to capture the USVBA National Championship. Many Tournament alumni have graduated to play for the United States National Teams.
For more information about the Centennial Pop Idell Volleyball Tournament, please contact Dave Lockwood at 215-680-7831 or dmlockwood@rbwjr.com.