The Santa Barbara Spikers were a co-ed professional volleyball promotion that won the championship of the International Volleyball Association (IVA) during the summer of 1978. The Spikers were the only IVA franchise to compete in all six seasons of the league’s existence from the league’s debut in 1975 until its collapse in 1980.
The Tucson Turquoise were an expansion franchise that debuted during the second season of the co-ed International Volleyball Association in 1976. The team lasted for only one tumultuous season, constantly shuffling its roster and finishing in last place with an 11-29 record. In 1977 new owners took over and re-named the team the Tucson Sky.
The San Diego Breakers were a founding entry in the International Volleyball Association when the co-ed promotion opened in five California and Texas cities in the summer of 1975. Motown Records boss Berry Gordy owned the Breakers during their first season. The Breakers won the IVA championship during their second season in 1976 before a crowd of 7,000 fans at the Sports Arena, but drifted into smaller arenas and high school gyms over the next two years before folding in early 1979.
The El Paso-Juarez Sol were a rollicking, co-ed pro volleyball squad that drew crowds to the El Paso Civic Center with a combination of international Olympic stars and cornball promotions from 1975 until 1978. The Sol were original members of the International Volleyball Association, a start-up operation in 1975 with five teams clustered in the Western U.S. The Sol were the only team located outside of Southern California during that first season, though the league eventually grew to include clubs in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Washington. IVA volleyball featured two women and four men on the court at all times and the league didn’t take itself too seriously. Sol games featured a roving P.A. announcer named Paul “The Mouth” Strelzin who galloped around the arena on a stick horse.
The Salt Lake City Stingers were a brief entry in the International Volleyball Association, a West Coast-based co-ed pro volleyball league during the 1970’s. Formed 1979, the Stingers featured a pair of top Olympians in Fernando de Avila (Brazil) and Stan Gosciniak (Poland) . While some IVA teams played in high school arenas, the Stingers played their home matches in the 12,000-seat Salt Palace, also home to the newly-arrived Jazz of the NBA.
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