Gary Pearce

Gary Pearce was a force at the net for the UCSB volleyball team in the late 1970s, early 1980s.

In his senior year for the Gauchos in 1980, he was named team captain, voted team MVP and earned second-team All-American honors. He also received the “Gaucho Award” as the most inspirational player, voted on by his teammates.

Pearce turned in one of the greatest individual performances in UCSB history during his senior year, hitting a perfect 1.000 percent, with 25 kills on 25 attempts, in a three-set sweep at San Diego State.

Pearce is a homegrown product. He attended Dos Pueblos High and Santa Barbara City College before moving on to UCSB. At DP, he was a driving force in organizing the volleyball program with coach Don Volpi.

Pearce earned All-CIF honors in 1974 and 1975 and was named the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table High School Volleyball Player of the Year in 1975. In his freshman season at SBCC, he earned All-Western State Conference honors as a setter and outside hitter.

Pearce was a big man blessed with all-around volleyball skills, which served him well in the beach game. He was one of Karch Kiraly’s early partners, and they won the 1977 Hermosa Beach “A” and took ninth in the Santa Barbara Open.

He picked up the nickname “Bam Bam” because of his booming left-handed blasts

Pearce continued to excel in beach volleyball later in life. He won the Santa Barbara Masters Men’s Tournament in 1993 and 1995.

One the highlights of his volleyball career was representing his country in international competition. In 1978, Pearce played for the USA Junior National Team at the Junior World Games in Brazil.

Pearce graduated from UCSB with a bachelor’s degree in ergonomics and earned a bachelor’s in physical therapy from Cal State Northridge.

In his professional life, he is the assistant director of Rehabilitation Services at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura and a practicing physical therapist, specializing in orthopedics, vertigo and vestibular disorders.

Pearce and his wife, Shannon, live in Santa Barbara. They have two sons, Cody (27) and Austen (18).