Jon Lee

Jon Lee was born into a basketball family and a family of educators.

Educating always has been a big part of his life’s mission. But when it came to sports, he forged his own path and found his passion in volleyball. The sport has not only enriched his life but the lives of hundreds of local youth and youth around the world.

Lee served as the head volleyball coach for the boys and girls varsity teams as well as a respected English teacher at San Marcos High from 1986 to 2009. He guided the Royals to several Channel League titles, won three CIF-Southern Section championships, sent numerous student athletes to play in college, and inspired more than 40 of his former players go into the coaching ranks. Among them are Jason Donnelly (Rutgers University, Bishop Diego, Laguna Blanca), Erica Menzel (San Marcos), Dwayne Hauschild (Dos Pueblos & San Marcos), Dave Goss (Providence), Todd Rogers (Laguna Blanca, UCSB, Cal Poly SLO).

Lee had such an impact on student athletes at San Marcos that the school named the gym court after him.

Lee’s vast knowledge of the game helped propel Rogers, Dax Holdren and Brook Billings to become Olympians. Holdren finished fifth in beach volleyball at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. Billings played on the U.S. Indoor team in Athens. Rogers won the gold medal in beach volleyball at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China and is recognized as one of the all-time best players in the world.

He has done just about everything imaginable in the sport of volleyball. He played four years at UCSB and won a national indoor championship in 1969, beating UCLA in the U.S. Volleyball Association final. He earned second-team All-American honors three times. He still dabbled in basketball while attending UCSB, winning a two-on-two intramural title with Michael Berger in 1968.

He went overseas and played two years of professional volleyball in Mallorca, Spain, winning a second division Spanish national championship in 1974. He returned to Santa Barbara and played a season with the Santa Barbara Spikers pro team of the International Volleyball Association.

Lee then devoted himself to beach volleyball and played 12 years at the highest level. His playing partners included his younger brother Greg Lee, who was the point guard on back-to-back (1972-73) NCAA championship basketball teams at UCLA, John Hanley (SBHS alum), Karch Kiraly (SBHS alum), Don Shaw and Larry “Boomer’ Milliken.

He’s continued to play on the sand after his glory years and has won nine divisional titles at the Motherlode Volleyball Classic in Aspen, Colo.

Lee is also skillful with words, and that talent led to a gig as a senior editor for Volleyball Magazine. The job allowed him to travel all over the world, including Cuba. His expertise in volleyball combined with his loquaciousness helped land him a broadcasting job with ESPN.