LOS ANGELES (AP) “”mdash; Kirk Kilgour, a three-time All-American
volleyball player at UCLA and an Olympian, has died. He was 54.
Kilgour, who was left a quadriplegic after a 1970s training
accident, died Wednesday at Mediplex Rehabilitation Hospital in
Thornton, Colo., after battling pneumonia and a series of illnesses
that kept him in the hospital most of the year, said former UCLA
volleyball coach Al Scates.
Kilgour rose to prominence in the early 1970s and was the first
U.S. player to play professionally in Italy. He played on UCLA’s
first two NCAA championship teams in 1970 and 1971, and over three
years led the Bruins to an 80-5 record. In 1972, he earned a spot
on the U.S. Olympic team.
In 1976, during training with the Italian Professional
Volleyball League, Kilgour bruised his spinal cord. Former Sen.
Alan Cranston, D-Calif., was instrumental in getting Kilgour flown
back to California for surgery, but he remained a quadriplegic for
the rest of his life.
Despite the injury, Kilgour continued to work as a volleyball
coach, sports broadcaster, actor, writer and disability
consultant.
Born in Los Angeles, Kilgour played beach volleyball in his
native Manhattan Beach and graduated from Mira Costa High
School.
The 6-foot-5 Kilgour was one of the first big men with the
coordination to play both defense and offense, Scates said.
“He would dive to the hard wood and come up quickly. He was
just a tremendous athlete,” he said.
Kilgour became the head volleyball coach at Pepperdine from
1979-81 and also was a sports broadcaster for major network and
cable outlets. He was a color analyst and interviewer for Olympic
volleyball telecasts in 1984, 1992 and 1996.
In 1984, Kilgour was voted a charter member of the UCLA
Athletics Hall of Fame, and joined Bruins legends Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar, John Wooden and Gary Beban as the hall’s first
inductees. UCLA also honored him by creating the Kilgour Cup, a
one-match benefit.
Kilgour is survived by a sister, Karen Sutter, of Saratoga,
Calif.; his mother, Bonnie Kilgour, also of Saratoga; and his
fiancee, Belinda Begley, of Thornton, Colo.