Long Beach’s incredible history in women’s volleyball is well-known, as four national championships in the last twenty years have come through Long Beach State, as well as world-famous players such as Tayyiba Haneef-Park and Misty May-Treanor. But unless you were at Smooth’s last Thursday, you probably didn’t know that we’ve had another legend in our midst: Logan Tom, youngest player to ever make the Olympic team (in 2000), and a key component in the team’s silver medal run in Beijing this summer. Though she hasn’t really done any public appearances in the city, Logan has spent her offseasons in Signal Hill and Long Beach for the last decade, and says she’s currently shopping for houses in the Belmont Shore/Naples area. You might wonder why the Salt Lake City-raised and Stanford-educated Olympian comes back year after year, but in her words it’s incredibly simple: “Home is where my mom is.”
Tom’s mother, Kristine, has been a teacher at Hill Middle School (right by Long Beach State) for the past decade. Since Logan spends 8 months a year playing internationally (in countries ranging from Brazil and Italy to Russia and Japan), she needs a home base for the summer offseason; ever since she graduated high school, that place has been the Beach. Tom seemed excited to be at Smooth’s, receiving an honorary Olympic ring from Shannon Ashworth of the OC Tanner Company (who have manufactured over 900 rings for Olympians and coaches this year). “It’s great to actually get out and meet you all,” she told the gathered crowd. Proving herself a warrior off the court as well as on, Tom talked for about ten minutes, then smiled and posed for pictures—all while recovering from a dental visit earlier in the day that made moving her mouth painful.
Tom with our web designer, Angie Yen. Yes, that is a silver medal around Angie’s neck.
She was more than generous with the residents and politicians there, too, passing around her silver medal and actually encouraging people to try it on. While posing for pictures, she actually persuaded a few people to put it around their neck—”No, please, go ahead, it’s meant to be enjoyed.”
Tom is flying to Japan soon, to join the Hisamitsu Springs, a professional Japanese team that she’ll spend the next season with. After that, though, she’ll hop on a plane and come back to her decades-long home, a volleyball crazy city that didn’t even know it had yet another Olympian in its midst. I know I couldn’t be happier that she’s shopping for houses and looking to put roots down; well, maybe I could if she hadn’t used up all her eligibility at Stanford…
Disclosure: Smooth’s is an LBPOST advertiser.