COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 13, 2023) – USA Volleyball was saddened to learn of the deaths of two of its men’s Olympians: Barry Brown, a member of the 1964 U.S. Olympic Men’s Volleyball Team and Pedro “Pete” Velasco, a member of the ’64 and ’68 Olympic teams.
Brown died on December 20, 2022, at age 88 in Reno, Nevada. Velasco passed on March 21, 2023, at 85 on The Big Island in Hawaii.
Brown was born in Culver City, Calif., and was a 1956 All-American volleyball player at Stanford where he also played basketball. In the 1950s, he played beach volleyball with fellow Olympian Mike O’Hara among others. Indoors, he earned All-American honors with the Stockton YMCA and the Hollywood YMCA Stars. Brown won several national championships with the Stars in the men’s open division.
In 1963, Brown won the silver medal with the U.S. Men at the Pan American Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil, before competing on the first U.S. Olympic Men’s Volleyball Team at the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo.
Pedro “Pete” Velasco was captain of the 1964 U.S. Olympic Men’s Volleyball Team and competed with the 1968 Olympic Team in Mexico City.
Velasco also won a silver medal at the 1963 Pan American Games and took gold at the 1967 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, Canada.
Velasco first played in the U.S. National Championships in Seattle in 1956 with the Denver YMC team while he was a freshman at the University of Denver.
Velasco returned to Hawaii and played with the Central Hawaii YMCA Team and then the Outrigger Canoe Club. He earned All American honors at the 1962-72 National Championships and was named the tournament’s most valuable player in 1965.
After 1968, he returned to play at Church College in Hawaii in 1969-70. He was named collegiate All-American both years and named the Outstanding College Athlete of America in 1970. That same year, the U.S. Volleyball Association (now USA Volleyball named him an All-Time Great Player.
Velasco retired from volleyball following the 1972 National Championships. In 1978, he became the first volleyball player elected to the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. He was named to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 1980 and inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1997.
Services for Velasco will be April 22 at Ballard Mortuary in Hilo, Hawaii. The public is invited for an open viewing from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
