Misty May-Treanor is an American beach volleyball player that was born on July 30, 1977 in Los Angeles, California. Her dad, Bob "Butch" May, was a prominent volleyball player in his time and was a member of the 1968 U.S. national volleyball team. Her mom, Barbara May, was a nationally ranked tennis player who later played beach volleyball, but died of cancer in 2002. In memory of her mom, she tattooed an angel with her mom’s initials B.M. on her shoulder.
Misty May-Treanor spent her childhood in her hometown, Costa Mesa, California, where she did her schooling at Newport Harbor High School from 1991 to 1995. She earned a Bachelor’s in Kinesiology and Fitness in 2002 and was inducted into the Long Beach State Athletics Hall of Fame. Since 2001, she has been working as an assistant women's volleyball coach at Irvine Valley College in Irvine, California.
Misty May-Treanor grew up playing beach volleyball with her parents at the Santa Monica Pier. As a child, she enjoyed playing other sports, like soccer and tennis, and also participated in dance. At the age of eight, she played her first volleyball tournament with her dad. During her school days, Misty May-Treanor played as a starter on her varsity volleyball team and helped her school win two state championships in indoor volleyball in 1992 and 1994. In 1993, she was named the Division I All-CIF Team Player of the Year. In the following year, she was also named the best girls volleyball player of the nation by USA Today.
From 1995 to 1999, Misty May-Treanor played Division I volleyball at California State University, Long Beach. During her stint at the college, she helped her team win the NCAA Division I First Team All-American in 1997 and 1998. For these impressive performances, she was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year for two consecutive years.
In 1999, Misty May-Treanor joined the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team and made her debut in the professional arena by taking part in the AVP tour, all while still being a college senior. She won the bronze medal in the indoor volleyball event at the 1999 Winnipeg Pan American Games, but then she quit volleyball because “volleyball was not fun anymore.” Instead, Misty May-Treanor, along with her partner Holly McPeak, took up beach volleyball as her career.
A few years later, she won her first gold medal in beach volleyball at the 2003 Rio de Janeiro World Championships. Misty May-Treanor then paired with Kerri Walsh and won her first Olympic gold at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games held at Athens in the beach volleyball event. She continued her winning streak by adding two more gold medals to her collection at the 2005 World Championships held in Berlin and the 2007 World Championships held in Gstaad.
Misty May-Treanor teamed with Kerri Walsh and represented her country in the beach volleyball event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics yet again. She defended her title successfully by defeating Jie Wang and Jia Tian from China in the finals and won the Beijing Olympic Beach Volleyball gold medal.
As of 2008, she has won a total of 102 tournaments and has earned a total of $1,751,408 from her sporting career. During her spare time, Misty May-Treanor enjoys playing with her boxers, Gruden and Boogie.
