the USSR in the championship match. Kiraly was selected as a captain for the 1988 team at Seoul. FIVB named Kiraly the top player in the world in 1986 and 1988. Following the 1988 Olympics, Kiraly retired from the national team. He and teammate Steve Timmons played professional volleyball for Il Messaggero Ravenna in Italy from 1990 to 1992. The team included Italians Fabio Vullo and Andrea Gardini, Roberto Masciarelli and Stefano Margutti as team members. In two seasons the team won a series of titles, including the Italian Volleyball League (1991), the Italian Cup (1991), FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship (1991), CEV Champions League (1992), and the European Supercup (1992). Career in beach volleyball Kiraly had a long career on the professional beach circuit, and with 148 career tournaments won is the 'winningest' player in the sport's history. He won at least one tournament in 24 of the 28 seasons he played in a career that spanned four decades. He claimed titles with 13 partners, and in domestic events he made it to the semifinals over 80% of the time. Kiraly competed into his mid-40s. Kiraly played in his first beach tournament at age 11 as his father's partner. Kiraly has said as an 11-year-old he was thrilled to discover in beach volleyball he could compete with grown men on even terms. He earned his A and AA rating on the beach at the age of 15 and his AAA rating at 17. Kiraly's first big beach breakthrough came at Hermosa Beach in 1978. As a 17-year-old who had just graduated from high school, he shocked Hermosa onlookers by gaining the finals before he and partner Marco Ortega lost to the day's dominant team on the beach, Jim Menges and Greg Lee. In the early 1980s, Kiraly made a successful beach team pairing with UCLA teammate Sinjin Smith. The partnership split up as Kiraly came to focus on the U.S National Team. In 1992, Kiraly left his indoor career behind, returning to the U.S. to play beach volleyball full-time on the AVP tour. Kiraly chose Kent Steffes as his doubles partner. Steffes was a talented younger player who had left UCLA early to start playing on the professional beach tour. Kiraly and Steffes soon became the dominant pairing on the tour, supplanting former teammate and doubles partner Smith and his partner Randy Stoklos as the beach's top team.