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Her honors are extensive and her accomplishments historic: 41 years after Flo Hyman was part of a medal-winning U.S. Olympic volleyball team and 39 years after her untimely death, she has been inducted into the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame.
After three collegiate seasons, Hyman focused her attention on the U.S. national team. The squad failed to qualify for the 1976 Olympics and set their sights on the 1980 Summer Games, held in Moscow, the capital of the then-Soviet Union, but the United States boycott of the games due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, which was launched in February of 1979 and didn’t end until March of 1989, delayed Hyman’s Olympic debut.
By the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, the team was internationally ranked. At 6-foot-5 and 30 years old, Hyman was the tallest and oldest member of the team, capturing attention for her dynamic play and personality. People across the U.S. stayed up to watch women’s volleyball live. The team earned a silver medal.
“She was very humble,” said Nelson. “[This honor] was a long time coming. All these years have gone by, and I’ve kept up her website (flohyman.com) and social media because I believe that it’s very important for people to understand the history and how the ’84 medal really set the stage and foundation for volleyball’s development.”
Four-time Olympic beach volleyball medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings, who played indoor volleyball at Stanford, was also among the inductees. “The idea of both of them being inducted sets the stage for so much larger growth for volleyball,” said Nelson.
Nelson noted that Hyman had a considerable impact on diversity in volleyball, due not only to her athletic prowess, but also her dynamic personality. “She wanted to meet everybody,” Nelson recalled. “National Girls and Women in Sports Day is named after her.”
Hyman died on January 24, 1986, while playing professionally in Japan. It was disclosed that the cause was Marfan syndrome. Extensive research has been done in her memory, and the Marfan Foundation holds her name in a place of honor.
The other female hall of fame inductees were Gabby Douglas, Anita DeFrantz, Allyson Felix, Susan Hagel, Marla Runyan, Serena Williams, and the 2004 women’s Paralympic wheelchair basketball team.
Volleyball legend Flo Hyman posthumously receives USOPC Hall of Fame honor