TAKE FIVE: VOLLEYBALL LEGEND Karch Kiraly

Thursday, Sept. 7, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.

What: Gods and Goddesses of the Beach Tournament

Where: Roman Plaza Amphitheatre, Caesars Palace

When: 3-10 p.m. today through Saturday

Tickets: $25 for bleachers, $50 for courtside; 474-4000, www.ticketmaster.com or avp.com

Volleyball legend Karch Kiraly was reminded of his family's past, and his father's good fortune, during the Association of Volleyball Professionals Tour stop last weekend in Cincinnati.

He met a man who was on the ship that carried his father, Laszlo, from Europe to New York in February 1957.

Laszlo Kiraly had taken part in the Hungarian uprising in the fall of 1956 and fled his homeland after Soviet troops crushed the revolt in 23 days.

"He carried a machine gun and participated with students to try to do what they could to oust the Soviets," Karch Kiraly said. "When it became apparent that that wouldn't happen, he had to say a very quick goodbye to his parents."

Soviet troops began searching for the revolt's participants. Laszlo Kiraly hid in an upstairs closet of an apartment over a tavern and escaped across minefields to Austria. He caught a ship for America from a North Sea port in West Germany.

"It was a harrowing escape for him," his son said.

The elder Kiraly wound up at the University of Michigan and eventually in Southern California. Laszlo Kiraly, 71, and his wife live in Santa Barbara.

Karch played in his first volleyball tournament when he was 11 - as his father's partner.

"It was in Corona del Mar, and we had a great time," Karch said. "We lost both matches, but we were playing against grown men. And I had a blast."

Charles "Karch" Kiraly

Age: 45

Height: 6-feet-2

Weight: 205 pounds

Hometown: Santa Barbara, Calif.

Residence: San Clemente, Calif.

Family: Wife, Janna; sons Kristian and Kory

Surname pronunciation: KEY-rye

Resume: At Santa Barbara High, he won 83 consecutive matches and graduated with a 3.96 grade-point average At UCLA, where he was 124-5 from 1979 to 1982, he won three NCAA championships in four seasons He is the only player to win Olympic gold in both indoor (1984 and '88) and beach (1996) volleyball He has earned a record $3.17 million during a career in which he has won 148 tournaments, including at least one in 24 of 27 seasons He won a World Club Championship, in which he was MVP, with Il Messaggero of Ravenna, Italy, in 1991 He has become the oldest player to win a pro beach event four times He was inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame, in Holyoke, Mass., in 2001.

1. Career shift

Laszlo Kiraly became a doctor, rehabilitating stroke and accident victims, paraplegics and quadriplegics. Karch majored in biochemistry at UCLA and would have pursued medicine, but he won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. "Literally," he said, "that (career) situation changed overnight."

2. The pink cap

It started in 1992. He had caps of various colors, but won a couple of tournaments wearing pink. Then he wore yellow and lost a late-round match. The pink went back on, and he won 13 consecutive tournaments. "I never looked back," he said.

3. The fabulous '90s

Kiraly netted about $2.7 million of his career earnings during the sport's explosive decade. He said he was blessed to dominate the game with partner Kent Steffes. "The wins came quickly and easily," he said. "We worked hard and had a lot of success, and I cherish that success even more at the back end of my career."

4. Hey, pops

Moderation, at the dinner table and in the gym, has always been his theme, which has helped him defeat foes half his age in recent years. He'll have dessert, but not five chocolate-chip cookies. He has one beer with a meal, not a sixer. In the preseason, he'll work out five or six days a week, for three or four hours.

5. Swan song?

Tendinitis has flared in his right knee this season, which is likely to be only the fourth of his storied 28-year career without a tourney victory. That will limit his action this weekend in Las Vegas, where he won two years ago with Mike Lambert, to the broadcast booth for NBC. Still, he will be an autograph favorite. If the knee improves, Kiraly would like to play a full 2007 season before retiring.