Pam Lawrence, Millennium Hall of Fame

Richard Dunn

When Pam Lawrence decided to give volleyball a whirl, she was like

fire in a dry, windy forest.

“I was just out of control,” the former Corona del Mar High standout

said. “I’d hit the ball off the back wall. It was scary.”

Starting at the Orange County Volleyball Club in the eighth grade when

the sport was exploding on the Newport-Mesa athletic landscape, Lawrence

was blessed with hitting ability and played varsity as a freshman for the

Sea Kings in the fall of 1979.

She came off the bench that year as CdM reached the CIF Southern

Section 4-A championship match, losing to Back Bay rival Newport Harbor,

coached by Charlie Brande, who would later become a rather important

figure in Lawrence’s life.

“Back then, I was just going up and hitting the ball as hard as I

can,” she said. “I was feeling like, ‘Hey, if it goes in, that’s cool.’

But I was out of control, and I really needed to harness that energy.

“Luckily, I had some great coaching at Corona del Mar (with Bill Ashen

and Harold Noriega), as well as Orange County Volleyball Club, of course.

I have to put that in there.”

Lawrence, who has been married for over nine years to Brande, the

longtime director of the club, became one of the finest players in CdM

volleyball history.

A four-year varsity letter winner, Lawrence led CdM to a return trip

to the CIF 4-A finals her senior year in 1982, earning CIF 4-A co-Player

of the Year honors with Mira Costa’s Barbara Fontana.

A two-time first-team All-CIF 4-A selection and the Sea View League

Player of the Year in ‘82, Lawrence started her volleyball jewelry

collection after graduating from CdM in June 1983.

In the summer of ‘83, Lawrence started on the Orange County Volleyball

Club’s 18-and-under national championship team that featured Brooke

Herrington, Elaina Oden, Wendy Rush and Julie Evans.

Lawrence, who joined the team in the spring of ‘83, was the only

senior on the squad coached by Brande.

“That was very much a love-hate relationship between us at the time,

but not the kind of love we have now,” Lawrence said. “He was so hard. He

was the most difficult coach I’d ever played for. We dreaded practice,

because it was so brutal. But it made us strong people, and made us

totally depend on each other.

“But we learned responsibility and accountability. Everything Charlie

stands for, it was ingrained in us. It was one of the best experiences of

my life.”

Following an outstanding career at CdM, Lawrence accepted a

scholarship to the University of Hawaii, which was coming off an NCAA

championship in 1982.

As a freshman for Hawaii in the fall of ‘83, Lawrence didn’t start but

played a significant role off the bench as Hawaii won another NCAA title.

For Lawrence, it was her first NCAA championship ring, but the long

distance from home began to wear on her emotions.

After her sophomore season at Hawaii, and a disappointing first-round

loss to Oregon in the NCAA Tournament, Lawrence decided to transfer to

Pepperdine.

“I was very homesick and not pulling my weight academically,” she

said.

Lawrence sat out one year, then played for Pepperdine in 1986, earning

the Waves’ Newcomer of the Year Award while reuniting with former

teammates Evans and Linda Burton (a member of CdM’s 1982 squad).

In a match at Reno, Nev., Lawrence went up for a block, but a crash

landing resulted in a broken right ankle and a night’s stay in the

hospital.

“From that point on, it was all downhill,” she said. “I played the

next year, but it wasn’t the same.”

Lawrence finished her bachelor’s degree at Pepperdine, then started

coaching for Brande, whom she began to date after transferring from

Hawaii and helping him coach club volleyball.

Lawrence made coaching stops at Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar high

schools, before moving on to Golden West College, then Loyola Marymount

and Long Beach State. She coached at Loyola Marymount in 1990 and ’91 and Long Beach State in ’92 and ‘93, when the 49ers won the NCAA

championship.

It was also Lawrence’s last coaching stint and her third national

title (first as a coach).

She retired from the coaching ranks to become a full-time mother when

their daughter, Kaili, now 6, was born.

Lawrence, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame,

lives with her family in Costa Mesa.