Larry Volter literally has the Pepperdine University sports world at his fingertips. Volter, a 1979 graduate of Pepperdine, has served as the official scoreboard/electronic operator for all home men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball events at Pepperdine since 1995. He has the professional responsibility of inputting the correct time on the electronic clock, entering the amount of points scored and keeping track of the length of time for team, official and media timeouts.
Volter works 60 to 65 events per year on average at Pepperdine. An elbow injury and subsequent surgery in 2008 forced him to miss one women’s volleyball game. Otherwise, he has attended each home event as scheduled through the years.
His background is as varied as the buttons on the manual scoreboard. Raised in Southern California, Volter’s father served in the Canadian Air Force in World War II. He owns an extensive National Geographic Periodical Collection and once worked as a professor of California history and world geography at Pepperdine.
Volter’s love for sports began as a student at Pepperdine and extended to his days at the Montessori School in Santa Monica, where he worked as the athletic director and coach of youth sports programs.
The Malibu Times caught up with Volter as he recently completed another year of work at the scorers’ table in Firestone Fieldhouse.
Talk about your role on game day at Pepperdine and the significance of it.
Well, I’ve tried to do one thing each year to improve my skills doing this job. In volleyball, there is a different rhythm than in basketball. It’s much slower. There is no actual clock other than timeouts. So you have time to do the task, which is entering points for both teams. In basketball you have to multitask and you have only a little time to do everything. It’s very upbeat compared to volleyball. The number one job for basketball is to be aware of every second on the clock. It can be more stressful at times but it’s still fun to do both.
As a Pepperdine graduate, how are you able to focus on the task at hand while not getting emotionally involved with the Waves?
I have to confess one thing. At the beginning I was a little more absorbed into the success of our home teams. But as you do this more and more and learn to become more professional, you put your emotions aside during the actual game. Before and after I have the time to think about the success of Pepperdine’s teams, and I always hope they are successful. I always put my emotions aside and stay the professional that I should be as if I never went to Pepperdine.
During your 17 years you have been fortunate to witness two of the game’s greatest volleyball coaches in action. Share your thoughts on Nina Matthies (women’s volleyball) and Marv Dunphy (men’s volleyball).
It’s been great seeing the success of all the programs. Something unique about Pepperdine is the volleyball programs over the years. Both programs are very successful with historical records and they have two outstanding longtime coaches. I’ve grown to respect Coach Nina Matthies not only as a professional but as a person. She is the epitome of a women’s volleyball coach with her caring nature of all her student-athletes. Coach Marv Dunphy is a professional in every way and has helped me in my career. He is a genuine human being who cares about the whole person. It’s a pleasure to work with both of them.
Talk about the relationship you have with the people who work at the scores’ table.
The personnel at the scorers’ table give up their free time to do this. They are very professional with a lot of experience. Many times we have done some things together outside of work on a social basis. Not only do we have a professional relationship amongst each other but many are friends of mine. They are my colleagues and I think of them a lot. We work as a team just as the players and coaches do on the floor. I enjoy what I do and it’s an honor to work for Pepperdine.