"I don't know if you can put a title on him," Anteaters senior setter Brian Thornton said of Chai. "He is kind of everything for our team. They give him the title of statistician, and he does that. But he does much more than that. He basically brings what everyone brings to the team, and that's whatever they have. He gives us whatever he has."
What Chai has is boundless energy, a passion for the sport, sincere affection for the players, and a virtually lifelong friendship with Coach John Speraw.
Chai and Speraw grew up together in Arcadia and played volleyball together at Arcadia High. They remained close when Chai attended Long Beach State and Speraw became an All-American middle blocker at UCLA.
After college, Chai, an Arcadia resident, began his teaching career in Pico Rivera, working with students who have autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome and other developmental disabilities. It's a job, he said, he still finds rewarding.
Speraw remained at UCLA as an assistant coach, where he was tutored by legendary Bruins Coach Al Scates. Scates has coached UCLA to 19 of the NCAA titles Speraw's Anteaters will pursue today.
UCI (28-5), the No. 2 seed, meets No. 4-seeded Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (23-7) in today's title match at 4 p.m. It could lead to the crowning point of Speraw's building of UCI during the past five seasons, and also a pinnacle of his friendship with Chai.
The Chai-Speraw friendship dates back to September, 1975, when they were 5 years old. Both remember their initial meeting in surprising detail.
