Patty Salvatore
Patty Salvatore '79 Volleyball and Basketball
Former Cleveland State University head volleyball coach Marsha Foth Nagy describes Patty Salvatore as "a tremendous athlete who had at least a 36-inch vertical jump."
Prior to competing at Cleveland State, Salvatore was named the Best All-Around Player at the 1976 Olympic Development Volleyball Camp in Daytona. Following that recognition, she became one of the first CSU female athletes to be awarded a merit-based scholarship. In her freshman campaign Salvatore helped lead to Vikes to a 18-9 mark and earned Most Outstanding accolades.
Salvatore, who Nagy termed "a great team leader and player," was voted team captain in 1977 and led the squad to a 28-11 mark as well as a fourth place ranking in the state. Once again she was accorded "Most Outstanding" recognition.
In 1978, Salvatore was named to the All-Ohio team in 1978 and helped guide the Vikings to the Ohio Large College Tournament Championship and the quarterfinals of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women's (AIAW) Midwest Regional. That '78 team finished 37-11, which established a school record for victories in a single season.
From '76 to '79, Salvatore played in 166 games for the Vikings and came out on the winning side in 94 of them. She also helped lead the Vikes to consecutive appearances in the AIAW Regionals in '78 and '79 and played a part in making Nagy the winningest volleyball coach in school annals.
In addition to her prowess on the volleyball court, Salvatore was a significant contributor to the women's basketball team during those years. She averaged five points a game while earning four letters in basketball, but her contributions to the team were measure by more than just her scoring average. She was selected the team's Most Improved Player in 1977, when she averaged 7.7 points per game and was third on the team in rebounding. She played tenacious defense and was constantly moving on offense, creating opportunities for her teammates to score in the process.
Salvatore graduated with a bachelor's degree in education in 1979 and took a job as the head volleyball coach at Bay Village High School. She led the Rockets to two Southwest Conference Championships and earned two league Coach of the Year awards in the process.
However, for as good a student-athletes as she was during her time at CSU, Salvatore has far surpassed herself as a volleyball official in the days since.
Since 1982, Salvatore has become an accomplished volleyball referee, having officiated matches at every level. By the end of 1999, she will have officiated in a staggering total of 22 countries.
She gained her National Volleyball Referee's rating in 1985 and earned her International Volleyballs Referee's rating, for both indoor and beach competitions, in 1996. In so doing, she became one of thee women in the world to be dually rated. She also became the fist woman to first referee a World Beach Championships Men's Final, having done so a total of two times. She officiated beach matches at the Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1994 and at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996. She also officiated the 1995 Pan-Am Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina and the 1999 World University Games in Mallorca, Spain.
Salvatore is a nine-time NCAA Volleyball Final Four official, on both the men's and women's sides and was also the first woman to ever work a men's national championship match.
