PARTING COMPANY : Setter Jeff Stork of Topanga, the Unheralded Trigger Man During U. S. Volleyball Team’s World Reign, Headed for Limelight in Italian League

Karch Kiraly and Steve Timmons commanded most of the headlines and adulation last month during a five-match, five-city tour of the United States by the U. S. and Soviet national volleyball teams.

Kiraly and Timmons, perhaps the most recognizable volleyball players in the world, were calling it quits after almost a decade of dominance that included two Olympic gold medals and one world championship for the U. S. team.

Partially overshadowed by the outpouring of affection for the two figureheads of the team of the ‘80s was setter Jeff Stork’s announcement in Dallas that he, too, was retiring, after five years as the starting setter for the Americans.

Stork, 28, signed a two-year contract worth a reported $500,000 to play for Maxicono, a semipro club team based in Parma, Italy.

The contract, believed to be the largest ever awarded to a foreign player in Italy, includes several performance bonuses and perks, including the use of a car and apartment during a season that lasts from the middle of October until May.

Stork, a former All-City Section performer at Taft High and an All-American at Pepperdine, said that the time was right to reap the benefits of what has been an illustrious amateur career.

“I’m at that fork in the road right now where I say, ‘Do I want to stay on the national team and create new goals or get on with my personal life and do other things,’ ” Stork said from the U. S. team’s training headquarters in San Diego. “There’s no sorrow in leaving. I’ve achieved everything I wanted to on the national team. I’ve won everything there is to win.

“It’s time to move on and do other things.”

Stork, however, will stay active with the U. S. team before departing for Italy in December. He recently took part in a five-match, five-city series between the U. S. and Swedish national teams in the States.

“We’re going to use him, business as usual, through the World Cup (in November),” said Bill Neville, coach of the U. S. team. “I’m going to milk these guys that are good for as long as I can.”

The way Neville sees it, Stork is the latest example of a trend that has befallen the U. S. program.

Ten years ago, national team members commanded little, if any, attention.

However, as the U. S. team’s prominence has grown on an international scale, so have the financial opportunities for its best players. The stakes on the professional beach volleyball tour and at the international club level have increased, luring players away from the 11-month regimen required of U. S. team members.

“There’s no way Jeff could have turned down what they offered him and there’s no way we can compete with that unless we had a sugar daddy with deep pockets,” Neville said. “We’re a victim of our own success.”

Stork, 6-foot-4, was instrumental in the U. S. team’s success from the time he moved into the starting lineup in 1986 after Dusty Dvorak left to play in Italy. Kiraly, Timmons and the other members of the team didn’t seem to miss a beat with Stork orchestrating the attack.

And while Kiraly and Timmons were considered the heart and soul of a team that went from 19th to No. 1 in the world during their careers, Neville said Stork might be the most difficult to replace.

“Jeff could be the greatest loss because of the position he plays,” Neville said. “The setter is the hub of the wheel and everything revolves around him. Jeff’s probably the best technical setter in the world.”

Stork, who grew up in Topanga and played at Pierce College, has fond memories of his career with the national team.

“The thing that I think about over and over again are the big tournaments--the (1987) Pan Am Games in Indianapolis and the ’88 Olympics,” Stork said. “Those two would have to be the biggest thrills I’ve ever had in sports.

“I liked those more than the World Cup and World Championships because it was a world event in all sports and I met a lot of different people doing different things.”

In Italy, Stork will join a team that includes several members of the Italian and Brazilian national teams.

Unlike his teammates, however, Stork will not be allowed to play for his country in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

“We can’t have players go to Italy and come back,” Neville said. “They don’t do the same kind of training.

“If we went back to being a part-time program and an all-star team, what happens is what you saw happen to the U. S. basketball team.”

Javier Gaspar, a current member of the national team who played at Penn State, is one of the candidates to replace Stork. Rod Wilde, an assistant coach at Pepperdine who missed the 1984 Olympics when he suffered a knee injury about a month before the start of the Games, may also return and contend for Stork’s job.

Still, the U. S. team is expected to absorb some major bruises as it gears up for the post-Kiraly and Timmons era.

“It may not be a year and it may not be a year and half,” Stork said, “but sooner or later, the U. S. will be back on top. There’s a lot of talent right now and it just needs experience.

“It’s just a question of time.”