John Zoltek

Woonsocket Power Volleyball was founded by John Zoltek in 1983. 

One of the region’s true volleyball pioneers, Zoltek returned home after World War II to lead the Woonsocket YMCA volleyball team to 28-consecutive regional championships, playing roles as both player and coach throughout the years. His team won a national championship in 1964 and earned a second-place national finish in 1965.

When women’s volleyball began to gain momentum, he encouraged his players to give something back to the game that had been so good to them. His players would go on to become head and assistant coaches at URI, Providence College, Rhode Island College, CCRI, and what was then Barrington College. Even today, the head coach at Brown and the head and assistant coaches at Bryant University, Ted and Theresa Garlacy and Keith Martinous, can trace their volleyball roots directly back to Zoltek.

He continued to promote the game throughout his lifetime, running clinics and volunteering at local high schools in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He ran Power volleyball leagues in Woonsocket until 2013 and was an active player in age-appropriate national tournaments until 2005. 

His efforts and achievements did not go unnoticed. In 2006, prior to the men’s and women’s finals of the national championships held in New Orleans, he was inducted into the YMCA Volleyball Hall of Fame. In 2008, prior to the women’s collegiate finals of the national championships in Omaha, he was inducted into the American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.