When Phil Eatherton arrived at Ball State University in the fall of 1992 he did not practice with the men's volleyball team for a majority of his freshman season.
Instead, the future All-MIVA player would spend hours practicing with assistant coach Steve Shondell and the Burris Laboratory School girl's volleyball team.
Sixteen years after practicing in a high school gym, Eatherton, who still holds the school record for career blocks and attack percentage, will now be along side the names of other record setting Ball State athletes on the wall of Worthen Arena.
Eatherton was one of five athletes inducted into the Ball State Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday.
"I wasn't expecting it," Eatherton said. "When I heard I was inducted I said 'no way, I'm going to have my face on a wall.'"
From Burris to All-MIVA
Coach Don Shondell, who retired from Ball State in 1998, said he did not scout Eatherton during his high school career. Rather, it was Don Shondell's son and assistant coach, Steve Shondell, who wanted Eatherton after seeing him play in Ball State's junior volleyball tournament.
Don Shondell said what most impressed the Shondell family about Eatherton was his personality.
"As soon as Steve came home he said 'boy we have to get him. He's not a very good volleyball player but he has the nicest attitude,'" Don Shondell said.
Arriving to the university at 6-foot-9-inches, Eatherton was the tallest men's volleyball player in school history.
However, Eatherton said he didn't have skills to play at the Division I level.
As a result Steve Shondell had Eatherton practice with his Burris volleyball team. In addition, Eatherton said throughout his four-year college career Steve Shondell would spend additional time working with him on the fundamentals.
"I tried to do everything he told me, everything," Eatherton said. "A lot of [improving] has to do with the time the coaches have to put into the players. That's the fact. Steve Shondell would work with me for an additional hours serving balls and spiking balls. To make an athlete better it takes so much from a coach, and when I went Ball State I didn't have skills to play NCAA volleyball."
Current Ball State head coach Joel Walton, who was an assistant coach when Eatherton played for the Cardinals, said Eatherton continued to improve during his college career because of the middle attacker's hard work.
Eatherton ended his college career being named to three consecutive All-MIVA teams, including his senior year when he was on the 1997 All-MIVA first team. In addition, the Cardinals won two conference championships and advanced to two NCAA Tournaments during his four-year career.
"He was a very hard worker," Walton said. "He wasn't the best athlete. He was just worked harder and was the best at reaching his potential."
In addition to his work ethic, Don Shondell said Eatherton was one of his favorite players to coach because of the middle attacker's personality.
"He was always up-beat and never in a bad mood," Don Shondell said. "He was always smiling. He just enjoyed everything he did and just enjoyed being with everyone."
Walton said Eatherton was always successful at making practices more entertaining. He said his favorite moment was when Eatherton showed up to practice for an entire week with a different haircut each day, including a Mohawk one day.
"He was a guy with lots of personality," Walton said.
Along with practice, Eatherton's personality often appeared on the court during matches, especially when he got a serving ace, Don Shondell said.
"When he got an ace he would always do a little dance on the court and I would tell him 'Phil when you join the national team the coach won't let you do that.' And he would say 'Then I won't do that when I'm on that team,'" Don Shondell said.
Don Shondell also said Eatherton's relaxed demeanor was one of the reasons the 1995 Ball State team pulled off one of the biggest upsets in its program history.
Entering the Hall of Fame Volleyball tournament as the No. 15 ranked team in the nation, the Cardinals defeated No. 1 UCLA in three games. As a junior, Eatherton started the match and played in all three games.
"He went out and played so relaxed against the No. 1 team in the country and that's how he was," Don Shondell said. "He would play with the same intensity against poor programs as he would against the No. 1 ranked team. He wasn't the greatest volleyball player at Ball State but he was persistent and he keeps getting better and better."
Ball State's win ended a 13-match losing against the Bruins. Following the match, the Cardinals advanced to the championship match and defeated Penn State University to win the tournament.
Eatherton said beating the Bruins was his favorite moment at Ball State, especially because of UCLA's national recognition for winning NCAA championships.
"In high school the only coach you would hear about would be [UCLA coach] Al Scates and the only program I heard about was Al Scates and UCLA," Eatherton said. "Beating UCLA was just the neatest thing."
Despite Eatherton's upset win against UCLA and winning the MIVA championship, one moment from the 1995 season he likes to forget is his appearance on "The Price is Right," he said.
"We beat UCLA and then I got on that stupid game show," Eatherton said jokingly.
In March of 1995, the Cardinals scheduled road matches in California when the university was on Spring Break. During the week-long trip, Walton scheduled time for his team to attend an episode of the nationally televised show.
Midway through the taping, Eatherton was selected from the audience to partake in the episode.
Don Shondell said Eatherton was chosen because he was part of group and he had a great personality.
"He was in line [before the show] and just joking around," Don Shondell said. "They were watching him and picked up on that. Phil has that fun personality though, and they probably chose him because of that."
After making it on stage and having the closest guess out of six contestants to how much an item was worth, Eatherton competed in Range Finder.
In Range Finder, a person attempts to win a prize by correctly guessing how much items costs.
For Eatherton, he made too high of an estimate and missed the opportunity to win two Mopeds. However, he said he redeemed himself after winning about $800 in the semi-finals and advanced to the showcase showdown.
"That was the only game I did well on," Eatherton said. "That's one of things I try to forget about, but everyone in America knows 'The Price is Right.'"
Despite some people remembering him for his appearance on "The Price is Right," Eatherton said he doesn't mind what his legacy is at the university.
"When I was there we just played volleyball and played to have fun," he said. "We wanted to beat everyone. We just wanted to win badly."
Eatherton also said he doesn't mind either of his school records being broken.
Currently junior middle attacker Matt McCarthy is the closest active Cardinal to breaking Eatherton's blocking record. With 257 blocks in two-and-half seasons, McCarthy needs 317 more blocks to break the record.
"I hope someone breaks it and I hope they break it this year," Eatherton said.
THE Cardinal IN Europe
After graduating from Ball State in 1997, Eatherton began to play on the national and international level.
In 1998 he played on the USA World Championship team and on the 1999 USA Pan-American team. However, Eatherton said his dream was to play in the Olympics.
Originally Eatherton said he thought he was going live out his dream on the 2000 Olympic team in Sydney, but the middle attacker was one of the last players cut from the team.
"We had it in 2000 and it was a heartbreak," he said. "I can say it now, because it's been so long, but there was a mistake made and I should have been on the team."
Along with Eatherton thinking he was going to make the team, Don Shondell was surprised to hear the former Cardinal got cut.
"We thought he had a good chance," Shondell said. "That was the most devastating thing in Phil's life, because he thought he had made the team. He didn't give up though."
"The guy was so persistent and that's what made him so great; he never gave up in his life."
Following the 2000 Olympics, Eatherton spent the next four years playing six months per year for a professional volleyball team in Spain and the other six months playing for the U.S. National team.
Eatherton said he benefited from this experience as he was named the No. 3 middle attacker on USA team for the 2004 Olympics at Athens.
Despite losing the bronze medal game at Athens, Eatherton become the third player from Ball State to compete in the Olympics.
"There is a saying 'the blood, the sweat and the tears' you have to put into team to play in the Olympics and that is absolutely true," Eatherton said. "After 2000 I never imaged I would make the team in 2004."
Eatherton is still living in Europe and playing in Poland's professional volleyball league.
Currently in the middle of his third season as a member of Azs Czestochowa, Eatherton said playing in Poland is awesome and the Polish fans are the best in Europe.
"Volleyball is the No. 2 sport, just behind soccer. In the U.S. if you didn't have basketball, baseball and hockey and if you made all those fans into die-hard volleyball fans, that's what it's like in Poland," Eatherton said. "It's so strange to be walking in the supermarket and have some guy say 'I know you' and ask for your autograph. It's awesome."
Despite enjoying his life as a professional volleyball player, Eatherton said he feels terrible he could not attend Friday's induction ceremony because his team had a match last weekend.
Don Shondell said Eatherton and the entire 1995 men's volleyball team will be honored at a volleyball banquet in May.
Eatherton said he can't wait to return to the university and walk around the halls of Worthen Arena, which now bear his Hall of Fame plaque.
"It's an award I never expected to get, but now that I'm getting it, I'm excited. I can't wait to walk into Worthen and see it," Eatherton said. "I wonder what picture they used."
Career highlightsPhil Eatherton continues to experience highlights during his volleyball career.
- Named to three consecutive All-MIVA teams during college
- Won two conference championships and advanced to two NCAA Tournaments during college
- Started and played the entire game when No. 15 Ball State beat No. 1 UCLA during the Hall of Fame Volleyball tournament
- Beat Penn State to win the Hall of Fame Volleyball tournament
- Holds Ball State blocking record with 573 blocks
- Played on the 1998 USA World Championship team
- Played on the 1999 USA Pan-American team
- Named a middle attacker on USA team for the 2004 Olympics at Athens
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