The all-century team is comprised of seven driver/attackers, seven field/utility/2M and two goalkeepers.
The voting panel, which consisted of former players, coaches and members of the media, was highlighted by some of the true authorities in the sport of men’s water polo. These included Chris Dorst, former Stanford player, 1984 Olympic silver medalist and Pac-12 Network analyst, Dan Leyson, former USA men’s assistant coach, USC player, UCLA coach and current UC Davis head coach, and James Smith of TotalWaterPolo.com.
UCLA leads the represented Pac-12 schools with six players, while USC and Stanford both have four
on the roster. Chris Humbert and Kevin Robertson of California round out the group.
The six Bruin honorees include drivers Stan Cole (1963-67) and Jim Ferguson (1968-71), hole guard Russ Webb (1963-68), hole man Alex Rousseau (1985-89), center Sean Kern (1997-2000) and goalkeeper Brandon Brooks (1999-2002).
Cole swam and played water polo for UCLA from 1963-67. He was undefeated in his water polo career, going a combined 45-0 during the 1965, ’66 and ’67 seasons. He left UCLA as an NCAA record holder in swimming, earning All-American honors all four years. Was also named the AAU American water polo player of the year and was a Pan American games gold medalist in 1967 and a member of three U.S. Olympic teams (1964 – ’68 –’72), winning bronze in 1972. Inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame in 1990.
Ferguson was a three-time All-American (1968-69-70) on the UCLA water polo team and led the Bruins to the 1969 NCAA championship and two second-place national finishes. Ferguson came to UCLA highly recruited after being named the 1967 National High School Player of the Year and was one of UCLA's greatest water polo players of all-time. As a driver, Ferguson set UCLA career marks for goals scored and assists and was twice awarded the Robert Lee Starr Memorial Award (1969, '70) which recognized the MVP of the University of California system which teams predominantly won the National Championship. After graduation, Ferguson played for the U.S. National Team that won the gold medal at the 1971 Pan American games and the silver medal at the 1975 Pan American games. In 1972, Ferguson was a co-captain on the bronze medal winning U.S. Olympic water polo team. He was also an eight-time AAU All-American and two-time AAU MVP. Ferguson was inducted into the U.S. Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1984 the International Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UCLA Hall of Fame in 2007. Ferguson continues to compete internationally at the master's level and several years ago his team went undefeated at the World Master's Cup in Munich and in August 2006, he led a group of former Bruins to a second place finish at the 2006 World Masters games in Palo Alto.
Webb swam and played water polo for UCLA from 1963-68. On the UCLA water polo team, Webb was a three-time NCAA All-American, AAU All-American and AAWU All-Conference honoree. He was a member of four undefeated Bruin water polo teams. After graduating, Webb was a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic Water Polo team and the 1972 Olympic Team, which won the bronze medal. As a three-year All-America swimmer, Webb won eight NCAA medals, set two NCAA records and one American record. He was a member of the 1967 Pan American games team that won Gold. He is a member of the UCLA and USA water polo Halls of Fame. Webb also represented the U.S. on the 1967 Pan American Swim Team and won one gold and one silver medal. He also swam to nine AAWU swimming medals, including seven championships. Webb went on to graduate from the UCLA School of Dentistry.
Rousseau was a four-time All-American water polo star at UCLA from 1985-89, earning second-team AA honors his freshman year and first-team honors his remaining three years. Rousseau was team MVP and captain in 1989 and was the team's leading scorer all four years. In 1989, he led UCLA to the NCAA Championship game by scoring eight goals in a 13-10 victory over USC in the semifinals. He is still UCLA’s all-time leading scorer with 290 career goals. Following his career at UCLA, Rousseau played in over 175 international games with the U.S. National Team and was a member of the Olympic Team in 1992 and 1996. He was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame in 2004 and the UCLA Hall of Fame in 2011. Rousseau's international professional career spanned from 1990-1993 and 1997-1999, playing for C.N. Marseille, France and Lazio Nuoto, Roma, Italy.
One of the most accomplished players in UCLA history, Kern was a four-time All-American, two-time National Player of the Year, two-time NCAA champion, three-time team scoring leader and U.S. Olympic Team member (2000). He led the Bruins to two consecutive national titles and performed best in the big games. He scored four times in UCLA’s improbable 6-5, come-from-behind victory over Stanford in the 1999 NCAA final and notched two more in the 2000 title game win over UC San Diego. After the 1999 season, Kern was honored as the first-ever male recipient of the Peter J. Cutino Award, the water polo equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. He was also named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament each of his last two seasons. Kern came to UCLA in 1997 as the top-ranked recruit in the country after leading Honolulu powerhouse Punahou HS to three consecutive league titles, earning three league Player of the Year awards. In Kern’s senior season, the Bruins dominated for most of the year despite playing without Kern and coach Guy Baker for the first 10 games. UCLA cruised past Navy and UCSD in the NCAA Final Four at Malibu to win its second consecutive title. Kern finished the year with 39 goals, giving him a career total of 183. He became just the second four-time All-American in UCLA men’s water polo history.
Brooks is still first in career saves at UCLA (700) and also posted the lowest goals against average in UCLA history at 4.80 gaa, leading the Bruins to the 2000 NCAA Championship as a sophomore. His 5.60 gaa in 1999 is still third-best in Bruin history and was good enough to lead UCLA to an NCAA title in his first collegiate season. A three-time All-MPSF selection and a four-time All-American, Brooks left UCLA with all four seasons of his goals against average ranking in the top seven in UCLA history. He would later take his abilities to international waters, competing in two Olympics for Team USA in 2004 and 2008. His 2008 team won a silver medal in Beijing. A key goalkeeper on the USA National Team, Brooks led Team USA to the gold medal at the 2001 and 2003 Pan American Games. He served as the starting goalkeeper at the 2003 FINA World Championships (Barcelona), the 2004 Olympics (Athens) and the 2005 FINA World Championships (Montreal).
Tony Azevedo, the current captain of the US National Men’s Water Polo Team, was voted the Pac-12 Water Polo Player of the Century. While at Stanford, he led the Cardinal to two NCAA Championships (2001 and 2002). He set a freshman scoring record (68 goals), a single-season scoring record (95 goals as a sophomore) and a career scoring record (332 goals). In each of his four years of college, Azevedo was awarded the Peter J. Cutino Award for the most outstanding male player of the year. He has competed with the US National Team for the past three Olympic games.
Longtime USC head coach Jovan Vavic earns Pac-12 Water Polo Coach of the Century with a career 472-75 record. Vavic currently boasts nine men’s national championships, including a run of six straight from 2008 to 2013. He also serves as the women’s head coach. He has led both to national championships in the same school year four times. Vavic has been named National Coach of the Year 12 times and MPSF Coach of the Year 10 times between the two programs.
The complete All-Century roster is below:
DRIVER/ATTACKER
Tony Azevedo-Stanford (2001-04)
Kevin Robertson-California (1977-80)
Kostas Genidounias-USC (2011-14)
Wolf Wigo-Stanford (1991-94)
Nikola Vavic-USC (2010-13)
Stan Cole-UCLA (1963-68)
Jim Ferguson-UCLA (1968-71)
FIELD/UTILITY/2M
Jody Campbell-Stanford (1978-81)
Chris Humbert-California (1988-91)
Sean Kern-UCLA (1997-2000)
J.W. Krumpholz-USC (2006-09)
Alex Rousseau-UCLA (1985-89)
James Bergeson-Stanford (1979-82)
Russ Webb-UCLA (1963-68)
GOALKEEPER
Joel Dennerley-USC (2008-11)
Brandon Brooks-UCLA (1999-02)
Pac-12 Men’s Water Polo Player of the Century
Tony Azevedo-Stanford (2001-04)
Pac-12 Men’s Water Polo Coach of the Century
Jovan Vavic-USC (1995-present) *co-head coach 1995-1999
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