Beach Sunset-Sinjin Smith Is Leaving Behind a
Lasting Imprint in the Sand<br>By MIKE BRESNAHAN, TIMES
STAFF WRITER<br>Sinjin Smith leans forward in his chair
at a bustling Pacific Palisades deli and points to
his biggestadversary.No, not Karch Kiraly. It's
Smith's right knee.The knee used to be a
willing<br>co-conspirator, helping Smith win<br>139 tournaments, second most
in history, while thrusting him into a cultural
spotlight as the top man on the sand.But after six
operations, the knee has had enough. Smith,44, is retiring
after the Michelob Light Manhattan Beach Open, which
continues today and ends Sunday.The journey has been
equally rewarding and controversial for Smith, whose
tanned visage and deft skills made him eminently
marketable. He appeared in more than 20 TV commercials, had a
video game modeled after him, sold his name to a
short-lived restaurant in El Segundo (alas,the memorabilia at
Randy and Sinjin's was better than the chili), and
co-owned a clothing store in Santa Monica where East Coast
folks would breathlessly call with one request: Send us
everything Sinjin wears.<br>It was hardly a surprise when
People magazine named him one of the 50 most beautiful
people in the world in 1990.Early in his career, he
formed an unbeatable partnership with Kiraly and, after
that ended in 1984, joined Randy Stoklos in what
became the most successful team in<br>beach volleyball
history, winning 113 tournaments.<br>As his popularity
grew with the sport, he fought openly with the tour he
helped found, the Assn. of VolleyballProfessionals, and
was ultimately exiled by its player-only management
in 1993.<br>But he forged a career on the
international tour,<br>extending his sphere of influence to
such places as the Canary Islands and Klagenfurt,
Austria, while helping beach volleyball become an Olympic
sport in 1996. Over a tuna melt with fries on a sunny
Wednesday afternoon, Christopher St. John Smith--his given
name--knows that life has been as unpredictable as it has
been successful since he first started playing beach
volleyball as a teenager. "Did I think I could have made a
living playing volleyball? Absolutely not," he said,
remembering with a smile that early tournament prizes
included a beach chair,a new volleyball or an ice
chest--an empty one, no less.<br>"Did I think anybody in
the country would know who I was? Absolutely not. Did
I think volleyball would become an Olympic sport
and I'd have a hand in it? No way. It's unbelievable,
really."<br>Smith initially made a name for himself playing indoor
volleyball, going to UCLA from Loyola High and leading the
Bruins to a 31-0 record as a senior in 1979, the first
undefeated season in college volleyball history.He was
supposed to play in the 1980 Olympics, but watched it on
TV while the U.S. boycotted. From there,he chose the
beach game, teaming with Kiraly to win a stunning 21 of
24 tournaments until they split, Kiraly going the
indoor route and winning Olympic gold medals<br>in 1984
and 1988 while Smith gained fame on the beach with
Stoklos. Smith and Stoklos won more than half of the 225
tournaments they entered and reached the semifinals more than
90% of the time. When they broke up in 1993,Stoklos
shocking his partner with a request to go in a different
direction, Smith had already soured on the AVP.