Kerri Walsh Jennings has spent much of her life making history in volleyball.
From leading Stanford to back-to-back indoor volleyball national championship titles to dominating on the Olympic stage in beach volleyball, she built a legacy as one of the greatest players of all time.
Even in retirement, Walsh Jennings is still breaking new ground in the sport. This time, it's as an advocate, mentor and entrepreneur through her work with the organization she co-founded in p1440, with a mission to unite, empower and inspire through beach volleyball.
It's a mission rooted in the foundation that shaped her: Stanford and the sport of volleyball.
"Volleyball truly is how I found my voice," Walsh Jennings said.
Long before she became an Olympic icon, Walsh Jennings was a kid in the Bay Area with a big dream. The dream began with a trip up the road to Stanford as a young girl, which set her on a path that would define her career.
"My parents took me to Stanford University, and I was a ball girl at a game. It was maybe my first panic attack because I was so afraid of messing up," she joked. "Literally being on the floor, serving as a ball girl, it planted this seed in me that never went away. From that moment on, I wanted to go to Stanford University."
That seed grew into a relentless pursuit of excellence. At Stanford, Walsh Jennings was immersed in an environment where winning wasn't just a goal — it was the standard.
"At Stanford, you win. That's the expectation," she said. "It's a very high level of excellence, and the standards are incredible. It's such a beautiful environment to be in because people are dreamers, and they expect to make their dreams come true. And I was surrounded by a culture of excellence."
She lived up to those expectations, leading Stanford to NCAA championships in 1996 and 1997 while earning Most Outstanding Player honors as a freshman. By the time she graduated, she was a four-time first-team All-American, the first Pac-10 player to reach 1,500 career kills, 1,200 digs and 500 blocks, and the Co-National Player of the Year in 1999.
But Stanford didn't just prepare her for success on the court — it also gave her the mindset and discipline that would carry her through the next phase of her career.
Walsh Jennings, who was honored as part of the 2025 NCAA Silver Anniversary Award class, took what she learned at Stanford and turned it into an Olympic career that rewrote the record books. She won three straight Olympic gold medals with Misty May-Treanor (2004, 2008, 2012) and added a bronze in 2016 with April Ross, becoming the all-time leader in beach volleyball victories along the way.
In her career at Stanford, she was named a first-team American Volleyball Coaches Association All-American four times. She became the first player in Pac-10 history to surpass 1,500 career kills, 1,200 digs and 500 blocks, earning co-National Player of the Year honors in 1999. (Photo courtesy of Stanford)
But even as she dominated the sport, she started to recognize a gap in how athletes prepared for longevity. Volleyball had given her everything, but she saw firsthand how many gaps there were in continuing the sport's growth and setting its athletes up for long-term success.
That realization became the foundation of her next chapter.
In 2018, Walsh Jennings and her husband, Casey Jennings, launched p1440, a volleyball-centered platform designed to elevate the sport and provide resources beyond just skill development. The name is short for Platform 1440, a reference to the number of minutes in a day.
The organization raises funds for collegiate scholarships; summer and after-school programs for kindergarten through 12th-grade students; high-impact programming that includes mindfulness, recovery and nutrition; and mentor support and exposure for coaches through clinics and tournaments.
"I want to live an inspired and empowered life because ultimately I want to empower and inspire," she said. "That's my joy in life."
Her vision for p1440 is clear: to create an environment where athletes aren't just great on the court but are also equipped to handle the demands of competition in a way that allows them to thrive for years to come.
For her, it's simply giving back what she got from volleyball to more young girls.
"I'm giving back to the sport that has given me everything," she said.
Just as Stanford provided her with the structure, discipline and support to thrive, Walsh Jennings is now driven to create those same opportunities for the next generation of athletes.
"My time as a collegiate athlete at Stanford and within the NCAA, it just showed me what I was capable of and the structure that I was put into was so helpful for me," she said. "I believe discipline equals freedom. I believe in environments, that we become what we're surrounded by. At Stanford, I was surrounded by the best."
