Stanford athletes have a date at the White House

The reigning NCAA champion Stanford men’s volleyball and women’s tennis teams will be visiting President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday, Sept. 13. The Cardinal teams are among a variety of NCAA championship teams from the 2009-10 academic year that will be honored in a ceremony hosted by the president.

In a press release about the visit, Stanford Athletics notes that the occasion will reunite CHRIS McLACHLIN, volleyball assistant coach, with the president, a player he coached on the 1979 Hawaii state championship basketball team at Honolulu’s Punahou School.

McLachlin returned to Stanford last season. He served as a player-coach during the program’s infancy in the 1960s. Since then, he has had a storied career in his native Hawaii, winning a combined 14 state championships in boy’s volleyball and basketball. His son, SPENCER, is a volleyball outside hitter for the Cardinal.