Savvin, Vladimir Ivanovich

Savvin, Vladimir Ivanovich 

Born Oct. 25, 1919, in Moscow; died there Mar. 17, 1975. Soviet sports figure; one of the founders of modern-style volleyball. Honored Master of Sports (1949). Member of the CPSU from 1943. Fought in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45.

Savvin graduated from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages of the Soviet Army in 1951. During the 1950’s he was a senior instructor and deputy head of the department of foreign languages at the M. V. Frunze Military Academy with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was volleyball champion of the USSR five times in the years 1949–54, as well as world champion (1949) and European champion (1951). Savvin was chairman of the Volleyball Federation of the USSR from 1953 to 1967 and from 1971 to 1975. In 1953 he became vice-president of the International Volleyball Federation and in 1962 a member of the Presidium of the USSR Olympic Committee. Savvin was awarded four orders and various medals.