Courtesy: USA Water Polo
Irvine, CA –April 7, 2025 – USA Water Polo is proud to announce its 41st class of inductees into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame. This year’s five honorees represent international athletic excellence as well as gifted coaches and referees who have dedicated their lives to water polo.
The 2025 class includes two of the most formidable defenders in Team USA history: Melissa Seidemann, a three-time Olympic and world champion, and Jesse Smith, a five-time Olympian and 2008 silver medalist. It also includes coaching greats Denny Harper and Ricardo Azevedo who, together, represent more than 1,000 wins and have demonstrated major impacts at the collegiate, club and international levels. Finally, David Alberstein joins the Hall in the midst of his 60-year journey in water polo, officiating matches and striving to improve the refereeing experience for all.
Please join us on June 13 at 11 a.m. Pacific time for the Hall of Fame induction luncheon at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Brea North Orange County in Brea, California. To purchase individual tickets, tables or program tributes, click here. To make a gift to USA Water Polo in honor of an inductee, click here. To learn more about the Hall of Fame, including a look at all the past inductees, click here.
Congratulations to all the inductees!
More on the 2025 USA Water Polo Hall of Fame Induction Class:
David Alberstein
Few people have been more dedicated to water polo than David Alberstein, who has spent more than 60 years in the game. He was first introduced to water polo as an athlete at Mt. Whitney High School. He went on to compete at the College of the Sequoias and Stanford University. In 1967, he found his true calling, on the deck, as a water polo official. Since then, Alberstein has refereed more than 6,000 games – and still calls about 50 contests a year. Throughout his career, he has refereed multiple high-level competitions including the USA Water Polo National Championships, Olympic Festivals, and NCAA Conference Championships. In 1989, he was the first referee from the United States to be selected as a neutral official for a European Aquatics (LEN)-sanctioned tournament. When he wasn’t using his whistle, Alberstein worked hard to build structure and create opportunities for referees. He helped establish referee associations and training programs in San Diego, New Mexico and the Central Valley of California. He has trained or mentored hundreds of referees. He also played a critical role as an evaluator for USA Water Polo and, since 2021, has been the NCAA’s Water Polo Secretary-Rules Editor/Interpreter. He has also served multiple roles within USA Water Polo’s national and zone governance, and was its Vice President in the 1980s. On top of that, he spent 50 years as a nuclear engineer. Although he recently retired from that, he remains engaged in an equally challenging profession: water polo referee.
Ricardo Azevedo
Ricardo Azevedo has left his mark on water polo at nearly every level and on nearly every continent, from the Americas to Asia and Europe. As a native of Brazil, Azevedo’s journey began as a player for Brazil’s national team from 1974-80. When he arrived in the United States, he joined USAWP Hall of Famer Ken Lindgren’s Long Beach State program and twice earned All-American honors. But he will be most remembered for the impact as a coach. In the early 90s Azevedo became an integral piece of the US men’s national team. He served as an Assistant Coach for the US men’s team at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games and became head coach of the program in the mid-2000s. Along the way he made a big impact on high school and collegiate water polo programs in Southern California. In 1998, Azevedo coached Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach to a CIF title. (The team featured his son and future Hall of Famer, Tony.) The following year, he returned to Long Beach State to lead the men’s program at his alma mater. Overseas, he was a highly sought-after coach and tactician as well. He coached the Chinese women’s national team to a seventh-place finish at the 2016 Rio Olympics, served as technical director for the Brazilian national team, and built the Italian club RN Camogli into a championship contender. He remains closely involved in the sport today, working alongside his son, Tony at water polo camps and clinics, helping to mentor the next generation.
Denny Harper
Denny Harper and UC San Diego water polo will be forever linked. That’s what happens after guiding the Triton men’s and women’s programs to 942 victories over 42 years. Harper’s journey began under legendary coach, Flip Darr, at Rancho Alamitos High School. In his junior year in 1972, he began coaching the girls water polo team at Rancho and found his true calling. Afterwards he played two years at Santa Barbara City College for the coach he credits most for his education about the game, Dave Gray. Two years later it was on to San Diego State to finish his college career while launching his college coaching journey, leading the SDSU women’s club team. Harper graduated in 1978; in the meantime, he went 130-18 with the Aztecs. In late 1979, fate intervened when best friend and former SBCC teammate Russ Hafferkamp asked Harper if he wanted to lead the UC San Diego men. It was a life-changing decision that turned a passion into a career. His four-plus decade run with the men’s squad is nothing short of legendary. It includes 697 wins, 18 WWPA conference titles, 19 league Coach-of-the-Year selections plus a Guinness World Record for longest water polo game, clocking in at 26 hours.
He also took the Tritons to the NCAA tournament 15 times, including a runner-up finish in 2000 earning National Coach of the Year honors. In 1983 Harper was tapped to lead the UCSD women building the Tritons into a juggernaut, claiming five USAWP National Championship titles. Harper became the first coach to lead a women’s team to a three-peat (’90-’92). Over his time in La Jolla, Harper navigated the Triton’s transitions from non-scholarship Division III and then Division II to eventually Division I. Outside of college Harper stayed busy, coaching at two Olympic Festivals, first as assistant coach under Rick Jones in 1990 and then as the head coach in 1993 for the west women, with two gold medal results. In 1976, Harper founded the Sunset Water Polo Club. He coached the men to three Indoor National club titles and women to multiple senior national championships including an undefeated indoor/outdoor National Title winning streak between 1993 and 1997 as well as several Masters Nationals medals. In 2008 he joined forces with the Olympic Club of San Francisco, coaching the men’s masters’ teams and winning World Masters five times, most recently in 2023 in Japan. Across his storied career, Harper received many accolades including induction into the UCSD Hall of Fame and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the ACWPC. Harper remains a supportive and influential fixture at UCSD Triton water polo matches and when not on the deck, he is spending time in San Diego with his wife Jefi, five children, two granddaughters and five golden retrievers.
Melissa Seidemann
One of the most versatile players in women’s water polo history, Melissa Seidemann quickly emerged as a world-class talent – and a nightmare for opponents – thanks to her incomparable skills as a center, lockdown defensive play at two meters, and deceptive touch scoring from the perimeter. After graduating from College Park High School in Northern California in 2008, the East Bay native went to Stanford University where she helped the Cardinal launch a dominant run that has continued for much of the past 15 years. After helping Stanford win the 2011 NCAA title, Seidemann claimed the 2013 Peter J. Cutino Award as the best player in the college game. As an undergraduate, she also became a fixture on the USA women’s national team. She made her senior national team debut in 2010 and made history in 2012 by helping Team USA win its first Olympic gold medal in women’s water polo. Seidemann was also part of the next two gold-medal runs, in 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo, and became only the second female water polo player in history to win three Olympic golds. That’s in addition to claiming three World Championship gold medals, three World Cup crowns, three Pan American Games golds, and 10 World League titles. On the club scene, Seidemann got her start in water polo with the Devil Mountain Water Polo Club. Once she reached the elite level she competed abroad for the likes of CN Sabadell and was a fixture back home for the New York Athletic Club for many years. She retired after the Tokyo Olympics, but the Stanford Hall of Famer has stayed close to the game as both a club coach and high school coach in Orange County.
Jesse Smith
It’s nearly impossible to think of the US men’s national team over the past two decades without picturing Jesse Smith. Smith is not only one of the most legendary defenders ever to play for Team USA, but is just the second athlete in the program’s history to compete in five Olympic Games. As one of a long line of California water polo stars who grew up on Coronado Island near San Diego, he helped Coronado High School win three CIF titles and was twice named San Diego Player of the Year. From there, it was off to Pepperdine where he launched his All-American career and would later be inducted into its Hall of Fame. Just as his scholastic career was thriving, Smith was a quickly-rising star on the national team. Smith made his debut at the 2004 Athens Olympics when he was 21 and finished his Olympic run in Tokyo in 2021 at age 38. In between, Smith won five Pan American Games gold medals, three World League medals, and captured Olympic silver at the 2008 Beijing Games. Professionally, Smith was a highly sought-after transfer who competed in Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, Italy, Turkey, Brazil and Egypt. He competed for seven years in the Champions League and twice made the final four. Domestically he was a mainstay for the New York Athletic Club, helping the program to a variety of titles. After retiring, the father of five has remained entrenched in the game as Head Coach of Coronado High School and the Coronado Aquatics Club and volunteering for Pan Am Sports.
