Matsudaira Yasutaka

Yasutaka Matsudaira (22 January 1930 – 31 December 2011) was a volleyball player, coach, and sports official. He was the coach of Japan men's national volleyball team from 1965–1972 and the first Japanese to enter the International Volleyball Hall of Fame. Matsudaira was also previously a captain for Keio University. Matsudaira was a former feudal retainer, and served as a chief retainer, and was a descendant of the Daini Matsudaira family, who served as the lord of Komatsu Castle for several years at the end of the Edo period.

Volleyball

Playing career In 1947, he entered the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law, Keio University. As the captain of the volleyball team, he won the All Japan 9-man Championship in 1951 and won the Emperor's Cup (the first student team after the war). He continued to work for Nippon Kokan.

In 1979, he was appointed Executive Director of the Japan Volleyball Association, and served as General Manager of the 1980 Moscow Olympic World Final Qualifiers. In the same year, he became president of the Asian Volleyball Federation.

From 1989 to December 1995, served as president of the Japan Volleyball Association. As the chairman, he worked hard to spread volleyball among young people, such as the establishment of the V League on the premise of becoming a professional in the future.

In 2001, he returned to the Japan Volleyball Association, and in February 2011, he was appointed honorary advisor.

Death At 12:21 am, on December 31, 2011, he died of emphysema at a hospital in Tokyo. He died at the age of 81. After his death he was awarded the rank of Shogoi. His grave is at Tama Cemetery in Tokyo.