Memorial volleyball tournament has been supporting CU Engineering students for over 20 years

Chad Keller

A player dives into a save with an erupting cloud of beach sand. Onlookers cheer as the ball is propelled back and forth over the net.

It’s a typical-looking beach volleyball game on California’s Manhattan Beach, but this one is part of an annual tournament that honors a lost friend and supports engineering education.

Chad Keller’s (AeroEngr’93) life and career were tragically cut short in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But his memory endures through a scholarship that has helped dozens of CU Boulder aerospace students.

Since its creation in 2002, the volleyball tournament has given family and friends a way to fund the scholarship, which provides awards of $12,000-$14,000 to two or three students each year.

“We get to meet the students and see the difference this has made in their lives,” said Kathy Keller, Chad’s mother. “We’re honored and blessed.”

Recipients have gone on to positions as engineering professors and in industry at small and large organizations, including SpaceX, Sierra Space, Boeing, NASA, Scaled Composites and BAE Systems.

Dick Keller said his son knew from an early age that he was going to launch rockets.

After graduation, Chad worked at Boeing on rocket propulsion systems that lifted national security payloads and satellites into orbit. On 9/11, after completing a briefing with the Department of Defense on a recent satellite launch, he boarded American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon. He was 29 years old.

Following the loss, his parents and wife, Lisa, were determined to honor his memory in an ongoing way. The result was the scholarship in Chad’s name for undergraduates in aerospace engineering sciences.

“Chad was an immense Buffs fan. He loved the sports, loved the school and loved the area,” Dick said.

The Kellers encouraged family members and friends to donate, and with Lisa and Chad’s three closest friends, organized an annual volleyball tournament in his hometown of Manhattan Beach to continue raising money.

“When Chad was growing up, we’d always go down to the beach in the late evenings. The kids would bring their surfboards, and we had adults who were very good at volleyball, so everyone learned it. We’d surf and play volleyball until sunset,” Dick said.

Their expectations for the tournament were small, but the now-annual event and scholarship have endured for more than two decades.

“Rather than being endowed, the scholarship is funded each year through the volleyball participant donations. We’ve now done it for 23 years,” Dick said.

The tournament typically brings out 100-150 people.

“The tournament started with Chad’s friends, and now they’re all in their 50s, and it’s their kids who are competing. Past scholarship recipients will also attend, and a lot of them give back as well,” Dick said.

In establishing the scholarship, the Kellers decided it would go to juniors or seniors in aerospace engineering who also participate in sports and are actively engaged in community service or volunteering.

“The sport doesn’t need to be Division One or varsity, but we want students who are well-rounded; the kind of person who is living life to the fullest. That’s what makes us think of Chad every day,” Dick said.