As the Grand Rapids Rise prepare for their second Pro Volleyball Federation season, the DeVos family is excited about the growing acceptance of women's sports in North America.

Story by Mark Newman / Photo by Tully Chapman

        When Cole DeVos watched the Grand Rapids Rise lose to the Omaha Supernovas in the first-ever Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF) championship final on May 18, 2024, his competitive instincts left him disappointed with the outcome.

        "Losing the championship was a bummer," he said. "It definitely stung for a while, but then you take a step back and realize what an incredible first season it was. What the league and our team accomplished was nothing short of amazing.

        "I am not going to sugarcoat things and say everything was perfect, because like any other startup, there were challenges all along the way, but getting through the first year of any professional sports league is a huge success."

        When DeVos recalls his earliest sports memories, he remembers going to Griffins games.

        Born to Grand Rapids Griffins co-owner Dan DeVos and his wife Pamella shortly before the Griffins' inaugural season in 1996-97, Cole started attending hockey games at Van Andel Arena as a little boy. "Even if my dad was busy that night, I'd be dragging people to go. I went to as many home games as I could," he said.

        "I have a lot of memories of going to the locker room with my dad and, you know, probably completely bothering all the players because I was just this kid who loves talking hockey. As I've gotten older, I've become more of a basketball guy and overall sports fan, but when I was younger, hockey was everything. I knew hockey like the back of my hand since I was three years old."

        DeVos was a member of Hope College's hockey team that, in 2018, won the ACHA Division III national championship. It was not the only good thing to come from his college hockey experience. It was through one of his hockey teammates that he met his wife, Lexi. The couple married this past summer.

        What was it that attracted DeVos to hockey in the first place?  "Honestly, it was probably the excitement of the arena," he recalled. "The atmosphere inside the building is probably the first thing that caught my eye.

        "Grand Rapids has been such an incredible sports town. Just look at what the fans here have done with the Rise and how quickly they embraced the team. They're creating the same atmosphere at the Rise matches that I saw at those early Griffins games."

        DeVos believes that the city, despite its relative size, can match the intensity of larger metropolitan areas.

        "I go to Orlando Magic basketball games and certainly there are more people in attendance at NBA games, but the atmosphere at Van Andel Arena when the place is packed is really unmatched. You can really feel the excitement when the crowd gets behind the home team."

        It was that palpable passion that DeVos saw developing again with the arrival of the Rise and the excitement that the sport of volleyball is creating in the city.

        Before PVF came into play, DeVos said that he and his father attended several women's volleyball matches, including the NCAA National Championship in Omaha and a Big Ten volleyball match at the University of Wisconsin.

        "As soon as we saw those events, we felt like it was something we needed to bring to Grand Rapids," he said. "You can watch volleyball on TV, and while it's great and you enjoy it, there's nothing like being there in person. As soon as we saw the action in person, our jaws dropped. We thought it was amazing. We were surprised to find that there was no full-fledged professional volleyball league for women in North America."

        Thus, PVF started play in 2024 with teams in seven cities – Atlanta, Columbus, Las Vegas, Omaha, Orlando, San Diego, and Grand Rapids – competing over a 24-game schedule that stretched from January to May.

        "As an organization, we're excited that we can bring women's volleyball to the city and inspire the next generation by providing a quality product with role models for young girls who hope to play the sport at a higher level someday," said DeVos.

        The early success of the Rise is a testament to not only the talent on the court but also the team behind the team.

        DeVos said the organization was fortunate to hire Cathy George as the Rise's first head coach and vice president of volleyball operations. The former Michigan State University women's volleyball coach has been an ideal ambassador for the sport and for the team.

        "She's incredible," he said. "Just the ideas that she has had for us from a league perspective have been invaluable. At this stage, it is a full team effort and she's been a huge asset for us at the league level. From a team perspective, we understand the business side, but when it comes to the volleyball piece, her experience with the sport has been very helpful. Things that might work for the Griffins might not always translate to the court, so she's been super helpful with her insight.

        "From a community perspective, she has taken the ball and run with it. We don't even have to ask. She knows how important that piece is to the organization and she has done incredible things because she knows community outreach will ultimately lead to the growth of volleyball in the area."

        Devos feels lucky that the Griffins' front office and staff have wholeheartedly welcomed the challenge of supporting a second sport with their efforts. He can't say enough about what the Griffins organization did to make the first season of Rise volleyball a success.

        "As a young professional coming into this, it's been a blessing for me to learn from every single one of them," he said. "From the leadership of Scott Gorsline and Tim Gortsema to Brandon Nelson with his in-game operations to ticket sales with Matt Batchelder and his team, all these pieces came together to build the Rise from the ground up.

        "Every person in the front office saw this as an incredible opportunity and accepted the challenge of a new endeavor when it could have been easy for them to say we have enough going with the Griffins, but there was none of that. It's been an exciting experience for everyone."

        Indeed, DeVos said the entire organization has felt gratified by the city's response to the Rise thus far.

        "We couldn't be more pleased with the reaction. It's been nothing but positive as far as the reaction from everyone who attended matches during our inaugural season," he said.

        "We felt if we could just get people in the building to watch the product and to see how incredible these athletes are, they'll want to come back. We're already seeing proof of that with more companies wanting to become partners, more people wanting season tickets, and more wanting single-game tickets.

        "The excitement is there, which is really fun."

        As the director of strategic investments at DP Fox Ventures, DeVos is involved in the firm's interests in transportation, sports, entertainment, fashion, retail, resort management, and real estate. Working with the Griffins and Rise organizations has been like a dream come true.

        Having played a variety of sports growing up, DeVos said he felt drawn to finding a career in sports. In high school, he did a couple of brief internships with the Griffins. He earned a bachelor's degree in management from Hope, then served in various business and management roles at Stats Perform, a sports data and analytics firm with offices in Chicago.

        "I knew I wanted to stay involved in sports in some way. And I wanted to get a job on my own and just figure things out," he said. "I wanted to start at the bottom, work my way up, and see what I could do. I started in a business development role at Stats Perform before becoming an account executive. I enjoyed the work and learned a lot, but it was eventually time to come back to the family business."

        Now DeVos is anxious to continue building on the momentum behind the recent ascent of the Rise.

        "We wanted to bring to Grand Rapids something the people here had not seen before. We hoped that once they saw the product, they would be hooked, which is now happening," he said. "We're enthusiastic about our plans for season two and beyond, and we're doing everything we can to make sure the product is even a bigger success going forward.

        "Our success will be reflected in the league's success, and we're excited that we are expanding to 28 games for the 2025 season, when we welcome the addition of the Indy Ignite to our eight-team league. Obviously, we want our league to continue to grow, but we also want the sport of volleyball to continue to grow.

        "We're confident that we're heading in the right direction."