Kerri Walsh Jennings

Walsh Jennings in 2004, image via Joe Seer/bigstock

Birth Name: Kerri Lee Walsh

Place of birth: Santa Clara, California, United States

Date of birth: August 15, 1978

Ethnicity: Irish, Scottish, one eighth Italian, Austrian/Croatian

Kerri Walsh Jennings, also known simply as Kerri Walsh, is an American professional beach volleyball player, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and one-time Olympic bronze medalist. She is nicknamed “Six Feet of Sunshine.” She is 6’3″.

She was raised in Scotts Valley, north of Santa Cruz. Kerri is married to professional beach volleyball player Casey Jennings, with whom she has three children.

Kerri’s maternal grandfather was Marte/Martin Anthony Formico, Jr. (the son of Marte Anthony Formico and Bernice C. O’Neill). Marte was born in California. Kerri’s great-grandfather Marte was born in Minnesota, to Italian parents, Francesco Giuseppe “Frank” Formica/Formico, who was from Settingiano, Province of Catanzaro, Calabria, and Theresa/Tressa Arone. Bernice was of Irish descent, and was the daughter of William Joseph O’Neill and Amy M. O’Connell.

Kerri’s maternal grandmother was Eula Joan Taylor (the daughter of John Felton Taylor and Mary Madeline Sicocan). Eula was born in California. John was the son of George Francis Taylor and Margaret Ann Mullin, who was born in New York, to an Irish-born father and a Scottish-born mother. Kerri’s great-grandmother Mary Madeline was born in Arizona, to an Austrian father, George Sicocan, who was likely of Croatian descent, and a Texas-born mother, Mary McHugh, whose own parents were Irish.

Sources: Genealogies of Kerri Walsh (focusing on her mother’s side) –

Kerri’s maternal great-grandmother, Mary Madeline Sicocan, on the 1910 U.S. Census –