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Alumnae: Tribute to Rusty Kanokogi
Tripp Lake Camp mourns the death of our dear friend, Rusty Kanokogi, who passed away on November 21, 2009, after a three-year battle with leukemia.
Rusty spent forty-three summers at Tripp Lake. She touched thousands of young lives through her tireless work and indomitable spirit. She was revered by all as a woman of compassion, dedication and courage.
Rusty was world renowned as the "Mother of Judo." She helped create the first Women's World Judo Championships in 1980 in New York City. She fought for more than two decades to make judo an Olympic sport and coached the first ever U.S. women's judo team in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
"Rusty was one of the greatest influencers in the world of women's sports and a person who never really received the acclaim and recognition she so richly deserved," Women's Sports Foundation Founder Billie Jean King said in a tribute on Saturday. "Nothing thrilled Rusty more than helping others - especially the children. She said that helping a child who thinks he or she can't do something and then showing them that they CAN DO IT, was one of the greatest feelings in her life. So many of us were touched by her generosity, dedication and unconditional friendship... Rusty Kanokogi was one of a kind, a true leader, an inspirational woman of influence and one of the most generous souls I have ever known and I know she made a difference in my life and in the lives of so many others."
Rusty's family has asked that donations be made to the Rusty Kanokogi Fund for the Advancement of Women’s Judo, administered by the Women's Sports Foundation.
More information on this remarkable woman can be obtained via the following links:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/more/wires/11/22/2080.ap.jud.obit.judo.pioneer.2nd.ld.writethru.0497/
http://judo.teamusa.org/news/2009/11/22/1988-olympic-coach-rusty-kanokogi-passes-away/29256
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/sports/olympics/23kanokogi.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-rena-kanokogi24-2009nov24,0,7066573.story
