Author: Talia Beatty
Associated Press
Kathy Flores holds the 2007 American Club National Championship trophy in Florida in November 2007
Kathy Flores, a legendary rugby player, coach and female sports leader who has influenced every generation of players and coaches in the United States for more than 40 years, has passed away. She is 66 years old.
On December 16, nearly 300 former teammates, coaching colleagues, former players and friends gathered together, organized by the American Women’s Rugby Foundation, to virtually commemorate Catherine “Kathy” Flores. The foundation stated that Flores died of cancer in October at his home in Providence, Rhode Island.
Thirty years ago, when the U.S. women’s national rugby team defeated England for the first time to win the Women’s Rugby World Cup, Flores was also there. Later, she became the first woman to coach the national football team and the first woman of color, and led the US women’s team from 2003 to 2010.
Flores has Hawaiian and Filipino ancestry. He started as a Florida State University player in 1978 and gained a huge reputation in the No. 8 position, said former teammate Jan Crawford.
Crawford recalled a game, when she “think about the end, who is the number 8? She must be 6 feet 2 inches, 220 pounds!” In fact, Flores is 5 inches 5 inches tall and may weigh 150. Pound, her former teammate said.
Crawford described the power that Flores brought to the stadium.
“She didn’t need to say anything,” Crawford said. “It is her energy, her hot eyes, her pure determination and will that inspire you not only to play with her, but to play for her.”
In 1994, Flores finally joined the Berkeley All Blues with Crawford, who was dating at the time, which is a national semi-professional league team located in the Bay Area.
Flores was not only in the starting lineup, but also the captain and coach of the team-both rookies-former All Blue player Becky Wally recalled. According to the American Football Association, as a player and coach, then as a coach, Flores and the All Blue team participated in all the championships from 1994 to 2007 and won 11 of them.
At the time, Wally said that there were basically no professional coaches in women’s rugby.
She told the Associated Press: “It’s as grass-rooted as possible.” “Getting the field is one of the hardest things. We usually just squat down or go to the park, and the team will walk across the field to pick up shit before the game. …I remember that many practice sessions were on an uphill field.”
Flores has coached many teams at all levels from college to semi-professionals—including the gay men’s team, the San Francisco fog team—to the U.S. national team.
Former All Blue player Deb Watford said her popularity in the sport is a beacon for other players of color.
“Rugby is an incredibly empowering sport. It does require you to have confidence in yourself,” Watford said. “But not only that, you must also trust your teammates to cover for you and help you… …So that you can make progress. She wants to give this power to others, especially those who are underrepresented.”
In 2013, Flores joined Brown University as the coach of the new women’s college football team. According to the school’s sports department’s website, due to her donations before and after her death, the university donated a coaching seat in the name of Flores in recognition of her “contribution as a pioneer coach and educator”.
As a lover of dancing, wine, hugs and dogs, Flores is a private person in many ways, and the severity of her condition surprised many people. Brown’s current players remember that “Coach Casey” supported them on and off the court in a video message broadcast during the commemorative event.
Although rugby has a long history elsewhere, from Wales to Fiji to New Zealand, it is still a relatively new sport in the United States, Wally said, calling Flores the “old statesman” of the sport. , His contribution was not recognized until recently.
Flores was inducted into the American Football Hall of Fame twice: once as a World Cup team in 1991 and the second time as an individual in 2016.
According to her friends, Flores received a small salary for coaching the U.S. Women’s National Team, but for most of her career, in addition to many commitments as a coach and female sports advocate, she also served as a massager The therapist earns income. football. A spokesperson for the American football team said that they did not have salary information for Flores as a coach.
Flores was born in Philadelphia in 1955, attended high school in New Jersey, and received a bachelor’s degree from East Stroudsburg University. According to the obituary, she started studying for a master’s degree in exercise physiology at Florida State University and started playing football.
In 2007, when Flores led the blue team to win the national championship, Wally told how Flores was late to the team hotel. In front of everyone, Flores “put his fingers in the air-‘We are the first’-and walked straight into the swimming pool in his clothes.”
“I will maintain her image of walking into the pool triumphantly, surrounded by teammates, walking too fast, but as always, leading the trend,” Wally said.
