The 9/11 victim who saved gymnasts across America - ESPN

JENNIFER BANNON RECALLS the emotions more than the specifics when she thinks about her last summer in college. It's been 25 years. She was a gymnast at UC Santa Barbara and was working an internship in Washington, D.C.

Back on campus, a crisis began to brew. Her coach had resigned and the school was searching for a replacement. As the lone returning senior, and a captain, Bannon helped review résumés. She stopped when she came across a familiar name: Mari-Rae Sopper.

«I recognized her because she coached a lot of my friends — girls that I went to high school with,» Bannon says. «I just remember, 'Oh, I know this woman. She's so great.'»

At the time, Sopper wasn't feeling so great. She was living in D.C. and had just resigned from her job as a corporate attorney. The former Iowa State gymnast sent what was certainly the most eclectic résumé — it included a stint in the Navy JAG Corps — to UCSB.

The women waited and reconnected until unexpected news came from California. The athletic department announced it was cutting the program entirely and immediately.

Sopper had yet to be hired, but Bannon turned to her for ideas on how to save the program.

«She was so small but fierce,» Bannon says. «All I could think about was, 'Man, I don't want to be on your bad side.' Because she's a bulldog. She is a bulldog.»

A three-day blitz from Bannon and Sopper convinced the school to grant the program one more year and to name Sopper head coach. She reached out to the gymnasts and formulated a strategy to not only save the program beyond 2001-02, but to make the Gauchos a national contender.

In the waning days of summer, Bannon and Sopper sat in a restaurant and made plans to fly back to California together on Sept. 11, 2001.

«The last