On a Flight from Los Angeles, 1984, returning from the summer Olympics, Rusty Kanokogi had only one thing on her mind Kogeki - "Fight"! Once again, Women's participation in the sport of Judo was not accepted by the International Olympic Committee. Rusty teamed up with the ACLU to put an injunction on the Olympics.
On that flight home, Rusty sat next to an amazing, Serbian olympic basketball player, Jasmina (Jazz). Last night, Jazz recalled to the room of women athletes: Rusty was a very large presence and a bigger than life being. 38 years later, Jazz just had to have us to Georgian Court University to share the inspirational story of Rusty Kanokogi.
Jasima Perazic is extremely impressive - 2 Olympic Games, NY Liberty, induction into the hall of fame. The "best" of Jazz for me though was to witness the strong, positive leadership she displays to these young, women athletes. Jazz 's focus is and will always be: "what is best for our students future, not winning basketball games."
Thank you, Jazz, for your positive impact and thank you for having us. We will do our best to see a home game this year, keep fighting!
