Mari-Rae Sopper 2001 Deaths

Mari-Rae Sopper

gymnastics coach at UC Santa Barbara who was one of the passengers aboard American Airlines Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon; on her way to California to take over the recently reinstated program; an assistant coach and choreographer for the U.S. Naval Academy's women's gymnastics team before taking the job at UCSB; graduated from Iowa State in 1988; received a master's in athletic administration from North Texas in 1993; graduated from the University of Denver College of Law in 1996. She died of injuries sustained in the crash.