The Red Bank Catholic community is mourning the loss this week of girls’ gymnastics coach Maureen Sutphen.
Sutphen, 51, died Tuesday of complications of surgery at Riverview Medical Center, the Star-Ledger reports.
A member of four championship RBCÂ gymnastic teams in the 1970s herself, Sutphen had racked up 118 victories and seven Shore Conference titles as the team’s head coach from 2000 on, the Sledger reports.
From the report:
Sutphen began her storied career as a gymnast on the Red Bank Catholic teams which won four straight NJSIAA titles from 1974-77. A graduate of Saint Leo University in Florida, she became coach at her alma mater in 2000. Over the course of 12 seasons, she led Red Bank Catholic to seven Shore Conference titles, six sectional titles and back-to-back NJSIAA championships in 2001 and Â’02. She also led New Jersey to back-to-back National Senior Invitational titles in 2009 and Â’10.
“She put her heart and soul into gymnastics. She just loved the girls,” said Holmdel coach Liz Porter, Sutphen’s teammate on the Red Bank Catholic championship teams. “Gymnastics was her passion. She lived it, loved it and breathed it.”
Arrangements at Thompson Funeral Home in Red Bank were pending early Thursday morning.