Sport keeps calling gymnast back

New Hall-of-Famer Chari Hunter stays involved by coaching

By Jason Vondersmith

The Portland Tribune, Oct 4, 2005, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Former Oregon State great Chari Hunter remembers competing in gymnastics and vowing never to coach.

“I saw how hard the coaches worked,” she says, “and they were not paid very much.”

Where does Hunter find herself today? Coaching.

Hunter, the former Chari Knight, a seven-time All-American and two-time Pac-10 gymnast of the year for the Beavers, lives in upstate New York and coaches the gymnastics team at Pascack Valley Regional High in Rockland County.

She’ll return to her home state to be inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame on Oct. 11 at the Multnomah Athletic Club.

Hunter, 33, competed for USA Gymnastics as recently as two years ago, and she has stayed active by turning to coaching. Before she moved to New York with her husband, Randy Hunter, a former OSU baseball player, she coached a club team in Washington, D.C., for four years.

She has tried to move on and do other things, but her favorite sport always calls her back. Hunter also does “freelance” athletic training, in which she received her degree from Oregon State.

Running and swimming don’t cut it Ñ “too boring,” Hunter says. She stays in good shape with yoga, rollerblading and mountain biking.

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