After reaching the ultimate playing field in their respective sports, Natasha Kai and Brooke Wilkins continue to achieve in athletics.
Kai, an Olympic gold medalist in soccer, is headed for Dubai, where she will play for the U.S. in December’s inaugural Women’s International Sevens tournament.
Wilkins, a three-time Olympic medalist in softball, heads back home to her native Australia, where she’ll continue to play in Play For A Cure Foundation softball events that raise money for breast cancer awareness and research.
The two never crossed paths at the University of Hawaii during their playing days, having competed in different decades. But as of Friday, the pair of Rainbow Wahine are connected through the UH Sports Circle of Honor.
Kai and Wilkins join the late Patsy Takemoto Mink, who co-authored the landmark Title IX amendment, in the 30th COH class. They were inducted during Friday night’s volleyball match between Hawaii and Utah State at the Stan Sheriff Center, where their plaques joined 103 others hanging on the wall of the inner concourse.
"It’s an honor for me and all the young girls who dream that same dream that I did," said Kai, the soccer program’s first All-American. "I always felt I was here to open doors and I couldn’t ask for anything better than this honor.
"And now with rugby, I’m still shooting for the stars."
Kai, a Kahuku High graduate, played for Hawaii from 2002 to 2005. The All-American was a three-time player of the year in the Western Athletic Conference, holds the school mark for career goals (72) and helped the U.S. to a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.
She has been playing pro soccer, most recently winning a Women’s Professional Soccer title with Sky Blue FC. Kai also has been playing rugby. She was impressive in Hawaiian Select’s showing in the USA Women’s International Invitational 7s in February and was chosen for the U.S. national team.
Wilkins was with the Australian national team through three Olympics, with bronze in 1996 and 2000, and a silver in 2004. In her two seasons at Hawaii (1994-95), she had 58 wins, a 0.68 ERA and, until last spring, held the school record for strikeouts (585).
"It’s great to see where the program has gone," said Wilkins, now married with two young children. "I was so lucky to have come here. I had three choices (for college) and if I had gone to the mainland, I don’t think I would have survived. There was such a family feeling here.
"I am very honored by this award. But it would not have been possible, my records would not have been possible, without my teammates. I’m not much of a batter, so I needed them to be scoring more runs than I gave up."
The careers of Kai and Wilkins were made possible, in part, by the efforts of Mink, whose long political career included three terms in Congress. The 1948 UH graduate’s legacy is the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act, which guaranteed equal opportunity in education and was later applied to collegiate athletics. Months after her death in 2002, the legislation was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act.
"She was a champion of women’s rights," said UH associate athletic director Marilyn Moniz-Kaho‘ohanohano when accepting the award for the Mink and Takemoto families. "She paved the way for gender equality in sports and education."
The induction of the three women also coincides with the 40th anniversary of Rainbow Wahine athletics. The COH now has 96 individuals and 10 teams.
