Post by Administrator on Apr 3, 2004 8:15:08 GMT -5
Whitney Cardin Sharp had plans of attending the University of Kentucky for as long as her parents can remember. In the summer 1999, Sharp contacted the UK gymnastics coaches and expressed interest in becoming a walk-on following her senior year of high school. She scheduled a visit to meet former head coach Leah Little and her staff in August of the same year, but the visit never took place. Sharp passed away from a rare heart disease two weeks before she was to make the trip to Lexington from her home in Virginia.
"She always wanted to be a GymKat," Whitney's father, Jerry said. "She always loved Kentucky and she made her own interview to come to UK without our help. It is a sad irony that we buried her the day she was supposed to have her interview with the coaches."
"The time Whitney's funeral started was the exact time she was supposed to be here at UK," her mother Sherry added.
On August 4, 1999, Sharp was on her way to a national competition in Cleveland, Ohio with her club coach, Helena Thorpe, when they stopped to pickup one of her teammates. Whitney fell asleep in the backseat of the van and when they tried to wake her, she had already passed away without warning. Whitney's abrupt death baffled her parents and doctors alike. The seemingly healthy 17-year old showed no sign of illness.
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