On Saturday, July 18th in rural Brazos County, Texas, professional boxer Hannah Rapp was riding her bike along a farm-to-market road with her boyfriend, when she was struck by a vehicle driven by a man named Charles Medina. Rapp was taken to a nearby hospital where she died later that day. Medina has been charged with manslaughter.
There was an outpouring of grief and reflection, both online and in-person -- the kind reserved for a beloved young athlete who was even more so a beloved person. A 400-person memorial was held at Rapp's training gym in Bryan, Texas. And that makes sense -- she was a rising star on the professional boxing circuit, boasting an 8-1-1 record as a pro, including five victories via KO.
In June, she went ten rounds with Tiara Brown, the reigning WBC featherweight champion. Rapp lost in a unanimous decision, but earned plenty of respect in the boxing world for pushing the champ for so long. In her short, three-year foray into the sport, Rapp earned the nickname "Hanarchy" for her intensity in the ring, which stood in sharp contrast to her smiley disposition outside of it.
And Rapp had plenty of reason to smile. Rapp's mother told ESPN that boxing was therapeutic for her daughter, that it helped her in a battle with disordered eating that was triggered by an unexpected departure from her first athletic love: track and field. That she turned out to be such a phenomenal fighter was almost a bonus.
Before she was Texas-based Hanarchy, Hannah Rapp was a standout hurdler back home in Indiana, where she competed for Yorktown High School. She graduated with PRs of 15.40 in the 100m hurdles and 43.88 in the 300m hurdles, an event in which she placed fifth in the state as a sophomore in 2016. She was a six-time sectional champion across both hurdle events, as well.
"Hannah was not only an amazing athlete in track and field, and later boxing, but more importantly, she was an absolute light for everybody she came in contact with," her high school coach Jared Turner told MileSplit. "I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time around Hannah in her formative years, and was blown away by the spirit and positivity she brought to every person she crossed paths with."
Rapp and Turner (all photos courtesy of Turner)
And upon graduation in 2018, she enrolled at Purdue University across the state in West Lafayette, where she walked on to the track team.
Though she saw limited action as a Boilermaker, continuing to train and compete as a track athlete remained incredibly important to Rapp. And even when she had fully established herself as a fighter first and foremost, she still took the time to return to her running roots.
She ran the "4 for the 4th" four-miler in her hometown on July 4th, just a couple of weeks prior to her being killed, and finished in 31:18 -- not bad for a former hurdler in a casual four-miler. But the real tell is her registered split for what the results refer simply to as "HillClimb." For one minute and 16 seconds, Rapp raced up an incline at 5:07 pace, the eighth fastest split by any woman in the field. Rapp couldn't resist partaking in a moment of athletically-inspired, lung-searing delight. It's easy to envision her approaching the start of the segment with a smile, splitting her watch, and launching into an all-out effort for the love of it.
And it's important to remember her that way: as a beacon of joy, a devoted athlete, and a one-of-a-kind person.
On Saturday, July 18th in rural Brazos County, Texas, professional boxer Hannah Rapp was riding her bike along a farm-to-market road with her boyfriend, when she was struck by a vehicle driven by a man named Charles Medina. Rapp was taken to a nearby hospital where she died later that day. Medina has been charged with manslaughter.
There was an outpouring of grief and reflection, both online and in-person -- the kind reserved for a beloved young athlete who was even more so a beloved person. A 400-person memorial was held at Rapp's training gym in Bryan, Texas. And that makes sense -- she was a rising star on the professional boxing circuit, boasting an 8-1-1 record as a pro, including five victories via KO.
In June, she went ten rounds with Tiara Brown, the reigning WBC featherweight champion. Rapp lost in a unanimous decision, but earned plenty of respect in the boxing world for pushing the champ for so long. In her short, three-year foray into the sport, Rapp earned the nickname "Hanarchy" for her intensity in the ring, which stood in sharp contrast to her smiley disposition outside of it.
