When asked what he thought was the formula for leading a healthy, happy, productive life, Charles ‘Coogan’ Kelly replied, ‘Love and balance.’ If the life he led is any indication of the validity behind these words of advice…sign me up.
This is a young man who made such an impact in his 21 short years on earth that his memorial service was attended by close to 700 people, a turnout usually reserved for heads of state. A young man so beloved a ski resort put business on the back burner to host the crowd in honor of him, a team of Truckee’s most celebrated chefs rounded up crews to prepare the feast, and dedicated snowboarder friends took the time to help put together an amazing short film entitled simply ‘Coogan’ – a tribute to their fallen comrade.
Google Coogan and you will find dozens of sites celebrating his life and also, sadly, chronicling his senseless early death.
Had Coogan met his demise doing what he loved best (i.e. boarding the 70-foot face of a sheer mountain) maybe the blow wouldn’t have been so hard. But that’s not how it happened. On October 28 of last fall, 19-year-old Samisone Taukitoku allegedly shot and killed Coogan and two others at a Reno Halloween party following a dispute on the dance floor. None of the victims were involved in the altercation. However, recent Grand Jury testimony indicates Taukitoku looked Coogan straight in the eye, made his decision, and took his life. Again and again. Taukitoku has since been indicted and charged with three counts of open murder and four counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
These are the harsh facts and, unfortunately, part of Coogan’s story – but it is not the end of his story nor is it how those who know and love Coogan choose to remember him. Friends dating back to his early years in Calpine and Sierraville recall Coogan as the kid at the party you would always go to because you ‘knew he would talk to you.’ After his death, a student from Taiwan who attended sixth grade with Coogan, emailed his mother Katie, to express her grief and also gratitude at having known Kelly who took her under his wing on her first day at school.
Coogan’s curiosity of all things life – especially the outdoors – lead to enough adventures to satisfy a couple of very full lifetimes. He hiked un-marked trails, navigated the rivers, camped in the remotest of spots, climbed the highest mountains and, of course, there was snowboarding.
In early adulthood the nonstop pendulum of energy that personified Coogan began to pay off. That’s not to say that he worked. In his own words that was left to an absolute ‘bare minimum’ so that he could pursue his passion and talent for boarding.
‘Snowboarding in the winter, that’s what the Sierra is all about,’ says Coogan in one scene from the short film about him. His dedication to the sport showed in his unique style and superb craftsmanship. Many heavy-hitters in the industry were starting to sit up and take notice.
‘He was the most natural snowboarder I have ever met. Just gifted,’ says Dana Burley, owner of Totally Board in Truckee.’He was on our team for three years and we’d been working together, lining up industry sponsors. He was riding for Planet Earth Outerwear, Celtic Gloves, Northwear Boots, Ride Boards, Adidas and Drake Bindings. It was only a matter of time.’
The gift of time, Kelly didn’t have. Longtime friend, Olympic 2006 Snowboard team member Jayson Hale agrees he was close to the big break. ‘He was so on the edge – people were really starting to notice him. That’s all he needed, just someone to see him in action. This would have been his year,’ says Hale, who has known Coogan since kindergarten days in Sierraville. ‘We’ve been boarding together since we were eight years old. I started a few years before him and we slowly got to the same point and became shared teachers. He was a flawless rider. More and more he was starting to pass me up.’
And while Hale laments what could have been and has a list of things they had planned and never got to do, he recognizes that they accomplished quite a bit.
‘Coogan could not sit still, so there wasn’t much idle time in our friendship. He was always the first one ready to go out the door. Even when we went boarding he was ready in two seconds because he didn’t care if his socks were scrunched down or not wearing the proper gear,’ Hale said. ‘Still, I wish Coogan could have been around long enough to have perfected his fishing gun invention. We spent a lot of time fishing in Calpine Creek which has these rocks with really difficult nooks and crannies that the fish would hide in. Coogan’s fishing gun was a cap-powered device that would shoot your fly into the sneaky parts. Still, we accomplished quite a bit in our time together.’
Coogan continues to accomplish quite a bit and while the trial in Reno unfolds over the next six months, his family, friends and the Truckee/Tahoe community have better things to do; they celebrate his life. In November SnowBomb and Squaw Valley USA held the Coogan Kelly Memorial Rail Jam, the first of 12 stops in Toyota Sick and Twisted Freestyle Tour, donating all registration fees to the Coogan Kelly Memorial Foundation and awarding a scholarship in Coogan’s name to the Squaw Valley Snowboard Team.
Nate Brouwer, owner of Lifted Development, continues to print up t-shirts and stickers featuring an already recognizable silhouette of Coogan and his board with all proceeds going to the memorial fund. Requests for Coogan gear have not been limited to his hometown and, in fact, when his sister Michaela was wearing a Coogan shirt in the Bay Area on New Year’s Eve, two revelers approached her, opened their jackets and flashed matching tees.
‘Orders are still going strong,’ says Brouwer. ‘ I’m working with Coogan’s sisters to set up a Coogan Foundation MySpace page and an eBay site so people can purchase the shirts, stickers and a new poster I just designed. In the meantime, Totally Board in Truckee is the main distribution point.’
A committee of friends and family has assembled to determine details and organization of the Kelly Fund, and donations filter in from a variety of sources, big and small. Satellite collection jars dot local counters at the corner grocer and gas stations and more Coogan memorial tournaments and rail jams are being scheduled.
Sums up Hale, ‘Coogan always made an impact when you met him. You either loved him or hated him and even when you hated him, you loved him.’
Coogan was a self-described ‘fruit bat,’ who knew what trees in Sierraville bore the sweetest apples and which fences were the easiest to jump to get the best pears. In fact, just before his death, with apple season approaching, he called a friend in Sierraville to ‘case out the best trees.’
Seeking out the best fruit in life seems like a good way to live.
Calling All Snowboarders
As Moonshine Ink was going to press, this came in: The Coogan Kelly Scholarship criteria have been formulated with parameters based, upon others, a desire to help aspiring snowboarders advance their careers. Eligible applicants must be snowboarders – boy, girl, man or woman – ages 12 to 25. For consideration, qualifiers need to submit a two-minute snowboarding video of themselves with a written one-page explanation (500 words) answering the following questions:
1. Why do you deserve this scholarship?
2. What are your goals, both long and short?
3. What does snowboarding mean to you?
4. How is this scholarship going to directly benefit your snowboarding career?
Send submissions to:
Truckee Tahoe Community Foundation
c/o The Coogan Kelly Foundation
PO Box 366
Truckee, CA 96160
The recipient of $1,500 dollar scholarship will announced at the end of September 2008.
For info:
Katie Coogan at 530-587-1205 or
Lisa Dobey at 530-587-1776, lisa@ttcf.net
