Rudi Tsuneji Mizusawa was born on Jan 5, 1960 to George Tsuneji Mizusawa of Honolulu, HI, and  Theodora Berghuis Mizusawa of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The third of  six sons, he was born at Altus Air Force Base, OK, and grew up in an Air  Force family, living at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, OH; Tachikawa  Air Force Base, Japan; Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, VA; Ramstein  and Rhein Main Air Bases in Germany; and then back to Virginia, where  his family settled and Rudi completed his secondary education at  Kecoughtan High School in Hampton, VA.

As a junior high school  student in Germany, Rudi became a top wrestler and was named most  valuable wrestler in the European Junior High School champion­ships. He  continued to excel in sports at Kecoughtan, where he was a finalist in  the Virginia state championship and became the first wrestler named to  the Kecoughtan Sports Hall of Fame.

Rudi also was a top student  and fol­lowed in the footsteps of his older brother Bert ’79 by applying  to West Point. He was not accepted because of a knee injury sustained  as a wrestler, so he joined the Virginia Military Institute Class of  1982 instead. During his first year there, he re­applied to West Point,  was interviewed by the chief surgeon, and was admitted into the Class of  1983. Rudi entered West Point in July 1979, becoming the third Mizusawa  to enter the Long Gray Line, along with his bother Bert and cousin  Michael Mizusawa ’80.

Like his brother Bert, Rudi spent his plebe  year as part of Company F-1. Bert had been most valuable player as a  F-1 intramu­ral wrestler his plebe year. Rudi made West Point history by  being the first cadet to win both the brigade open wrestling and boxing  championships in the same year. It should be noted that these  tournaments were held during the same hectic week, and Rudi was living  the life of a plebe with all the associ­ated responsibilities, stresses  and pressures. This dual accomplishment was only one of the most visible  indications of his potential greatness.

Rudi was a prince among  men. He never seemed to be bothered by the pains of be­ing a plebe.  Perhaps this was because he had seen it all before at VMI. He carried  himself differently than the rest of us, with poise, confidence, and  grace. He was intense and focused, yet with seemingly endless pa­tience  for those of us who were less gifted.

Rudi continued to set  records. He had the fastest time on the obstacle course at Camp Buckner  (like his brother) and seemed to soar effortlessly through the in­door  obstacle course. We lost count of the many records.

Rudi was one  of the most remarkable men most of us have ever known. He was physically  strong, but it was his mental toughness that really impressed us. He  was the first one to teach us the power of the mind and mental  toughness. His accom­plishments were the stuff of legend: wheth­er in  the boxing ring, in the classroom, or competing in Sandhurst. Rudi never  settled for second best from himself and drove those around him to be  better. He helped us all improve in the process.

—Robert Plumme