Tracy Hudson, 18, Dies in Automobile Accident

Services for Tracy Hudson, a former Garden Grove High School badminton star who was killed in a single-car accident early Sunday morning, will be held tonight at Glendale, Ariz.

Hudson, 18, a freshman at Arizona State University, was killed at 1:30 a.m. Sunday when the Datsun 280 Z she was driving alone veered off an interstate highway outside Tempe, Ariz.

According to a highway patrol report, Hudson’s car struck a metal highway reflector pole that penetrated the car’s floorboard and struck Hudson in the right foot. The report states that she lost control of the car, which rolled onto its roof.

Hudson was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in Tempe and transported by helicopter to St. Joseph’s in Phoenix, where she died of “multiple trauma,” according to a highway patrol spokesperson. The accident is still under investigation.

During her four years at Garden Grove, Hudson was the three-time Southern Section girls’ singles badminton champion. She also won the junior national championship triple crown (singles, doubles and mixed) last spring.

One of the nation’s top prep recruits, Hudson accepted a scholarship to Arizona State. The day before her death she had played in an ASU tournament. Hudson was scheduled to play this weekend at the Manhattan Beach regional competition to qualify for the U.S. National Team.

Vicky Toutz, who coached both Hudson and Hudson’s mother, Nancy Davis, at Garden Grove, said many of Hudson’s former classmates were flying to Arizona for the services and viewing, which will be held tonight from 6 to 9 at Chapel of the Chimes, 7924 N. 59th Ave. in Glendale.