Vicki Foltz
Track & Field

A native of Yugoslavia, Vicki Foltz immigrated to the United States at age nineteen without any athletic background. She met her husband Don while swimming at a St. Louis YMCA. A decent collegiate runner himself, Don recognized that Vicki had a talent for the sport and suggested she, also, try running. Her response; “Why-to go around in a circle like a gerbil?”

Before the ‘60s were over, she would achieve national and international fame as a member of the Seattle Pacific College (now SPU) Falcon Track Club, winning the USA and Canadian cross country championships in 1967. She finished second to teammate, the legendary runner Doris Brown Heritage, in the international championships in 1968. She and Brown, who won five consecutive international titles, led the Falcon Track Club to back-to-back world team titles in ’68 and ’69. She was a member of the U.S. National Cross Country team from 1968-74.

In 1980, representing Everett Community College, she was crowned the Northwest Athletic Association for Community College’s champion in the 3,000 meters. In that same meet, she placed second in the 5,000 meters, and third in the 1500 meters. She still holds the Everett Community College track records in the women’s 3,000m, 5,000m and 10,000m.

In the 1981 World Veterans Championships at age 35, Vicki entered all five distance races, winning gold in four. She was victorious in the 5,000m, 10,000m, cross-country and the marathon.

In 1968, she was honored as The Everett Herald’s Man of the Year in Sports and in 2010, she was inducted into Everett Community College’s Athletic Hall of Fame.