Falcon Archives Doris Heritage has been a coach at Seattle Pacific University for 30 years. Outside of her success at SPU, Heritage is also the first woman to be inducted into the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Back when former cross country head coach and running legend Doris Heritage was co-coaching with fellow legend Ken Foreman, they were standing together on a sunny day, watching the Falcons practice.

She turned to him and said, "You know, we ought to be paying to do this job."

Her enthusiasm has not dimmed in three decades of coaching.

"Doris commits so deeply to things she cares about," assistant cross country coach and self-labeled athlete mentor Lane Seeley explained. "The bar has been raised on the commitment [her athletes] give to things they are passionate about. It becomes, if Doris can do this, why can't I?"

Now, Heritage has retired as head coach of the SPU cross country team. She said that she felt like it was the right time, after 30 years in charge.

There comes a time when someone else can do a better job, she explained, and new head coach Erika Daligcon was persuaded that she had to offer what the school needs.

One of Heritage's favorite parts of her job was coaching athletes who did not have the talent for big stages such as the Olympic Games but who still loved to run.

"Athletes like that made the team what it was," Heritage said. "They lift others up."

She emphasized the joy of running, senior Kaitlin Rohde said of Doris, even in the midst of a hard run.

"Fun isn't having it easy, it's earning it," Heritage explained. "If it's easy, you don't have the experience that makes it as meaningful."

Falcon Archives Doris Heritage recently announced her retirement as head coach of the SPU cross country team.

"She always said, 'Smile, it's going to help so much,'" Rohde recalled. "If she saw a frown or anguish, she would say, 'But you're having so much fun!'

Her passion for running flourished back in her competitive days and her enthusiasm for her charges and peers is tangible. Heritage told the story of when alumna and then student-athlete Debbie Quatier won the junior national championship mile at a USA Track and Field meet. Heritage said that she just about jumped off the back of the bleachers in her excitement.

She also recalled a time when she, Quatier and the rest of the cross country team were training on a cold, rainy day. They ran more than 10 miles and returned to the track to find that it was snowing.

"When we got back, the coach let us into the men's locker room and we jumped into the sauna," she said. On nights so cold they couldn't open the door for their frozen fingers, she added, they would take the broken licorice pieces from the concession stand and eat them while they sat in the sauna.

Heritage called these some of the best experiences of her life.

She leaves a legacy of the connection between faith and running.

"Athletics is a realistic microcosm of life--you get out what you put in," she said. "Faith allows you to be something beyond your own pleasure, to be a contributor, to do something of benefit to others. The best in life happens beyond yourself."

Rohde explained how Heritage had the team pray together before each practice and before all races and emphasized giving their talents to God.

Heritage also leaves behind countless stories of her time at SPU. For instance, Rohde called her former coach a crazy driver.

"It's a miracle that she's never been in a car wreck," Rohde said, laughing. "She drives a huge van and a little car, too. I guess she's the perfect Seattle driver. If we ride with her to meets, we're always in the back praying and holding hands."

Daligcon brought up a tradition started by Heritage that takes place in downtown Seattle.

"We all run to Pike Place Market and then the coaches give everyone 50 cents or a dollar. The challenge is to find the best thing on the budget," she explained.

Heritage reminisced about her days as a player-coach, back when members of the women's Falcon track club had to pay their own way to meets and coaches could not accompany the members.

"We had so much fun, but we were serious," she said. "We weren't big partygoers, so we would put on plays for ourselves, funny little dramas. Or, we would go on midnight food runs together."

Daligcon, who was also a member of the cross country team under Heritage, remembers Heritage stopping by an ice cream shop during a team retreat and treating the entire team.

Heritage was also willing to put the extra effort into coming to Daligcon's house for a visit, upon hearing that the young runner was considering SPU.

"She was so humble and unassuming and sweet," Daligcon said. "I remember sitting [with her] in my living room eating blueberry cake and drinking Snapple. I remember knowing that she was the person I wanted to run for."

Heritage always wore several stopwatches so that she could time as many athletes as possible.

"She got overwhelmed timing everyone," Rohde said. "So she would have like six stopwatches around her neck." Meanwhile, parents, other coaches, and spare athletes flocked around her to help.

Networking is a vital part of Heritage's life and sport.

"Doris believes in the value of friendship, connection and ties," Daligcon said.

She emphasized that Heritage's husband, Ralph Heritage, also impacted her coaching career.

"What Ralph brings is phenomenal," she said. "He is just as invested as she is."

The Heritages at times would invite athletes to their house for breakfast. Senior Karin Rohde recalled one such time her sophomore year.

"They invited us to run 10 miles to their house to have breakfast," she said. "Four of us girls went. When we got within three miles, we saw lights up in front and this little person in bright clothes suddenly appeared. It was Doris on her bike."

She paused to welcome the women, and then biked out further before turning back and meeting them at the house for breakfast.

Before her first hip surgery several years ago, former athletes, friends and fans gathered to run what was dubbed the Doris Heritage mile.

"Everyone was running, from little toddlers to people older than her," Seeley said. "It really captured in a moment in the impact that she's had on so many different types of people. The way they knew Doris was unique."

Soon after her surgery, Seeley recalled, the cross country team was at their retreat at Camp Casey. Heritage had a pair of crutches to help her get around.

The team decided to take a group photo on the bluffs, and they had to climb over a short chain link fence to get there. Alumnus Tim LeCount and Seeley suddenly spotted Heritage hopping over the fence.

"Tim and I tackled her, saying, 'You're not supposed to do that!'" Seeley said with a laugh. "I think the recovery from surgery was hard for her, not because of the pain, but because she doesn't even think about not doing things. If she sees something she wants, she's like a kid again."

Her dedication spilled over to the athletes she coached, Seeley said.

Kaitlin Rohde agreed. "Doris really inspired us and taught us a lot from her own example of being an amazing athlete," she said. "She bikes every morning, runs when she can, weight trains, and eats a healthy diet."

When the men's cross country squad made it to nationals in 2001, it was because the athletes had taken Heritage's inspiration to heart, Seeley said.

Seeley praised Heritage for her relentless competitiveness and her inability to back down from a challenge.

"The degree to which she follows her passions and her fearlessness about competition is amazing.... You can see that she was gifted as an athlete, but it was her will to not accept that someone else could beat her that made her great," Seeley said.

Heritage said that she wants to be remembered for helping people enjoy the experience of running as much as she has.

"She made me feel special. 'I'm so happy you're here,' was her attitude. That's her legacy: the care that she has invested into each individual," Daligcon said, "and not caring how fast you are running, but caring about the overall person."