High School Coach Of Gerry Lindgren Was Influential For Decades In Spokane Running Scene

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

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Tracy Walters, who helped trailblaze the path of successful distance running in the greater Spokane, Washington area, passed away peacefully at home on Saturday at the age of 93.

A native of Spokane, Walters began his running journey at North Central High before going on to run for Eastern Washington University in nearby Cheney. There, he finished fifth in the mile at the 1952 NAIA Championships.

After graduating from EWU in 1953, Walters went back to Spokane to coach cross country at Rogers High. During his tenure, Walters coached the Pirates to 48 wins in 52 dual meets contested and won a pair of state titles in 1963 and 1965.

On that 1963 state championship team, another up-and-coming Spokane legend was a part of Walters’ crew: Gerry Lindgren.

Under Walters’ guidance, Lindgren set numerous high school national records and qualified for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games in the 10,000 meters as a senior in high school.

One of Lindgren’s most iconic races came on July 25, 1964 at the U.S.-USSR Track Meet at Los Angeles Coliseum, where the 18-year-old Lindgren defeated Soviet veterans Leonid Ivanov and Anatoly Dutov in the men’s 10,000-meter race in a pivotal moment in the Cold War athletics rivalry.

Two years after Lindgren graduated, Walters’ time at Rogers concluded in 1966. He left to become the cross country coach at San Jose State University. 

In his first year, Walters led the Spartans to a third-place team finish at the NCAA Championships. Coincidentally, Lindgren, running for Washington State University, won the individual cross country title in the same meet.

Walters’ time at San Jose State was short and he returned to the Inland Northwest a year later.

Other opportunities awaited Walters when he arrived back in Spokane, including being named to the U.S. national team coaching staff twice. 

One of the athletes Walters worked closely with when he coached at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games was former Stanford University runner Don Kardong, who went on to place fourth in the marathon at the Summer Games.

Walters’ impact to give back to the community inspired Kardong to stick around the Spokane area and create the Bloomsday Road Race, a 12-kilometer race that’s been held every first Sunday of May since 1977. For more than 40 years, hundreds of thousands of runners have taken to the streets of Spokane to run the iconic race.

Walters’ influence didn’t just revolve around his own athletes and their success. He also inspired the next line of great coaches to come through the Spokane high school running scene, including Herm Caviness (Ferris), Len Long (North Central), Art Frey (Lewis & Clark) and Pat Tyson (Mead).

“He was a giant, an icon and a wonderful human being,” Tyson said Sunday of Walters. “What a legacy he was and the path he carved along the way.”

Walters is survived by his sons Scott and Kelly, his daughter Malinda and 12 grandchildren. His wife of 71 years, Leta, died in 2022.