Athletic Hall of Famer Coach Foreman, renown for leading cross country and track and field teams

Kenneth E. Foreman, former Seattle Pacific athletic director, professor, and world-renowned Olympic coach, died Dec. 23, 2018, at the age of 96.

ken foremanAfter serving in the Coast Guard in the Pacific Theater during World War II, Foreman earned a BS from the University of Southern California in 1949. He began his tenure at Seattle Pacific College in 1950 as the junior varsity basketball coach and a physical education instructor before becoming the men’s cross country and track and field coach.

Foreman taught classes on kinesiology, sport psychology, and other topics in the Physical Education Department. He also served as the school’s athletic director and founded the Falcon Track Club for women, helping establish Seattle Pacific as a pioneering institution in female athletics.

Foreman continued to teach and coach at Seattle Pacific until his retirement from the University in 2000. During this time, he earned a master’s degree from the University of Washington and a doctorate at University of Southern California. He also joined the U.S. Olympic program and held numerous U.S. national team assignments, including head women’s track coach for the 1980 Olympic team.

Over the course of his career at Seattle Pacific, Foreman coached hundreds of athletes, producing 159 All-Americans, 26 collegiate champions, and two world champions. He was named to the Seattle Pacific University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003 and is enshrined in the U.S. track and field and cross country halls of fame.

Foreman was predeceased by his first wife, Dorothy, and survived by his second wife, DENISE FOREMAN ’78; children VICKI FOREMAN ’67, CLYDE FOREMAN ’71, and TIM FOREMAN ’76; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

The practice track adjacent to Royal Brougham Pavilion on campus is named in Foreman’s honor.

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