Francie Kraker Goodridge

Francea ("Francie") Norma Kraker Goodridge (born February 9, 1947[1] in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is a former women's track and field athlete and coach from the United States.

She set a world record in the 600-yard indoor event and was the first Michigan-born woman to win a place on the U.S. Olympic team (Mexico City in 1968 and Munich in 1972).

She went to sporting events with her father who helped raise money for the high school gymnasium, a facility that girls were not allowed to use.

"[3] In 1960, when she was thirteen, she caught the eye of former runner Kenneth "Red" Simmons and his wife Betty, a junior high physical education teacher.

"[2] When President Kennedy came out with a national fitness test that included a 600-yard run; Kraker ran the distance and beat the boys.

[3] Because there was no women's track team at the University of Michigan in the pre-Title IX era, Kraker continued running for the Michigammes while attending school there.

Kraker's 1500 meter time of 4:12.76 in the Munich semifinals was the second-fastest all-time performance by an American woman, and she retained that position for three more years.

[3] The Goodridges lifted Wake Forest's men's and women's programs to national status and spent 15 distinguished years there.

[3][4] In a 2002 interview, Kraker Goodridge said: "I really enjoy representing the University, and my background in athletics, with years of experience in recruiting, going on school visits and making speeches, is a big help when I'm advising potential students, their families, and guidance counselors," she says.

[2][5][6] In 2001, she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame, a group that includes 170 members as diverse as civil rights leader Rosa Parks, former First Lady Betty Ford, and entertainers Lily Tomlin and Aretha Franklin.