Sports films make their Tacoma debut

On Saturday, March 29, the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Museum will bring a double feature to The Grand Cinema featuring two sports documentaries telling stories of two local sporting legends.

In "LAST LAP,” archival footage is weaved with intimate interviews for a moving documentary about Doris Brown Heritage, often referred to as "The First Lady of American Distance Running.”

As a young girl, Heritage loved going on long runs along beaches in Gig Harbor. "I came out running,” she says, and through her illustrious career, Heritage set records and won wide acclaim as a champion and a woman making her mark back when men still dominated sports across the board.

Heritage went to Peninsula High School in the 1950s and graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a bachelor’s degree in 1964 and a master’s degree in 1971. When she joined a local running group, she set a national record in the 440-yard dash. In 1966, Brown became the first woman to clock a sub five-minute mile indoors at 4:52. At one point in her career, she held every women’s national record from 440 yards up through one mile.

Heritage is an icon in her sport for her five-time win in the International Cross Country Championships, 1967-1971. She won silver medals in the 800-meter at the Pan American Games in 1967 and 1971, and she placed fifth in the event at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. She briefly held the world record in the 3,000-meter in 1971. She represented the United States at the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games and in 1976, she won the Vancouver International Marathon and placed second in the New York City Marathon.

Brown’s impact locally can be measured by her commitment to coaching track and cross country for 40 years at Seattle Pacific University. Her expert coaching won the Falcon track team a national reputation for excellence. Named conference coach of the year seven times, she’s coached 10 of her cross-country teams to the top 10 at national meets. In 1996, the women’s cross-country team became the West Region women’s champion. SPU has won the conference women’s championships seven of the last 12 years, and she guided the men’s team to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title in 2004. Twenty of her runners have been named All-Americans, including two national champions.

The second film, "The Dawgfather: The Legacy of Don James,” explores the transformative impact of Coach Don James, whose values-driven mentorship inspired players, coaches, and communities, emphasizing integrity, empowerment, and lasting legacies beyond football.

James was an outstanding athlete going back to his high school years when he lettered in four sports – football, basketball, baseball, and track. He was his high school football team’s quarterback, and he kept going when he won a football scholarship to attend the University of Miami where was quarterback of the Hurricanes in 1952 and 1953.

After serving in the Army, he had a career as assistant football coach at Kansas (1956-57), Florida State (1959-65), Michigan (1966-67), and Colorado (1968-70). For one year, 1958, he was head coach at Southwest High School in Miami.

After serving as head coach at Kent State University from 1971-1974, he coached at the University of Washington from 1975-1992. At the UW, James served as head coach for 18 seasons, leading the Huskies to win four Rose Bowls and the Orange Bowl in 1985. James tallied a 153–57–2 (.726) record at Washington, including a then-record 98 wins in Pacific-10 Conference play. His coaching philosophy emphasized defense, teamed with a disciplined offense. Washington was in a bowl game for 14 of his last 16 seasons.

James was named Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association in 1977 and the Football Writers Association in 1991 after the team won the national title. He received a great honor from the UW in 2017 with a bronze statue of himself at Husky Stadium.

The Grand screenings will be in two sessions. In the first session, "The Dawgfather” will be shown at 1 p.m. and "LAST LAP” at 2:30 p.m. In the second session, "LAST LAP” will be shown at 4:15 p.m. and "The Dawgfather” at 5:30 p.m. Both sessions include Q&A with opportunities to get autographs from Doris Brown Heritage and former UW football players Tom Gallagher, Hillary Butler, Mike Vindivich, and Mike Baldassin, as well as former PAC 10/12 referee Jay Stricherz.

Learn more, including how to get tickets, at facebook.com/tacomasportsmuseum.