Vicki was born...

In San Francisco on New Year's Eve Day in 1924.

She and Lyle were married for 63 years.

Vicki passed on Sunday, April 11, 2010.

Vicki was famous for her strong, graceful diving and her champion smile.

She and Lyle had four sons; David, Jeff, Dale and Kim.

Vicki had a glow about her that made you feel as if you were the most important person on the planet. When I met her, she radiated happiness.

I learned later that she was very spiritually devout and this explains after years raising with four athletic boys (and feeding the endless stream of friends... I have heard stories about her famous "Taco Tuesdays") — she always looked as if all the chaos and craziness was absolutely perfect in every way.

My own Dad was a diver in the Army and when David and I began dating, this look of recognition sparkled on his face... "Vicki Draves? Wow... I had a crush on her..."

Who didn't?

The day she passed, it was very stormy in Northern California. David was in Germany and I felt anxious and sad to be so far away from the family. As I waited from news from the hospital, the sky was dark and angry and the wind whipped the trees mercilessly. Then, close to sunset, the sky changed and the wind stopped. Against a steel-gray sky — a fabulous rainbow arched from one hilltop to the other. It took my breath away.

At that moment, the phone rang — Jeff told me Vicki had passed.... even her passing left me stunned with an unspeakable beauty.

Vicki was light, magic and love. The world is a little dimmer now.

Debra Peterson Draves

 

 

 

Vicki was "Gold"

“She had ‘gold’ written all over her...”

It was only a few years after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the sensitivity to decendents of the Asian race, particularly in San Francisco, was still high. So high that neither Vicki or her twin sister Connie could practice in most pools. Vicki’s father was Fillipino and in order for her to be allowed in the restricted Nob Hill club, she had to use her maiden name.

Across the Bay in Oakland, diving coach Lyle Draves was working with local favorite Zoe Ann Olsen. When he took one look at Vicki dive, he remembers thinking, “She had ‘gold’ written all over her...”

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She loved Life and "Life" Loved her

Life Magazine voted Vicki one of the top two athletes from the 1948 Games by Life Magazine.

 
Click here for video of Vicki diving in the Olympics An Olympian's Oral History  

 

  

Vicki with Sammy Lee		  

Victoria Manalo Draves Park - San Francisco

In 2006, San Francisco Mayor, Gavin Newsom dedicated Victoria Manalo Draves Park, a two-acre urban oasis that opened on the old Bessie Carmichael Elementary School site on Sherman Street. Vicki was recognized as an important role model to the hundreds of thousands of Asian and Pacific Islander American residents in the city.