Kindred Journey 20 Vicki Manalo Draves
Vicki Manalo Draves was born in 1924 in San Francisco California to a Filipino father and English mother who met in the city. She grew up in the south of market area now known as Soma. She began diving at the age of 16. She tired to begin training at SF’s Fairmont hotel and wanted to compete but was discriminated against because of her Filipino heritage. She had to change her name to her mothers maiden name in order to to enter competitions. It was said by her friends and teammates that the discrimination she faced lit a fire under her and when she made it to the olympic games in 1948, she was the first American woman to win two gold medals in platform and springboard diving. Vicki continued to swim for many years, got married and had several children. Today there is a park in San Francisco named after her and when she passed away there were many news publications that honored her. She even has a biopic film in the works about her life’s story.
Sources: Kickstarter (Save our Story), NBC, Wikipedia, Olympics
Purchase: You can buy this original painting $40 (includes shipping). Email me at info@robdontstop.com
