She didn't know when or where. Growing up in Everett, just north of Seattle, Sherron Walker wasn't even sure of the what.

But long before she arrived at Seattle Pacific in the mid 1970s, Walker had no doubt she was going to make it to the Olympic Games someday.

"When I was very young, I decided I was going to be on the team," said Walker, now Sherron Boyea and a resident of Elk Grove, Calif. "That was the plan. I knew I could long jump. Height-wise, I knew I could jump my height. And I knew I could run – I didn't know how fast, but I just knew."

Walker was right about the jumping part. In 1976, her only season as a Falcon, she won the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) long jump crown at 19 feet, 10½ inches.

Her five-ringed dream turned out to be correct, too, as she did indeed make the U.S squad in the long jump for the 1976 Montreal Games.

Then late last year, she was inducted into the Snohomish County Sports Hall of Fame.

"I was totally shocked. I never imagined anything like that ever happening to me," Boyea, now 57, said of the call from the Hall.

She still owns the Seattle Pacific long jump record of 21 feet, 8¾ inches. But until that Hall of Fame call came, most thoughts of her performances were buried deep in her mental archives.

"When I did track, I enjoyed it tremendously. I enjoyed everything I chose.

"But after the Olympic Games, I never talked about it or thought about it."

LONG JUMPER AT HEART
At Everett High School, it was common to see Sherron Walker competing in many races – usually sprints and relays. She also did the high jump.

But even then, it was evident that long jump was her calling.

By the time she graduated in 1975, she had won four consecutive state crowns, each at a farther distance than the last: 17-7 ½ as a freshman in 1972; 18-4 ¼ in1973; 19-5 in 1974; and a wind-aided 19-8 ¾ in 1975.

Since then, only LaShonda Christopher of River Ridge High, about an hour south of Seattle in Lacey, has gone farther, winning state at 19-9 in 1994.

In an article that appeared in the Everett Herald newspaper in 2004, then-Everett coach Merrilie Howard recalled, "In practice, she jumped 23 feet several times, without a scratch. But sometimes, it gets hairy in competition. There's a lot more pressure."

During that time, Walker also trained regularly with Ken Foreman, who not only coached Seattle Pacific's program, but also was head of the Falcon Track Club. As someone at the forefront of elevating the quality and status of women's track and field in the United States, Foreman often received calls about girls who had the skills to make something of themselves.

"I do not remember who brought Sherron to Queen Anne Bowl. But I clearly remember that she was a shy, high school girl who surprised me –'shocked' is a better word – with her first short approach jump," Foreman said from Kona, Hawaii, where he now lives. "It was obvious to me that she was something very special."

Foreman knew he had the right kind of athlete. It quickly became just as clear to Walker that she had the right kind of mentor.

"I thought he was a very, very good coach – very kind, very patient," she said. "He cared a lot about his girls, and he was always very encouraging."

CLOSING IN ON A DREAM
In short order, Walker earned a place on the American team for one of the U.S-Soviet Union dual meets. She qualified for the 1975 Pan Am Games in the long jump and as a candidate for the 4x100 relay.

Then, at the 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Walker went 21 feet, 8½ inches – second to Kathy McMillan's 22-3, but far enough to make it to Montreal.

"It didn't feel that long," she said of that jump, which came on her first attempt. "I started on the board, and I thought I was going to be short – my steps were off. I adjusted them at the board.

"I was shocked, but I was thrilled because I was on the team."

As Foreman recalled, that emotion was far different than what she was feeling just prior to the competition.

"What no one knew but Sherron and I was that she was one stride off in her approach," he said. "She came to where I was sitting, next to the railing, and with tears in her eyes, asked, 'What should I do?'"

"As a young coach, I likely would have told her to change her feet at her check mark," Foreman continued. "But knowing the hours and hours that we had worked on her approach and takeoff, I advised Sherron to return to the bench, put on her warm-ups, and attack her first jump. She did."

MIXED EMOTIONS IN MONTREAL
Walker, then 19, experienced some of the same wide-eyed feelings that every Olympian feels: the Games themselves, the numerous nationalities, and of course, the collecting and trading of souvenir pins.

"As young as I was, I was quite overwhelmed," she said. "I met some awesome people. The overall experience of meeting people, experiencing the pins – it was perfect."

But at Olympic Stadium, it wasn't perfect. She said the U.S. coaches "were extremely strict, and that made it really uncomfortable for you." She went 20-4¼, and wound up 14th, two places (and three-quarters of an inch) short of the final round.

"Because of TV, we had to wait so long (between jumps), and that's hard," she said. "You're up and down. I was disappointed in that."

She continued training with an eye toward 1980 in Moscow, and was still jumping around 21½ feet. But then, President Jimmy Carter announced a U.S. boycott because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

"It's fine if I make the decision (not to compete). But for someone else to make the decision when they don't have a clue to what I put into it . . .

"I didn't think it was fair to involve athletes. We're the ones doing all the training," she said.

MOVING ON
Walker left Seattle Pacific and transferred to Long Beach State. She set that school's long jump record at 21-0 in 1978 – and, just like her 21-8¾ mark at SPU, it still stands.

"I had friends in Southern California. I wanted to go down and try to do some different things and get a chance to work with some other coaches," she said. "But mainly, it was to be away from home.

"If I had it to do again, I would have stayed at Seattle Pacific," she added. "It's a beautiful campus – I loved it. The coach (at Long Beach) was a good coach. But he wasn't Dr. Foreman."

She and husband Sean Boyea, together for 30 years, have four children – two girls, two boys, all athletically inclined (soccer for one daughter, figure skating for the other, boxing for both sons). Sean plays basketball.

And Sherron? She discovered racquetball, and has been active in that sport for nearly two decades.

"I went into a gym one day and saw someone hitting the ball, and I thought, 'Gee, I can do that,'" she said.

She went on to win age group national championships in women's double and mixed doubles, and still plays. She also teaches and gives motivational speeches.

"I tell people to enjoy where you are in life, not to take things for granted, and remember that you didn't get there by yourself," she said. "Always remember the people who got you there, and try to give back.

"And there's always room for improvement in life."