Hall of Fame
The word “can’t” doesn’t exist in this lady’s vocabulary. This cliché is more than appropriate in a time when most of us give in to the “ravages of time.” No so for Marilla Salisbury, who fights back tooth and nail and has literally “taken on the world.” She is known throughout the world of veterans track and field as a the “Sunbonnet Lady” for her unorthodox training gear.
In the process of her competitions and travels over the past decade, she has proceeded to set numerous world records in her age class. But more important than her trunks of gold medals, she continues to astound those around her with a beautiful spirit and tenacious will-power.
The Hall of Fame category of Meritorious Service provides an appropriate avenue in which to recognize this unique woman. Not only has she spread the Point Loma College word around the world during her competitive travels to such places as New Zealand and Puerto Rico , but she is a “doer” not just a talker.
In that respect, Marilla and her husband Earl were instrumental in getting the all-weather track and field facility project off and flying in 1983. It was not an easy task to raise nearly $200,000 without any seed money. When Coach Crakes explained the situation to the Salisburys, they immediately made a significant donation which allowed the project to establish credibility and eventually complete one of the first privately funded facilities of its kind in the Western United States .
Salisbury continued her crusade to “get senior citizens out of their rocking chairs and off their backsides,” and into the kind of active life which promotes both health and well-being through the exciting world of competitive track and field.
