Laura was an amazing friend, coach, runner, mom, wife who passed away Sep 2022. This scholarship is to live on her memory and her life’s joy in coaching athletes to be the best athletes and individuals.
Laura was born on October 6, 1952 in Hamlet, NC. Her parents were Bobbi and Steve Ledbetter. She was the first of four children in her family along with sister Pamela and brothers Jeffrey and David.
After graduating from Florida State University with a BS in Social Work and Psychology, she earned a MS in Counseling and Human Systems. On October 30, 1982 she married her husband Michael Caldwell.
Laura was one of the first female scholarship athletes at Florida State where she competed on the Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field team and set school records in the 800 and 1500 meters.
She then competed post-collegiately for the Racing South Competitive Team, which was coached by Michael. She won the Racing South Grand Prix road racing championship four times and also qualified for the USA Olympic Trials marathon twice (1984 & ’88). She placed 8th at the USA Marathon Champs in 1987 and also won the 1991 Seattle Marathon. As a Masters athlete she won USA championships at 5000m and the Half Marathon. She earned three Silver Medals at the 1997 World Masters Championships (1500m, 5,000m and 8K cross country).
Laura was the Editor of Racing South Magazine until it was sold in 1987 She and Michael moved from Tallahassee, FL to Nashville. TN in 1983 and then to Atlanta, GA in 1985. Laura became a mother to her son Christopher on March 7, 1990. just before the family moved to Dallas, TX. The next year they relocated to Lake Oswego, OR where Michel worked at the NIKE World Headquarters and Laura coached at Lake Oswego High School.
Following Michael’s retirement from NIKE in 2009, they moved from Lake Oswego to Greenville, SC and both coached the distance runners at Furman University through 2012. They then established, with Michael’s college coach Bill Keesling, the non-profit Greenville Track Club-ELITE post-collegiate, Olympic-development program in 2012. Laura coached and mentored four young women that qualified for the USA Olympic Trials (2016 & 2020-21), among others who competed on a national level.
Laura’s administrative skills were instrumental in being selected as a manager for the USA Ekiden team that competed in Beijing, China in 1993. She was also a founder and the president of Portland’s Team Athena, and most recently was co-secretary and webmaster for the Women’s Running Coaching Collective-whose mission is to amplify the power that women coaches bring to track & field and distance running.
Laura passed away on September 20, 2022 due to complications from a brain aneurysm rupture that occurred on June 7.
WRCC wants to honor Laura’s life work by creating a scholarship in her memory. Help WRCC by donating today! Your personal information will not be shared with any third parties. This donation is secure and encrypted.
