Rock Valley College Athletics

Vladimir emigrated from Czechoslovakia in 1969 and played both football and tennis at RVC from 1972 to 1974. His coach in both sports was RVC Athletics Hall of Fame member Pete Lonsway. In 1972, Vladimir was the placekicker for the RVC football team and finished second in the conference and tenth in the nation in scoring. In 1973 he finished ninth in the nation in scoring for the undefeated RVC Trojans.  He was selected to the All-Conference team in 1972 and 1973.

In tennis, he went 9-0 in singles and 13-1 in doubles as a freshman, winning the conference doubles championship and helping RVC finish second in the statewide NJCAA Region IV tournament. In his sophomore season, Vladimir was 17-7 playing at #4 singles and 5-0 at #1 doubles for an RVC team that finished the year 14-1-1. He helped lead the Trojans to first place in the conference tournament, first place in the Section II-NJCAA Region IV tournament, first place in the statewide NJCAA Region IV tournament, and a ninth place finish at the NJCAA national tournament. He was named All-Conference for doubles as a sophomore.

After graduating from RVC, Vladimir transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Madison on a full ride football scholarship. He graduated from UW-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Russian. In 1980, he also earned a Master’s degree in International Business from UW-Madison. He went on to be the placekicker for the Chicago Fire (American Football Association) professional football team in 1981.

Vladimir worked in international banking in the USA, France, Philippines, and the Czech Republic. He later worked 13 years for the French bank Crédit Lyonnais. For the last 20 years he has worked for J.P. Morgan Chase Bank in Chicago and is currently Executive Director of Credit Risk.