Dot Wilkinson is widely known as one of the greatest Fastpitch Softball players to have ever played the game.
Julia Chase-Brand, Breaking Down Barriers for Women Athletes
When Julia Chase-Brand was growing up, women didn’t run. Born in 1945 in Groton, Connecticut, Chase recalls being surrounded by four active brothers, in a time where girls couldn’t run, play soccer, and if they were to play basketball, it was at the half court line. Inspired by local distance runner John J. Kelley, Chase […]
Fanny Blankers-Koen, wife, mother, and four-time Olympic gold medalist
Fanny Blankers-Koen (1918–2004) was a Dutch Olympic athlete known as the Flying Housewife. In the 1948 Olympics in London, the 30-year-old mother of two won four gold medals and set world records — while pregnant with her third child. She was the first woman to win four Olympic gold medals, and the first one to […]
Wilma Rudolph, Olympic gold medalist & civil rights pioneer
Wilma Rudolph (1940–1994) was considered the fastest woman in the world in the ‘60s, and the first American woman to win three gold medals in track & field in the 1960 Olympics. This was the first year that the Olympics were covered internationally on television, which helped Wilma become an international star. In the 1960 […]
Fannie Sperry Steele, award-winning rodeo performer
Fannie Sperry Steele (1887-1983), born Fannie Sperry, was an award-winning bronc rider and rodeo performer from Montana, one of the first women inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame, and the first Montana native in the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. Born Fannie Sperry to Rachel and Datus Sperry, Fannie was a first-generation Montanan. She […]
