Dorothy Doolittle (born October 17, 1946) is an American former marathon runner and athletics coach, who won the inaugural

Chicago Marathon The Chicago Marathon is a marathon (long-distance foot race) held every October in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the six World Marathon Majors. Thus, it is also a World Athletics Label Road Race. The Chicago Marathon is the fourth-largest r ...

in 1977. She was an assistant coach of the US Women's team at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Early life

Doolittle was brought up in

Elgin, Texas Elgin ( ) is a city in Bastrop County in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 9,784 at the 2020 census. Elgin is also known as the Sausage Capital of Texas and the Brick Capital of the Southwest, due to the presence of three operating bric ...

. She studied at the

University of Mary Hardin–Baylor The University of Mary Hardin–Baylor (UMHB) is a private Christian university in Belton, Texas. UMHB was chartered by the Republic of Texas in 1845 as Baylor Female College, the female department of what is now Baylor University. It has since ...

Belton, Texas Belton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas on the Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and Waco. Belton is the county seat of Bell County and is the fifth largest city in the Killeen-Temple metropolitan area. In 2020, the population of Belton ...

. At her college, women could only run in events up to 800m.

Career

Doolittle's first competitive event was the 1973

Houston Marathon The Houston Marathon is an annual marathon usually held every January in Houston, Texas, United States, since 1972. With thousands of runners and spectators, it is the largest single day sporting event in the city. It is run concurrently wi ...

. In 1975, Doolittle won the Houston Marathon, and the Rice Festival Marathon in

Crowley, Louisiana Crowley (Local pronunciation: ) is a city in, and the parish seat of, Acadia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 United States census, Crowley had a population of 11,710. Crowley is the principal city of the Crowley micropolitan ...

. In 1976, she won the White Rock Marathon (now the Dallas Marathon), and came third at the Boston Marathon. She forgot to wear her running watch at the Boston Marathon, which she believes cost her many minutes of time, and a chance of victory. At the time, she was recorded as being the eight fastest female marathon runner in the world, and the fastest in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

state. In the same year, Doolittle won the marathon event at the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

Championships. In 1977, Doolittle won the Houston Marathon again, in a record time. As such, she was invited to attend the inaugural

. She had to pay an entrance fee of $5 to enter the race, and paid for her own transport to the event. Doolittle won the race, in a time of 2:50:47, winning the race by over four minutes. Later in the year, Doolittle lost the trophy that had been awarded to her for winning the event. The 1977 Chicago Marathon was Doolittle's last competitive race. In 2002, Doolittle competed at the 5,000 meter race that accompanied that year's Chicago Marathon. It was the first time Doolittle had attended the marathon since her victory.

Coaching career

Doolittle has coached at high schools and colleges including Westlake High School, Hill Country Middle School, and the Universities of

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, Stanford and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. She was head coach at Tennessee from 1989 to 1997, and whilst coaching there, she was selected as coach of the US women's team for the

1991 Pan American Games The 1991 Pan American Games were held in Havana, Cuba from August 2 to August 18, 1991. There were 4,519 athletes from 39 countries of the PASO community, with events in 33 different sports. The main stadium was the Estadio Panamericano, a mul ...

. She was also an assistant coach of the US women's team at the

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain. In 1993, Doolittle was given the NACDA/ USOC Collegiate Olympic Coaches award. Doolittle returned to Elgin in 1999, to teach in the Elgin Independent School District.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doolittle, Dorothy American female marathon runners Chicago Marathon female winners People from Elgin, Texas Living people 1946 births University of Mary Hardin–Baylor alumni Missouri Tigers track and field coaches Houston Cougars track and field coaches Stanford Cardinal track and field coaches 21st-century American women