Dorothy Doolittle

Doolittle was brought up in Elgin, Texas.^[3] She studied at the University of Mary Hardin–Baylor in Belton, Texas.^[3] At her college, women could only run in events up to 800m.^[3]

Doolittle's first competitive event was the 1973 Houston Marathon.^[4] In 1975, Doolittle won the Houston Marathon,^[2][5] and the Rice Festival Marathon in Crowley, Louisiana.^[2] In 1976, she won the White Rock Marathon (now the Dallas Marathon),^[2][3] and came third at the Boston Marathon.^[2][6] 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.^[1] At the time, she was recorded as being the eight fastest female marathon runner in the world, and the fastest in Texas state.^[6] In the same year, Doolittle won the marathon event at the Amateur Athletic Union Championships.^[2]

In 1977, Doolittle won the Houston Marathon again,^[2][3][5] in a record time.^[7] As such, she was invited to attend the inaugural Chicago Marathon.^[3] She had to pay an entrance fee of $5 to enter the race,^[8] and paid for her own transport to the event.^[3] Doolittle won the race, in a time of 2:50:47,^[3][9] winning the race by over four minutes.^[3] Later in the year, Doolittle lost the trophy that had been awarded to her for winning the event.^[10] The 1977 Chicago Marathon was Doolittle's last competitive race.^[4][3]

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.^[3]

Doolittle has coached at high schools and colleges including Westlake High School, Hill Country Middle School,^[1] and the Universities of Missouri, Houston, Stanford and Tennessee.^[3] She was head coach at Tennessee from 1989 to 1997,^[11] and whilst coaching there, she was selected as coach of the US women's team for the 1991 Pan American Games.^[12] She was also an assistant coach of the US women's team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.^[11][13] In 1993, Doolittle was given the NACDA/USOC Collegiate Olympic Coaches award.^[14] Doolittle returned to Elgin in 1999, to teach in the Elgin Independent School District.^[3]