National Fitness Hall of Fame

Doris is a true pioneer in women’s bodybuilding and has often been referred to as “The First Lady of Bodybuilding.”  An outstanding competitor in her own right she, perhaps more than any other person in the history of the Iron Game, made national and international women’s physique competition a reality. Even while she was competing, she devoted her endless energy in organizing and promoting women’s bodybuilding competitions, wherever and whenever she could, eventually in virtually every state of the union. Moreover, despite having invested so much of her life’s energy in getting women’s bodybuilding under way, Doris had the courage to take a stand against the drugs she believed would ruin the sport she had worked so hard to build.

She walked away from a coveted leadership position with a major bodybuilding organization as a protest of the movement of drugs into the world of women’s bodybuilding.  However, she did continue her career as one of bodybuilding’s top photographers and donated her massive collection of women’s bodybuilding memorabilia to the Todd-McLean Library.