Dot Wilkinson, a legend in softball and bowling, dies at 101
Dot Wilkinson, a softball and bowling phenom who became the first woman to be inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame, died in Phoenix on Saturday. She was 101.
Wilkinson was widely regarded as one of the finest catchers in the history of women’s fast pitch softball, which she played with the title-winning Phoenix Ramblers from 1933-1965.
With Wilkinson at the helm, the Ramblers brought Arizona their first sports championship win in 1940 and two more in 1948 and 1949.
Softball meant everything to Wilkinson, a 19-time All-American who played to win. She was adamant and argumentative about the diamond, with the talent and accolades to back it up. Off the field, she was generous and kind.
As her softball career came to an end, Wilkinson focused on bowling, in which she also excelled. She won major titles and earned a place in the International Bowling Hall of Fame.
Though her athletic talents took her across the United States, Wilkinson never moved from South Phoenix, where she was born, grew up and developed her amazing skills.
“She was Phoenix history, she was women’s history, she was sports history,” her biographer, Lynn Ames, told Republic.
“She was so wrapped up in a burly 5ft 3 dynamo.”
Stories from Arizona:How 101-year-old softball legend Dot Wilkinson found her two great loves in the same place
Dot’s early years
Dorothy Elsie Wilkinson was born on October 9, 1921 in South Phoenix.
She was raised on a farm by her British parents, who had moved to Arizona from London ten years earlier. Her mother and father were athletes and it was clear from Wilkinson’s early years that she had inherited her athletic talent.
She played her first game for the Ramblers in 1933 at the age of 11 and became a sports phenom under coach and mentor Ford Hoffman.
Wilkinson was a gifted catcher, known for her phenomenal arm and a first-rate left-hander. And once the game was on, she was in business, her friend and former opponent Bonnie Bryant told The Republic in 2022.
“She was serious as a player. Very serious,” Bryant said. “You better be prepared when you go home that you’ll be taken out.”
In 1940, the Ramblers brought Arizona their first athletic title when they won the women’s national amateur softball championship in Detroit. Two more titles were added in 1948 and 1949.
The Ramblers’ success coincided with the height of women’s softball in Phoenix. Thousands turned out to watch games, particularly hard-fought derbies between the Ramblers and the Arizona A1 Queens.
As women’s softball in Arizona began to decline in the late 1950s, Wilkinson’s bowling career picked up speed. In 1962, she won the Women’s International Bowling Congress Queens Tournament and took the WIBC national singles title the following year.
She retired from softball in 1965 while also disbanding the Phoenix Ramblers, which she had acquired from Hoffman.
She was inducted into the National Softball Hall of Fame in 1970, the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame in 1975 – the first woman to be honored – and the International Bowling Hall of Fame in 1990.
In 1999, Wilkinson was ranked #8 on the Republic list of the greatest Arizona athletes of the 20th century.
talent recognized:Arizona High School Super 10 Softball Rankings
her other great love
One of Wilkinson’s greatest rivalries was with Estelle “Ricki” Caito, a second basewoman for the California Orange Lionettes.
They were both intense competitors and would engage on the field both inside and outside the bounds of the rules. At one point, Caito was so angry with Wilkinson that she jumped onto her back as she ran from second to third base.
The enmity shifted over time, and in the early 1960s Wilkinson and Caito began dating. They stayed together until Caito’s death in 2011, almost 50 years.
They lived together in Phoenix and made a living flipping houses, buying up ramshackle buildings, and doing all the work—plumbing, roofing, you name it—by yourself.
Although those close to them knew what they meant to each other, they had grown up in a time when gay and lesbian relationships were kept secret. Their relationship was first publicly acknowledged in Caito’s obituary, which named Wilkinson as her “longtime companion.”
Her story inspired a novel called Bright Lights of Summer by author Lynn Ames, who set out to document Wilkinson’s life story after meeting her in 2010. She has written a biography of Wilkinson to be published in October.
“Softball Kings”
In 2016, Wilkinson threw the first pitch at a game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants with his friend and former teammate Billie Harris — himself an Arizona sports legend and Hall of Famer.
“You’re softball kings, ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer said as Wilkinson and Harris walked toward the mound.
That same year, Wilkinson received a lifetime achievement award from the Arizona Softball Hall of Fame.
“I’ve been very lucky my whole life,” Wilkinson, then 94, said in her acceptance speech. “Everything was easy for me.”
Staying at home during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she told Republic it was the worst crisis of her long life that she could remember.
In her later years she was always eager to talk about softball with the numerous friends she had made during her long sporting career. She celebrated her 101st birthday in October 2022 with a party.
Wilkinson died at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday surrounded by loved ones. She is survived by six great-great nieces and nephews, 11 great-great nieces and nephews, and seven great-great-great nieces and nephews.
Ames said Wilkinson was a remarkable person, brave and unforgettable, and a towering figure in women’s sport history.
“I know so many women have told me about the example she set for them,” Ames said, “the glass ceilings she broke for them. And the path she paved for them to live their dreams.”
Wilkinson has always been humble, Ames added, proud of her accomplishments but unwilling to delve into her legacy.
“Dot didn’t put much emphasis on stuff like that,” Ames said. “She just wanted to play ball.”