Half of Fame Journalist

"My father and I spent many hours side-by-side in press boxes covering games. This photo was taken in 1979 at Tiger Stadium."

In the fall of 1978, Anne Doyle became one of the first women hired in the U.S. as a major market TV sports anchor and reporter. She was on the air for CBS-TV in Detroit for five years until late 1983.

Her pioneering work and excellence in news and sports journalism earned her a listing in "Who's Who of American Women" and election to the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame.

Breaking Barriers

The daughter of Detroit sports broadcasting legend, Vince Doyle, Anne repeatedly requested, but was denied, access to professional sports locker rooms. Tiger General Manager, Jim Campbell, told her in no uncertain terms, "Over my dead body you'll go in our Tiger clubhouse." Less than six months later, a New York federal judge issued the precedent setting ruling that ordered sports teams to grant equal locker room access to women journalists.

When baseball season opened in April 1979, Doyle was one of a handful of women sports broadcasters in the U.S. who made national headlines when they began entering locker rooms, along with male journalists, to interview athletes.

As Doyle describes those days, "It's one thing for a federal judge to make a landmark ruling, it's another thing entirely to be the sole woman standing outside the doors of a professional sports locker room, take a deep breath, and force yourself to walk in."