Barbara Danner Dougherty
In the late sixties, the sport of basketball was quite different for young ladies than it was for young men. Boys played under rules that required five players all of whom could run anywhere on the court that they wished. Girls played a variation where six players comprised a team and of the six, only two, known as “rovers”, had full run of the court with the other four players relegated to solely the offensive or defensive ends of the court. One must assume that the inference was that most girls could not handle the rigors of the boys’ game. No doubt, tonight’s first honoree, Barbara Danner Dougherty helped to change that mindset.
The preeminent female athlete of the Class of 1968, Barbara dominated games on both ends of the court. But her skills were not limited to basketball. Besides the three letters she earned as a hoopster, she also earned three letters as a field hockey player and four more in softball for an astounding total of ten Varsity letters. She was the co-captain of the basketball team and was the Most Valuable Player in her senior year. She capped her final year by being named the female athlete of the year in 1968.
An outstanding student who was a member of the National Honor Society, she attended Western Carolina University where she graduated summa cum laude. She pursued a career in medicine, becoming an anesthesiologist. She presently works as medical director of the surgical center for Kennedy Medical Center Washington Twp. She lives in Voorhees with her husband Jim and they have raised son Kevin and daughters Kelly and Erin, each of whom has achieved athletic success in their own lives.
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