Career
From 1939 to 1949—with the exception of 1940—Dodson participated in every United States. Amateur Athletic Union Outdoor National Championships. Dodson was also the gold medalist in the shot put at the United States. Amateur Athletic Union Indoor Championships in 1941, 1945, and 1946. Like so many amateur athletes of the era, Dodson and her contemporaries were denied an opportunity to compete at the ill-fated 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games.
A world at war would have to wait for such things.
Dodson competed in the shot put, discus, and javelin throw. She was a finalist in the javelin, finishing in fourth place, 10 centimetres (39 in) from a bronze medal.
Dodson remains the last United States athlete, male or female, to compete in three throwing events at a single Olympic Games. Dodson died at the age of 84, in Dunedin, Florida.