Bettie Cadou

Elizabeth (Bettie) Stickler Fruits Cadou was born on New Years Day in 1936 in Bainbridge, Indiana. Although she is best known for being the first female reporter to be given a silver credential badge that permits access to the pit and garage areas of the world-famous racetrack, the Indianapolis 500, on 28 May 1971, Cadou is equally known for her investigative reporting around the state of Indiana, covering the Indiana General Assembly, the Indianapolis Colts, and national profiles of race car drivers. She was elected into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 2006 and has a journalism scholarship in her name in the Department of Journalism at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis.

Early life
Cadou's mother was an amateur poet, artist and classical pianist who worked as a telephone operator; her father was a police officer. Cadou moved with her mother and siblings several times as she grew up in the Crawfordsville area. She attended Indiana University Bloomington and received a bachelor of arts in English.

Career
Cadou worked for a number of Indianapolis publications, including the Indianapolis News, the Hammond Times, and Indianapolis Monthly. Her byline appeared frequently in many national publications, including The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and countless racing publications.

She taught at journalism at both Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis and Butler University. On both campuses, Bettie's popularity among students – whom she called her “chickadees” – was legendary.

Personal life
In between her beginnings in Bainbridge and her Butler and IUPUI years, Cadou became the mother of two daughters and a son: Kitty, Laura, and Hadley.

Honors and awards

 * CASPAR Award

Organizations

 * American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association