Kay Baxter (October 3, 1945 – May 16, 1988) was a pioneer female bodybuilder.
Bodybuilding
Baxter competed in women's bodybuilding from 1979 to 1986, competing in four IFBB Ms. Olympia competitions between 1982 and 1985. She was inspirational for many up-and-coming female bodybuilders, especially those who desired a physique that would be large and muscular even by bodybuilding standards. She was a groundbreaker in making wrestling videos and short action movies that catered to fans of women's bodybuilding, as well as appearing in the 1985 Billboard top 3 song "California Girls", by David Lee Roth whom she trained and dated.
The early female bodybuilders already had been groundbreakers, as they had been muscular athletes, usually in track or gymnastics, at a time when neither muscularity nor sports were encouraged for young girls. Baxter had been a collegiate gymnast at Kent State University and was still quite well muscled when taking up bodybuilding in her mid-30s. She competed in some of the earliest prominent women's bodybuilding contests. The first major mainstream article on the sport, "Here She Is, Miss, Well, What?" in the March 17, 1980 Sports Illustrated opened with full page shots of Cammie Lusko and Baxter doing rear double biceps shots. A full-body shot of Baxter doing a front double biceps pose was on the inside page. At the time, Baxter weighed around 120 lbs for contests at a height of 5'3".
In 1982, Muscle & Fitnessran a three-page photo feature on different types of female bodybuilding physiques—Shelly Gruwell with the long, lean physique most like a model; Rachel McLish epitomizing the muscular, average framed woman; Baxter with the more muscular than average (for a bodybuilder) but still graceful build (she was posed with right leg extended, squatting on the left leg); 5-1 Mary Roberts with the short, thick, powerful build. Yet even as that issue hit the stands, Baxter was training with legendary male bodybuilder Don "The Ripper" Ross with the goal of redefining the outer limits of female bodybuilder muscularity. She later admitted to taking some steroids during this period. She and Ross expected at the 1982 Ms. Olympia, she would finish either first or last.
Baxter's clothed entrance into the host hotel lobby at that Olympia has become legendary among longtime bodybuilding fans. Reg Bradford, in his contest coverage for BodyPower magazine, called her "massive with a capital M" and declared it was apparent "Lindsay Wagner had been imitating The Bionic Woman on television" for here was a true superwoman in the flesh. In a posthumous interview published by Female Bodybuilding and Weight Training, Baxter claimed a competitor came up to her in tears, saying, "That's not what a female bodybuilder should look like!" Muscle & Fitness' contest coverage estimated Baxter gained 8 pounds of muscle, an amazing amount back then for a 5-3 female bodybuilder. As a matter of fact, Baxter weighed in at 129. By modern standards, she would be a good-sized light heavyweight in a class competition. Back then, only Carla Dunlap rivaled Baxter's combination of size and definition. The Women's Physique Publication reported that the IFBB circulated a memo among the judges, admonishing them not to reward "uncontrolled muscularity." Baxter would finish eighth, but immediately gained a devoted legion of followers among fans and more than a few competitors.
Unlike many women then and now, Baxter was a complete bodybuilder. She boasted superior size in almost every body part. Though an H-frame with broad shoulders and hips with a thick waist, the kind of build perfect for powerlifting more so than bodybuilding, she simply gave herself a V-shape by building incredibly massive latissimus dorsi muscles and huge deltoids. Her legs would be admired for their tremendous mass and shape, although she sometimes had trouble getting them defined for contests.