Photos courtesy Phoenix Heart Ball Hostesses of the Phoenix Heart Ball pose for the former newspaper, the Arizonian

Now in its 50th year, the Phoenix Heart Ball continues to raise millions for heart health awareness while staging the Valley’s most glamorous gala.

For Beth McRae, cardiovascular health is a matter of heart – in more ways than one. In 1991, she flew in from San Diego to attend the Phoenix Heart Ball, chaired by her mother, Betty McRae. The ball is one of the leading socialite events in the nation and among the top-five fundraising galas for the American Heart Association.
 
As Beth danced and chatted around the lavish, Egyptian-decorated ballroom, she was introduced to a handsome businessman named Bill Dougherty. Beth and Bill were married 10 years later, and she has been involved with the Heart Ball ever since.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Phoenix Heart Ball, which was founded by Peggy Goldwater, wife of former Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Over the past 49 years, the gala has raised more than $26 million to support the American Heart Association. As chair of the event this November 21, Beth McRae has a lot to live up to.
 
“Our 50th anniversary is a big milestone for us,” she says. “We have a high standard to keep up.”

The women who have been involved in the ball for the past five decades are a “who’s who” of respected Phoenix society, and the story of the ball follows a characteristically Phoenician plot of hard work, initiative and runaway success.

Attendees of the 1987 ball at the Hyatt Regency in Scottsdale

In 1959, five years before her husband would win a presidential nomination, Peggy Goldwater learned about the American Heart Association’s work but saw that the organization had a lack of local visibility. So she gathered a small group of women who volunteered to create the premier social event of the year.
 
That first Heart Ball, which Peggy chaired, was the first fundraising event in AHA history. Though the gala only netted a few thousand dollars, the spirit of these visionary women set the tone for future balls.

The following year, Georgia Green held state over the ball at Jerry Lewis’ Koko Dinner Theater, where the Ritz-Carlton Phoenix now sits. The legendary Nat King Cole performed as 300 high-society women swirled and swayed throughout the night. In only the second year of fundraising, the women of the committee raised more than $16,000, an amazing sum for the time. With that success, the Phoenix Heart Ball began to gain a national profile and momentum.

During the late ’70s, Arizona’s population was soaring and its business booming. The Heart Ball committee became a powerhouse, comprised of the most well-known, well-connected women in Phoenix. Wives of the “Phoenix Forty,” a group of powerful Phoenix businessmen,  fashioned the ball into an even larger, finely tuned operation.
  
The excesses of the ’80s also translated into a monetary surplus for the Heart Ball. With such admired chairwomen leading the ball as Anne Robbs, GeeGee Entz and Harriet Friedland, this decade saw pronounced economic success. The ball’s status as one of the premier fundraising events in the nation took hold. Staff for the national American Heart Association visited Arizona each year to observe the ball’s success.