MILDRED BABE DIDRIKSON: A JOURNEY TO BE THE GREATEST ATHLETE

THAT EVER LIVED

Mackenzie Nalepa

SHY 330 01 Sports in America

Professor Crain
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Throughout the beginning of the 20th century, sports were predominately occupied by

males, and little attention was directed towards female athletes. However, Mildred Babe

Didrikson began to shift attention onto female athletics because of all her accomplishments. At

an early age, there were few sports that Didrikson left untouched and those that she tired she

excelled inprimarily basketball, track and field, and golf. Didrikson was an All-American

basketball player, an Olympic track and field medalist, and a golf Hall of Fame inductee. There

was little she could not do. Unfortunately, Didrikson was not able to win everything, and cancer

cut her accomplishments short. From a young age, Didrikson was ambitious and knew that her

life goal was to be the greatest athlete that ever lived. Due to her excellence in multiple sports

basketball, track and field, and golf, Didrikson accomplished her goal and is easily one of the

most influential female athletes of her time.

Didrikson was born Mildred Ella Didrikson to parents Ole Didrikson and Hannah

Marie Olsen on June 26, 1911, in Port Arthur, Texas. Due to a large family of seven children,

times were often tough for the Didrikson family and Babe was known for working many part-

time jobs to earn money as an adolescent. Her mother was a notable skier and skater, and her

father was a heavy physical conditioning advocate, so there was no surprise that Babe was a

natural at sports. Even as a young child, Babe, who was often called Baby, was competitive

and yearned to play the games that her brothers played. One day, Babe hit five home runs while

playing with the boys and she earned the nickname Babe after Babe Ruth who was an all-star

at the time. The nickname stuck with her throughout her life (Biography.com, 2015). In high

school, Babe tried every sport offered at Beaumont High School and she still holds a record at

the school for athletic versatility. Sports she was accomplished in include: basketball, track, golf,

baseball, tennis, swimming, diving, boxing, volleyball, handball, billiards, skating, and cycling.
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She was once asked what she did not play, and her response was, yeah, dolls. (Babe Didrikson

Zaharias Foundation, 2017). Basketball was the first sport that sent Babe on her journey to fame.

Babes basketball career began at Beaumont High School where she was the teams high-

scoring forward. While playing for the high school team, she caught the eye of Melvin J.

McCombs who was the coach of one of the best girls basketball team in the nation (Babe

Didrikson Zaharias Foundation, 2017). In 1930, Babe was offered $75 a month for Employers

Casualty Company of Dallas where she would play for the Golden Cyclones, but be paid as a

secretary so that she did not lose her amateur status by being paid to play. Her parents were

hesitant to let her go because she had not yet graduated high school (Schwartz, 2002). After

agreeing to let her play, Babe became a star player for the Golden Cyclones and actually returned

home at one point to graduate with her high school class. Over the next three years, ECCs

Golden Cyclones would win three national championships. Babe was named a forward All-

American for two of those three years (Babe Didrikson Zaharias Foundation, 2017).

When Babe was not on the court, she was on the track. During the 1920s and 1930s,

AAU often sponsored womens sporting events. In 1930, at the National AAU meet in Dallas,

Babe won the javelin and the baseball throw. The next year, at the National AAU meet in Jersey

City, Babe was the leading scorerwinning the long jump, baseball throw, and 80-meter

hurdles. At that meet, she earned the world record for the baseball throw at 296 feet and a

national AAU record of 12 seconds for the 80-meter hurdles. Less than two years after being

introduced to her first track meet, Babe qualified for the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles,

California. Earlier that year, Babe won the National AAU meet, also the Olympic trials, earning

all 30 points herself. The feat is considered by some to be the single greatest achievement in a

series of events in athletic history (Babe Didrikson Zaharias Foundation, 2017). Although Babe
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qualified for multiple events at the Olympics, female athletes, at the time, were only allowed to

enter into three events for track and field. She earned gold medals in javelin and high hurdles and

earned a silver medal in the high jump where she lost in a jump-off to another AmericanJean

Shirley (The International Olympic Committee, 2017). Babe actually tied Shirley in the high

jump with an Olympic record of 55 , but her style of jump, western roll was questioned and

was given the silver medal as a result (Babe Didrikson Zaharias Foundation, 2017). Had Babe

been able to compete in more events, she would be projected to medal in discus, long jump, and

relay events (The International Olympic Committee, 2017). After the games, Babe began to pick

up golf, the sport she is most known for her achievements in.

Babe was not introduced to the sport of golf until she was 21 years old during the 1932

Olympics. During the games, Babe accompanied Gartland Rice and other sportswriters for a

round of golf where she shot 91 and regularly hit 250-yard drives. The next year, while touring

with The House of David baseball team, Babe would sometimes travel back to Los Angeles

where she would take pro golf lessons from Stan Kertes. Within the next couple years, babe

would go on to win the Texas Womens Amateur Championship with an eagle on the 34th hole.

Since Babe was considered a professional athlete, the United States Golf Association (USGA)

ruled that she could no longer compete in amateur events. Instead of competing in amateur

events, Babe would instead go on exhibition tours and celebrity pro-ams. At the Los Angeles

Open in 1938, Babe was paired with a professional wrestler named George Zaharias (World Golf

Hall of Fame, 2017). Babe was attracted to Zaharias because of his bulky build and his ability to

drive the ball farther than she could. The two were married later that year and did not have any

children (Biography.com, 2015). Zaharias served as Babes manager and biggest supporter and

persuaded her to apply for reinstatement into the amateur leagues. The USGA accepted her
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application in 1943. She then went on to win the U.S. Womens Amateur in 1946 and the British

Womens Amateur in 1947 (World Gold Hall of Fame, 2017). She was the first American

woman to win the event (Babe Didrikson Zaharias Foundation, 2017). After that, she went on to

win 16 consecutive tournaments that resulted in her signing with Fred Corcoran and turning pro

(World Golf Hall of Fame, 2017). In the 1950s, Babe, along with 12 other women, established

the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). The LPGA was not successful at first but

paved the way for future woman golfers (Wilhelm, 2016). From 1948-1953, Babe won 31 out of

128 events she played in (World Golf Hall of Fame, 2017). Some of the events she won include:

the All-American Open, World Championship, U.S. Womens Open, Texas Open, and Womens

Western Open (Babe Didrikson Zaharias Foundation, 2017). Unfortunately, Babes career would

be cut short when she lost her biggest battle to cancer.

Babe found out that she had colon cancer shortly after winning the inaugural Babe

Zaharias Open (1953). Surgeons removed the tumor, but the cancer had already spread to her

lymph nodes and the tumors were inoperable. She continued to battle through cancer and went

on to win her third U.S. Womens Open by a 12-stroke margin. By 1955, the pain became

unbearable and Babe, unfortunately, passed on September 27, 1956, at the age of 45 (Scwartz,

2002). Although cut short, Babes career is nothing less than admirable. Babes career was

during a time when female participation in sports was considered unnatural and wrong. As a 57

115 pound girl, Babe did not sell herself short and capitalized on her tomboy nature. She did not

wish to succumb to lady-like stereotypes of girls during that time period. Babes feats are still

remembered today through books, movies, and stories. Since her death, the Babe Didrikson

Zaharias Foundation was established as well as a museum that was completed in 1976. There is

also a book written about her life called Wonder Girl by Don Van Natta Jr. She is a member of
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the Ladies Golf Hall of Fame and Helms Athletic Foundations Golf Hall of Fame (Babe

Didrikson Zaharias Foundation, 2017). In 1976, she was honored and inducted into the National

Womens Hall of Fame (National Womens Hall of Fame, 2017).

Babe Didrikson was a woman of many talents who dominated the sports world in the

1930s-1950s, so much so that she can be considered the Jim Thorpe of female athletes. She was

a fierce competitor in terms of sports, but also in terms of gender equality and her health. In a

time where women in sports were considered odd, Babe defied the odds and not only excelled in

womens sports, but also mens. She had a strong desire to be the best, and she was successful in

many aspects. Her determination and ambition allow her to serve as a role model for young girls

participating in sports. In the words of Mildred Babe Didrikson Zaharias: you cant win them

all, but you can try.and she sure tried.

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References

Babe Didrikson Zaharias Foundation. (2017). About "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias. Retrieved from
http://www.babedidriksonzaharias.org/

Biography.com. (2015, March 23). Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Retrieved from

https://www.biography.com/people/babe-didrikson-zaharias-9542047

National Women's Hall of Fame. (2017). Zaharias, Mildred "Babe" Didrikson. Retrieved
October 12, 2017, from https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/mildred-babe-
didrikson-zaharias/

Schwartz, L. (2002). Didrikson was a woman ahead of her time. Retrieved from
https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00014147.html

The International Olympic Committee. (2017, May 11). Mildred DIDRIKSON. Retrieved
from https://www.olympic.org/mildred-didrikson

Wilhelm, J. (2016, February 29). Leading by Example: Babe Zaharias. Retrieved from
http://www.usga.org/articles/2016/02/leading-by-example--babe-zaharias.html

World Golf Hall of Fame. (2017). Babe Zaharias. Retrieved from

http://www.worldgolfhalloffame.org/babe-zaharias/