Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias: Basketball, Golf, Multisport, Track & Field

American Star of the Women’s International Sports Hall of Fame

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Website: http://www.babedidriksonzaharias.org/

Babe was the greatest athlete of all time; whether it was hitting homeruns, playing golf, shooting basketballs, competing in track and field, or even sewing. Babe excelled at it all. This Babe didn’t play for the Red Sox or the Yankees, but she did strike out the great Joe DiMaggio when she played for the touring baseball team, House of David. Mildred Ella Didrikson (Zaharias) earned her nickname “Babe” after the famed slugger, Babe Ruth, when she hit five home runs during a baseball game in her hometown of Beaumont, Texas. Her skills were unmatched on almost any playing field and across almost every sport. Sportswriter Grantland Rice once wrote, “She is beyond all belief until you see her perform.”¹

She inherited her athletic talent from her mother, Hannah, who had been a talented skater and skier in her native land of Norway. Her father, Ole, carried himself as a man that knew the meaning of hard work and he labored feverishly as a carpenter to make a living for his family in their new American home. He imparted his natural strength, determined work ethic, and passion for perfection onto his daughter Mildred. Babe was born in 1911, a time defined by women’s prim and proper behavior, when society generally preferred that girls did not participate in “vulgar” activities like sports. Babe’s preference, however, was to shun “feminine” activities and qualities and to spend her time pursuing athletic endeavors. Tomboy was an understatement, since she wasn’t running with the boys—she was leading them. She excelled at volleyball, tennis, baseball, swimming, and basketball, the most popular women’s sport of the time.

Her accomplishments on the athletic field and aggressive style of play did not win her any congeniality awards from her high school classmates. While she attended high school in Beaumont, her basketball team never lost a game. Babe’s talents were extraordinary in almost every arena, including singing and sewing. She recorded “I Felt a Little Teardrop” and “Detour” with Mercury records label and even won a state fair championship in sewing, but she chose to focus on her athletic interests.

In her junior year, she dropped out of high school to play for the Golden Cyclone basketball team in Dallas, Texas. The Golden Cyclones were the company basketball team for Casualty Insurance Company. Babe was paid as a stenographer, but she spent her time training and competing on the basketball court. She often scored 30 points a game herself, during an era when entire teams were scoring 20 points in a game. Babe led the Golden Cyclones to a national championship before her interests led her to pursue other sports, such as softball and track and field.

Babe capitalized on the coaching she received from the Golden Cyclones track and field team. She quickly learned the very technical field events and became one of the premier track and field athletes in the world, holding records in five different events. The Golden Cyclones team entered the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Championships in Evanston, Illinois, in 1932 to qualify for the 1932 Olympic Games. Babe scored 30 points, won six gold medals, and set four world records that afternoon—she single handedly beat teams comprised of 20 or more. No athlete, male or female, had ever accomplished such an astonishing achievement in the history of track and field. Babe assured her place in the chronicles of track and field for all time and created an exciting buzz around the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Despite qualifying for the Olympics in five events, she was only permitted to compete in three events because she was a woman. She won the first women’s Olympic javelin and the first Olympic 80-meter hurdles with ease. Babe tied Jean Smiley’s world record high jump performance, but was disqualified by two judges who disagreed with her aggressive head-first approach over the bar. Babe was never warned about her style, but nonetheless she was awarded the silver medal while Smiley took the gold.

After her brief adventures touring the country with the House of David baseball team and the barnstorming basketball team Babe Didrikson’s All-Americans, she turned to the sport of golf. With the same determination that she approached her other sports, she practiced hitting golf balls until her hands blistered and bled. Within a year she had entered her first tournament and won the Texas Women’s Amateur Championship. Soon thereafter, the United States Golf Association (USGA) revoked her amateur status because of her professional endeavors in other sports. Babe could not be deterred, so she played as a professional despite her youth in the game. After financial shortfalls, she joined Gene Sarazen, a professional golfer, in exhibition matches around the country.

In the Los Angeles Open she paired with a gregarious wrestler by the name of George Zaharias, and 18 holes later she was swept off her feet. Babe married Zaharias 11 months later and changed her name to Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Under his guidance, she captured the Texas and Western Open golf championships. After agreeing to abstain from professional athletics and only entering exhibition matches for three years, the USGA restored her amateur status. In two years she had perfected her game on the amateur tour and was named Woman Athlete of the Year, an honor she would earn five more times. Babe could never settle for simply winning, she had to accomplish the athletic feat that no one else could. She won 17 consecutive straight tournaments the next season, an achievement that no man or woman had ever earned before. She also became the first woman to win the prestigious British Women’s Amateur. At the direction of George and her manager Fred Corcoran, she turned professional again.

Her 1948 earnings were estimated at nearly $100,000 for promotional endeavors, yet her prize money only totaled $3,700 that same year. She and Corcoran were inspired to organize the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) so that they could build awareness and prestige in ladies golf, thereby increasing the prize money. The women of today are thankful for Babe’s forethought and dedication to equal pay, but the gender gap still exists no matter what sport a woman plays or, in most cases, what profession she chooses. Sadly, her endeavors in the golf world would be cut short because only five years after establishing the LPGA she was diagnosed with cancer.

Babe made a name for herself in sport and in life with a persistent attitude and defiant demeanor. She battled her failing health with the same fortitude and strength. In 1953, surgery for cancer was radical rather than practical, but for Babe it was the only course she was willing to consider—action rather than contemplation. She played in a golf tournament only weeks after surgery and continued her season. She was aptly named the Ben Hogan Comeback Player of the Year. The next year was no different, as she won tournament after tournament and captured her final Woman of the Year Award. On September 27, 1956, Babe Zaharias met a foe that was more stubborn than her, and the cancer finally overcame her. Her audacity was inspirational to many, but especially women, as she dared to redefine how women should be perceived in society. Through her choices, she defined what a woman could be, which has made the sports world a very different, better place to play for all who follow.

Note

1. Larry Schwartz, “Didrikson Was a Woman ahead of Her Time,” ESPN.com, 2007 http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00014147.html.(Accessed January 20, 2008.)

The previous excerpt was written by Stacy Martin-Tenney