Women Who Made a Difference 2011, pp. 432-437 Copyright (c) 2011 Laurie Lanzen Harris, Biography for Beginners. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. Babe Didrikson Zaharias 1911-1956 American Golfer and Athlete One of the Greatest Athletes of the Twentieth Century BABE DIDRIKSON ZAHARIAS WAS BORN on June 26, 1911, in Port Arthur, Texas. Her name when she was born was Mildred Ella Didrikson. Her parents, Hannah and Ole Didrikson, had moved to the U.S. from Norway. Babe was one of seven children in the family. Her siblings were named Dora, Nancy, Ole, Lillie, Louis, and Arthur. GROWING UP: Babe grew up in Port Arthur until 1915. That year, a hurricane hit the coastal town, and the family moved inland, to Beaumont, Texas. From an early age, it was clear that Babe was an exceptional athlete. She seemed to be able to excel at any sport she tried. She was great at baseball, basketball, track, golf, tennis, swimming, diving, boxing, volleyball, bowling, skating, and cycling. Once, when asked if there was anything she didn't play, she said, "Yeah, dolls." Her nickname even came from her sports talent. In her early teens, she was such a great baseball player that her teammates called her "Babe," for Zaharias, Babe the famous Babe Ruth. The name stuck. Didrikson: Athlete Babe was a tough competitor, and she wanted to be the best. "My goal was to be the greatest athlete who ever lived," she said. (Credit: EMPICS EDUCATION: Babe went to the local schools SportsChrome/Newscom) where she was a good student and a great athlete. Photo Selected by She started competing in sports in high school, and ProQuest Staff was a basketball star. She graduated from Beaumont High School in 1929. FIRST JOBS: After high school, Babe moved to Dallas, where she got a job with Employers Casualty Insurance Company. She was hired as a secretary, but they really wanted her to play on the company's basketball team, the Golden Cyclones. AAU CHAMPIONSHIPS: While she was working, Babe started to compete in sports in the Amateur Athletic Association (AAU). She tried her hand at several track events, and soon won four events at the 1930 AAU Championships, in the javelin throw, hurdles, and high jump. In 1932, Babe once again competed in the AAU championships, which were also that year's U.S. Olympic qualifying trials. At the AAU championships, she competed in eight events in three hours, and won five of them. She set world championship records in three events, and when the championships were over, she had qualified for five Olympic events. 1932 OLYMPICS: At that time, women were limited to competing in only three events, no matter how many they had qualified for. So Babe competed in three events: the javelin throw, the 80-meter hurdles, and the high jump. She won gold medals Zaharias, Babe in the javelin and hurdles, and she tied for gold in Didrikson: Playing Golf the high jump. She wound up getting a silver in that in 1931 event, a ruling that most commentators thought was wrong, and unfair. GOLF: Babe, who started playing golf in high (Photo by William school, also became a golfing powerhouse in the Vanderson/Fox 1930s. She started in 1933, and soon she had Photos/Getty Images) conquered the game. She was so good that the Photo Selected by U.S. Golf Association said she had to compete as a ProQuest Staff professional, "for the best interest of the game." Babe kept playing, and winning, in the sport she loved. She was an incredibly powerful hitter, able to drive the ball over 250 yards. She wasn't very big—just 5 feet 5 inches, and weighing about 145 pounds. When she was asked where she got the power to hit so hard, she said, "You've got to loosen your girdle and let it rip." MARRIAGE: In 1938, Babe met George Zaharias, a professional wrestler, at the Los Angeles Golf Open. They fell in love and married on December 23, 1938. He became her manager, and she began a string of golf victories that made her a world champion. A GOLFING PHENOMENON: Babe was able to regain her status as an amateur in 1943, and soon she was dominating golf again. In 1943, she won 17 tournaments in a row. In 1947, she competed in the British Women's Open, one of the most prestigious events in golf. She won, and became the first American to ever win the tournament. Babe went on to win an incredible 82 golf tournaments in her career. Between 1940 and 1950, she one every title in women's golf. That included winning the world championship four times, and the U.S. Women's Open three times. She also was the first woman ever to become the pro at a golf club. To expand the opportunities for more women, Babe helped form the Ladies Professional Golf Association, the LGPA. It is still the major association for women's pro golf. She traveled and played all over the world, an international ambassador for women and sports. She won award upon award. The Associated Press voted her Female Athlete of the Year six times. In 1950, it named her the Female Athlete of the Half-Century. ILLNESS: Babe was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1953. She continued to play after her cancer treatment, and made an amazing comeback. Just three months after surgery, she competed in a golf tournament. She rejoined the professional women's golf tour, and soon she was winning again. Babe won her final tournament, the Peach Blossom Open, in 1955. Tragically, her cancer had returned, and she became too weak to compete. Babe Didrikson Zaharias died of cancer on September 27, 1956, in Galveston, Texas. She was 45 years old. HER LEGACY: Babe Didrikson Zaharias was one of the greatest athletes, male or female, the world has ever seen. She never saw herself as a feminist, or a fighter for women's rights. She saw herself as an athlete, who loved to compete, and win. She was praised by athletes and sports fans Zaharias, Babe around the world. Bobby Jones, one of history's Didrikson: Jumping a greatest golfers, said she was one of the top 10 Hurdle golfers of all time. Sportswriter Grantland Rice described her as "the most flawless specimen of muscle harmony, of complete physical Zaharias preparing for coordination, the world of sport has ever seen." In the 1932 Olympics. competing in the sports she loved, she brought joy (Credit: AP Photo) and awe to millions. The year before she died, she created the Baby Zaharias Trophy to honor outstanding female athletes. It is a lasting legacy of this legendary athlete. WORLD WIDE WEB SITES http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00014147.html http://www.babedidriksonzaharias.org Citation : You can copy and paste this information into your own documents. "Babe Didrikson Zaharias." Women Who Made a Difference. 432437. SIRS Discoverer. Web. 21 Nov 2013.