Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (June 26, 1911 –
September 27, 1956) was an American athlete considered to be perhaps the greatest all-around female athlete of all time. She achieved
outstanding success in golf, basketball and track and field.
Life history
Babe Zaharias was born Mildred Ella Didriksen in the oil town of Port Arthur,
Texas. Her mother, Hannah, and her father, Ole, were immigrants from Norway. Three of her
six siblings were born in Norway, and the other three were born in Port Arthur. Her surname was changed from Didriksen to
Didrikson[1] to reflect the Norwegian spelling of
her name instead of the Swedish spelling. Didrikson grew up in Beaumont and acquired the
nickname "Babe" (after Babe Ruth) after she hit five home
runs in a single baseball game. She wrote that she was born in 1914. However her
tombstone[2] and baptismal certificate say she
was born in 1911, which is generally considered the correct year.
Though best known for her athletic gifts, Zaharias had many talents and was a competitor in even the most domestic of
occupations: sewing. She was an excellent seamstress and made many of the clothes she wore,
including her golfing outfits. She won the sewing championship at the 1931 State Fair of
Texas. She was a singer and harmonica player. She recorded several songs on the
Mercury Records label. Her biggest seller was "I Felt a Little Teardrop" with "Detour"
on the flip side. She married George Zaharias, a professional wrestler, December 23rd,
1938.
Athletic achievements
Zaharias gained world fame in track and field and All-American status in basketball. She
played organized baseball and softball and was an expert diver, roller-skater and bowler. She won two gold medals and one silver
medal for track and field in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.[3]
Didrikson's first job was nominally as a secretary, for the Employers Casualty Insurance Co., of Dallas, Texas, in 1930. In fact, she was employed as a ruse for her to play basketball on one of the "industrial teams" in competitions organized by the Amateur Athletic Union. Despite leading the team to an AAU Basketball Championship in 1931,
Didrikson first achieved wider attention as a track and field athlete. Representing her company in the 1932 AAU Championships,
she entered eight events, winning five outright and tying first for a sixth. In the process, she set five world records in a
single afternoon. Didrikson's performance was enough to win the team championship, despite being the only member of her team.
As the AAU Championships were the de facto US Olympic Trials, Didrikson qualified for the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She was
limited to entering three events there, the javelin throw, the 80 m hurdles and the high jump. She nearly won all three events: she won gold
medals in the javelin and hurdles and cleared the same height as compatriot Jean Shiley in
the high jump (with whom she had tied in the AAU Championship). The jury, however, disapproved of her style (jumping over
headfirst) and declared Shiley the Olympic champion. After the Games, Shiley and Didrikson split their medals.
By 1935, she picked up the sport of golf, a latecomer to the sport by which she would become most famous. Shortly thereafter,
despite the brevity of her experience, she was denied amateur status, and so in January 1938 she competed in the Los Angeles Open, a men's PGA (Professional
Golfers' Association) tournament, a feat no other woman would even try until Annika
Sörenstam, Suzy Whaley, and Michelle Wie almost
six decades later. She shot 81-84 and missed the cut. In the tournament, she was teamed with George Zaharias, a well-known professional wrestler and sports promoter generally billed as "The Crying
Greek from Cripple Creek." They were married eleven months later on December 23,1938 in St.
Louis, and later lived in Tampa, Florida on the grounds of a golf course they
bought in 1951.
Babe went on to become America's first female golf celebrity and the leading player of the 1940s and early 1950s. After
winning back her amateur status in 1942, she won the 1946-47 United States Women's Amateur Golf Championship as well as the 1947
British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship—the first American to
do so—and three Western Open victories. Formally turning professional in
1947, she dominated the WPGA and later the LPGA, of which she was a
founding member, until illness shortened her career in the mid-1950s.
Zaharias even won a tournament named after her, the Babe Zaharias Open of Beaumont, Texas. She won the 1947 Titleholders
Championship and the 1948 U.S. Women's Open for
her fourth and fifth major championships. She won 17 straight amateur
victories, a feat never equaled by anyone, including Tiger Woods. By 1950, she had won every
golf title available. Totaling both her amateur and professional victories, Zaharias won a total of 82 golf tournaments.
Charles McGrath of the New York Times wrote of Zaharias, "Except perhaps for Arnold
Palmer, no golfer has ever been more beloved by the gallery."[4]
Last years
Zaharias had her greatest year in 1950 when she completed the Grand Slam of the
three women's majors of the day, the U.S. Open, the Titleholders Championship, and the Western Open, in addition to leading the
money list. That year, she became the fastest LPGA golfer to ever reach 10 wins. She was the leading money-winner again in 1951
and in 1952 took another major with a Titleholders victory, but illness prevented her from playing a full schedule in
1952-53.
After being diagnosed with colon cancer in 1953 and undergoing surgery, she made a
comeback in 1954 and took the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, her only win of the trophy,
and her 10th and final major with a U.S. Women's Open championship, one month after the cancer surgery. With this win, she became
the second-oldest woman to ever win a major LPGA championship tournament (behind Fay
Crocker; Zaharias now stands third to Crocker and Sherri Steinhauer). She also
served as president of the LPGA from 1952 to 1955.[5]
Her colon cancer reappeared in 1955 and limited her schedule to eight events, but
she managed two wins, which stand as her final ones in competitive golf. The cancer took its toll, and Zaharias died on
September 27, 1956 at John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, Texas. At the time of
her death, at age 45, she was still in the top rank of female golfers. She and her husband had established the Babe Zaharias Fund
to support cancer clinics.[6] She is buried at
Forest Lawn Cemetery in Beaumont.
Cultural impacts
The Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum in Beaumont
Zaharias broke the accepted models of femininity in her time, even the accepted models of female athleticism. Although petite,
only 5'5", she was physically strong and socially straightforward about her strength. Although a sports hero to many, she was
also derided for her "manliness."[1] She died ten
years before the Second Wave of feminism altered
the social landscape of the United States and made women athletes, such as Billie Jean
King, more acceptable.
Zaharias now has iconic status, with a museum dedicated to her, and a golf course she owned given landmark status. Despite her
marriage to George Zaharias, there is keen historic interest in her from the modern lesbian
community.
The Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum in Beaumont stands as a memorial to her achievements.
Contemporary impressions
It would be much better if she and her ilk stayed at home, got themselves prettied up and waited for the phone to ring.
– sportswriter Joe Williams, New York World-Telegram, [1]
Williams' remark typified the contempt felt by much of society for women who dared to break out of the mold of passivity,
femininity, and weakness which were considered the female ideal for much of the first half of
the 20th century. However, in the same time period, the Associated Press chose her as
Female Athlete of the Year six times for track and golfing, and, in 1950, overwhelmingly voted for her as the Greatest Female
Athlete of the first half of the century.[1] Aside
from her impact on the women and girls of her time, she impressed seasoned sportswriters also:
She is beyond all belief until you see her perform...Then you finally understand that you are looking at the most flawless
section of muscle harmony, of complete mental and physical coordination, the world of sport has ever seen.
– sportswriter Grantland Rice, quoted by ESPN,
[1]
She was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Women's Golf in 1951. In 1957, she was given the
Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. She
was one of six initial inductees into the LPGA Hall of Fame at its inception in 1967.
Modern acclaim
The Associated Press followed up its 1950 declaration fifty years later by voting
Zaharias Woman Athlete of the 20th Century in 1999. That same year, Sports Illustrated magazine also named her the Female Athlete of the Century. She is now also in
the World Golf Hall of Fame. She is also the highest ranked woman, at #10, on
ESPN's list of the 50 top athletes of the 20th century.
She broke the mold of what a lady golfer was supposed to be. The ideal in the 20s and 30s was Joyce Wethered, a willowy Englishwoman with a picture-book swing that produced elegant shots but not
especially long ones. Zaharias developed a grooved athletic swing reminiscent of Lee
Trevino's, and she was so strong off the tee that a fellow Texan, the great golfer Byron
Nelson, once said that he knew of only eight men who could out drive her. "It's not enough just to swing at the ball,"
Babe said. "You've got to loosen your girdle and really let the ball have it."
– journalist Charles McGrath, New York Times, [4]
Babe Zaharias Golf Course
In 1949, Zaharias purchased a golf course in the Forest Hills area of
Tampa, Florida and lived nearby. The golf course had a
magnificent clubhouse which Zaharias was rumored to live in at one point. After her death, the golf course was sold. It lay
dormant as developers attempted to acquire the land for residential housing.
In 1974, the City of Tampa took over the golf course and named it the Babe Zaharias Golf Course. It was renovated in 2004 and
has now been accorded the status of a Historical Landmark.[7]
Latest developments
In 2007, lesbian playwright Carolyn Gage started working
on a full-chorus, full-orchestra musical about Zaharias (who is thought by some to have been a lesbian) called Babe.
[8]
In early 2009, Little, Brown will publish a major biography of Babe by
author and New York Times journalist Don Van Natta Jr.. The book will be entitled,
"Wonder Girl." [9]
LPGA Tour wins (41)
- 1940 (1) Women's Western Open (as an amateur)
- 1944 (1) Women's Western Open (as an amateur)
- 1945 (1) Women's Western Open (as an amateur)
- 1947 (2) Tampa Open, Titleholders Championship (as an amateur)
- 1948 (3) All American Open, World Championship, U.S.
Women’s Open
- 1949 (2) World Championship, Eastern Open
- 1950 (8) Titleholders Championship, Pebble Beach Weathervane,
Cleveland Weathervane, Women's Western Open, All-American Open, World
Championship, U.S. Women’s Open, 144-hole
Weathervane
- 1951 (9) Ponte Verde Beach Women's Open, Tampa Women's Open, Lakewood Weathervane, Richmond Women's Open, Valley Open,
Meridian Hills Weathervane, All-American Open, World Championship, Texas Women's Open
- 1952 (5) Miami Weathervane, Titleholders Championship, Bakersfield
Open (tied with Marlene Hagge, Betty Jameson and Betsy Rawls), Fresno Open, Women's Texas Open
- 1953 (2) Sarasota Open, Babe Zaharias Open
- 1954 (5) Serbin Open, Sarasota Open, Damon Runyan Cancer Fund Tournament, U.S. Women’s Open, All-American Open
- 1955 (2) Tampa Open, Peach Blossom Classic
LPGA Majors are shown in bold.
Other wins
This list is probably incomplete:
See also
Notes and references
- ^ a b c d e "Didrikson was a woman ahead of
her time", undated feature article at ESPN. Companion article refers to December 3, 2004 as
upcoming broadcast date. Accessed September 9, 2007.
- ^ Babe Zaharias.
findagrave.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
- ^ Record of Achievement.
babedidriksonzaharias.org. Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
- ^ a b
- ^ Full Career Biography Babe
Zaharias. LPGA Tour. Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
- ^ Babe Zaharias Dies;
Athlete Had Cancer. New York Times Magazine (1956-09-28). Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
- ^ Babe Zaharias Golf
Course History. Babe Zaharias Golf Course. Retrieved on 2007-03-25.
- ^ Heather Aimee (2007-01-26). Lesbians Take to the Stage. LOGOonline.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
- ^ Kieth Niebuhr (2007-06-26). Book to be focus on
legend Zaharias' life, achievements. sptimes.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.
Bibliography
- This Life I've Led: My Autobiography, by Babe Didrikson Zaharias, New York, 1955
- Babe: The Life and Legend of Babe Didrikson Zaharias, by Susan Cayleff, 1996.
- Why Michael Couldn't Hit and Other Tales of the Neurology of Sports, by Harold L.
Klawans, MD, 1996
External links
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