Babe Didrikson (1911–1956)

At a time when women were still considered the "weaker sex," Babe Didrikson showed that women could be strong and excel in athletics. Didrikson was a sports phenomenon in the 1930s and 1940s who paved the way for Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1962–), Mia Hamm (1972–), and other prominent female athletes of the 1980s and 1990s. She was the first woman to challenge notions of what women could and should do athletically.

Didrickson was born in Port Arthur, Texas, and showed promise in athletics at an early age. Her personal goal was "to be the greatest athlete who ever lived," as quoted by Susan E. Cayleff in Babe. She was an AAU All-American high school basketball player. In 1932, she single-handedly won the AAU team Track and Field Championships, finishing first in five of the eight events she entered. She then competed in the Olympics (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1) of 1932, winning three gold and one silver medals.

In 1934, Didrickson took up a new sport, golf. She won seventeen consecutive tournaments between 1946 and 1947. During her long career, she won eighty-two tournaments and was instrumental in forming the LPGA in 1950. In 1938, she married professional wrestler George Zaharias (1908?–1984). Didrikson died of cancer in 1956 and six years later was named Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the Twentieth Century by the Associated Press.

—Jill Gregg Clever

For More Information

Cayleff, Susan E. Babe Didrikson: The Greatest All-Sport Athlete of All Time. Berkeley, CA: Conari Press, 1995.

Freedman, Russell. Babe Didrikson Zaharias. New York: Clarion Books, 1999.

Sutcliffe, Jane. Babe Didrikson Zaharias: All-Around Athlete. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2000.