Babe Didrikson

The Babe

Listening to Michael Barkaan on WIP – with Reuben Frank sitting in for Ike Reese – and they’re discussing female athletes.

Mildred “Babe” Didrikson was one of the greatest all-around female athletes in U.S. history. She eventually married pro wrestler George “The Crying Greek from Cripple Creek” Zaharias and became known as Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

She earned the nickname “Babe” after hitting five home runs in a youth baseball game – after Babe Ruth.

AAU Basketball

After Babe graduated from high school in Beaumont, Texas, the Employers Casualty Insurance Company employed her to play basketball for the company’s Golden Cyclones basketball team – which she led to the AAU championship in 1931.

Olympic Track & Field

From there, Babe represented the U.S. Olympic Team at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles:

Gold medal in 80-meter hurdles.
Gold medal in javelin.
Silver medal in high jump.

Golf

Babe started playing golf in 1938 as an amateur.

In 1947, she turned pro and wound up winning 41 LPGA tournaments including the U.S. Women’s Open three times between 1948 and 1954. As an amateur and pro, she won 81 golf tournaments.

So the Babe played baseball, basketball, track and field, and golf.

Babe died at the age of 45 in Galveston.

Barry Bowe is the author of: