Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Biography

Mildred Ella Didrikson was born on June 26, 1911, the sixth of seven children, in the coastal city of Port Arthur, Texas. Her mother Hannah and her father Ole Didriksen were immigrants from Norway. Although her three eldest siblings were born in Norway, Babe and her three other siblings were born in Port Arthur. She later changed the spelling of her surname from Didriksen to Didrikson. She moved with her family to 850 Doucette in Beaumont, Texas, at age 4. She claimed to have acquired the nickname "Babe" (after Babe Ruth) upon hitting five home runs in a childhood baseball game, but her Norwegian mother had called her "Bebe" from the time she was a toddler.

Although best known for her athletic gifts, Didrikson had many talents. She also competed in sewing. An excellent seamstress, she made many of her clothes, including her golfing outfits. She claimed to have won the sewing championship at the 1931 State Fair of Texas in Dallas; she did win the South Texas State Fair in Beaumont, embellishing the story many years later in 1953. She attended Beaumont High School. Never a strong student, she was forced to repeat the eighth grade and was a year older than her classmates. She eventually dropped out without graduating after she moved to Dallas to play basketball. She was a singer and a harmonica player and recorded several songs on the Mercury Records label. Her biggest seller was "I Felt a Little Teardrop" with "Detour" on the flip side.

Already famous as Babe Didrikson, she married George Zaharias (1908–1984), a professional wrestler, in St. Louis, Missouri, on December 23, 1938. Thereafter, she was largely known as Babe Didrikson Zaharias or Babe Zaharias.

Athletic achievements

Didrikson gained world fame in track and field and was a three-time AAU All-American in basketball from 1930–1932. She played organized baseball and softball and was an expert diver, roller-skater, and bowler.

Didrikson's first job after high school was as a secretary for the Employers' Casualty Insurance Company of Dallas, though she was employed only in order to play basketball as an amateur on the company's "industrial team", the Golden Cyclones. As a side note, the competition was then governed by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). Despite leading the team to an AAU Basketball Championship in 1931, Didrikson had first achieved wider attention as a track and field athlete.

Representing her company in the 1932 AAU Championships, she competed in eight out of ten events, winning five outright, and tying for first in a sixth. Didrikson's performances were enough to win the team championship, despite her being the sole member of her team.

Didrikson set four world records, winning two gold medals and one silver medal in track and field in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. In the 80-meter hurdles, she equaled the world record of 11.8 seconds in her opening heat. In the final, she broke her record with an 11.7 clocking, taking gold. In the javelin, she also won gold with an Olympic record throw of 43.69 meters. In the high jump, she took silver with a world record-tying leap of 1.657 metres (5.44 ft). Fellow American Jean Shiley also jumped 1.657 metres, and the pair tied in a jump-off when the bar was raised to 1.67 metres (5.5 ft). Shiley was awarded the gold after Didrikson was ruled to have used an improper technique. She did not compete in the discus throw, as fellow American Lillian Copeland beat her out in the Olympic trials; Copeland went on to win the gold medal in discus.

Before the 1932 games, Didrikson was involved in a racist incident involving fellow athletes Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes, both of whom were black. In Denver, on a train, Didrikson threw water on Pickett and Stokes, because Didrikson didn't like having African-American athletes on the team. Pickett and Stokes were later removed from the team, and replaced by white athletes who had qualified with slower times from the trials.

Didrikson is the only track and field athlete, male or female, to win individual Olympic medals in separate running, throwing, and jumping events.

Golf awards

While Zaharias missed the cut in the 1938 PGA Tour event, later, as she became more experienced, she made the cut in every PGA Tour event she entered. In January 1945, Zaharias played in three PGA tournaments and made the initial cut in all three, becoming the first and only female to do so. She shot 76–76 to qualify for the Los Angeles Open. She then shot 76–81 to make the two-day cut in the tournament itself, but missed the three-day cut after carding a 79. She continued her cut streak at the Phoenix Open, where she shot 77-72-75-80, finishing in 33rd place. At the Tucson Open, she qualified by shooting 74-81 and then shot a 307 in the tournament and finished tied for 42nd. Unlike other female golfers competing in men's events, she got into the Los Angeles and Tucson Opens through 36-hole qualifiers, as opposed to a sponsor's exemption.

In 1948, she became the first woman to attempt to qualify for the U.S. Open, but her application was rejected by the USGA. They stated that the event was intended to be open to men only.

Baseball

In March 1934, Didrikson pitched a total of four innings in three Major League spring training exhibition games:

On March 20 she gave up one walk and no hits in one inning for the Philadelphia Athletics against the Brooklyn Dodgers, getting out of the inning with a triple play.

On March 22 she pitched the first inning for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Boston Red Sox. It was reported that "Under tutelage of Burleigh Grimes, Dizzy Dean, and others she has learned to stand on the rubber, wind up like a big leaguer and throw a rather fair curve." The Red Sox scored three runs against Didrikson in the inning before she got Boston third baseman Bucky Walters to fly out to future Hall of Famer Joe Medwick in left field to end the inning. She was relieved at the start of the second inning by Cardinal pitcher Bill Hallahan. 400 fans were in attendance.

On March 25 she played for the Cleveland Indians against their Double-A farm team, the New Orleans Pelicans, pitching two scoreless innings and hitting two line drives, one fair and one foul.

Didrikson also spent time with the House of David barnstorming team and is still recognized as the world record holder for the farthest baseball throw by a woman.

Last years and death

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 Women's Western Open, a feat that made her the leader on the money list that year. Also that year, she reached 10 wins faster than any other LPGA golfer, doing so in one year and 20 days, a record that still stands (as do her records for reaching 20 and 30 wins, in two years and four months and five years and 22 days, respectively). 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.

She was a close friend of fellow golfer Betty Dodd. According to Susan Cayleff's biography Babe, Dodd was quoted as saying, "I had such admiration for this fabulous person [Zaharias]. I loved her. I would have done anything for her." They met in a 1950 amateur golf tournament in Miami and became close almost immediately. Cayleff wrote, "As Didrikson's marriage grew increasingly troubled, she spent more time with Dodd. The women toured together on the golf circuit, and eventually Dodd moved in with Zaharias and Didrikson for the last six years of Didrikson's life." They never used the word "lesbian" to describe their relationship, but there is little doubt that their relationship was both sexual and romantic, and Zaharias has been described as the first lesbian gold medalist in Olympic athletics.

In 1953, Zaharias was diagnosed with colon cancer. After undergoing surgery, she made a comeback in 1954. She took the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, her only win of that trophy, and her 10th and final major with a U.S. Women's Open championship, one month after the surgery and while wearing a colostomy bag. With this win, she became the second-oldest woman to win a major LPGA championship tournament (behind Fay Crocker). Babe Zaharias now stands third to Crocker and Sherri Steinhauer. These wins made her the fastest player to reach 30 wins (five years and 22 days). In addition to continuing tournament play, Zaharias also served as the president of the LPGA from August 1952 to July 1955.

In 1955, Zaharias published her autobiography This Life I've Led. It is no longer in print but is available in many libraries.

Her colon cancer recurred in 1955. Despite her limited schedule of eight golfing events that season, Zaharias won her last two tournaments in competitive golf. On September 27, 1956, Zaharias died of her illness at the age of forty-five at the John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, Texas. At the time of her death, she was still a top-ranked female golfer. She and her husband had earlier established the Babe Zaharias Fund to support cancer clinics. She is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in her hometown of Beaumont, Texas.

Legacy

Zaharias broke the accepted models of femininity in her time, including the accepted models of female athleticism. Standing 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) tall and weighing 115 lb (52 kg), Zaharias was physically strong and socially straightforward about her strength. Although a sports hero to many, she was also derided for her "manliness".

Zaharias has a museum dedicated to her in Beaumont, Texas: the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum. A golf tournament is held annually in Beaumont to honor her. Several golf courses are named after her. ESPN ranked her the 10th Greatest North American Athlete of the century, the highest-ranked woman on their list.

In 1950, the Associated Press voted Zaharias as the "Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the Century". In 1957, she posthumously received the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. It was accepted by her husband George, four months after her death.

Halls of fame

Zaharias was inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1951 (now part of the World Golf Hall of Fame).

In 1964, Zaharias was posthumously inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1973, Zaharias, who had lived in the Denver area for most of the 1940s and early 1950s, became one of the three inductees in the inaugural class (joining Dave Hill and Babe Lind) of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

In 1976, Zaharias was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

She was one of six initial inductees into the LPGA Hall of Fame at its inception in 1977.

In 1978, she was inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame.

In 2008, Zaharias was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.

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.

Williams' remark typified the attitude of some toward women who did not fit the traditional ideals of femininity current in the first half of the 20th century. However, in the same time period, the Associated Press chose her as the "Female Athlete of the Year" six times for track & field and for golfing, and, in 1950, overwhelmingly voted for her as the "Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the Century". 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.

Modern-day

The Associated Press voted Zaharias the Woman Athlete of the 20th Century in 1999. In 2000, Sports Illustrated magazine also named her second on its list of the Greatest Female Athletes of All Time, behind the heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee. She is also in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Zaharias is the highest-ranked woman, at No. 10, on ESPN's list of the 50 top athletes of the 20th century. In 2000, she was ranked as the 17th-greatest golfer, and the second-greatest woman player (after Mickey Wright) by Golf Digest magazine.

In 1981, the U.S. Postal Service issued an 18 cent stamp commemorating Zaharias.

In 2019 Time created 89 new covers to celebrate women of the year starting from 1920; it chose Zaharias for 1932.

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 outdrive 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."

In 2014, Zaharias was inducted into the Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display that celebrates LGBTQ people.

She was inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2016. On January 7, 2021, Zaharias was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald J. Trump.

Babe Zaharias Golf Course

In 1974, the City of Tampa took over a golf course she had owned, renovated it, and reopened it, naming it the Babe Zaharias Golf Course. In 2023, a historical marker about Zaharias and the course was placed on the course by the Hillsborough County Historical Advisory Council and The Forest Hills Neighborhood Association. The course is also part of the Florida Historic Golf Trail.

California courses

In 1980, the Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms Resort in City of Industry, California built two courses, The Ike and The Zaharias. The courses were designed by William F. Bell (original design) and Casey O'Callaghan (renovation). In 2010, the courses together won the National Golf Course Owners Association's California Golf Course of the Year Award.

This 18-hole course is named for Babe Didrikson Zaharias, one of America 's most decorated all-around athletes... This par 71 features slope ratings ranging from 126 to 138, making the course worthy of the great athlete for which it is named.

In the media

Dodge featured Babe Didrikson in advertisements for the 1933 Dodge "6" sedan.

Zaharias appeared as a guest on the ABC reality show, The Comeback Story (1953–1954), explaining her attempts to battle colon cancer, which thereafter still claimed her life.

In 1952, she appeared as herself in the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn film Pat and Mike.

In 1975, Susan Clark portrayed Zaharias in a biographic TV movie titled Babe, for which Clark won an Emmy Award. Alex Karras played George Zaharias. Clark and Karras met while making the picture and later married.

In 2006, the Arthur episode "World Girls" featured Francine buying a doll of Zaharias, which included a dossier about golf, after learning her involvement in professional golf and how she introduced women to the sport.

In 2007, Carolyn Gage began work on Babe, a full-chorus, full-orchestra musical about Zaharias.

In June 2011, Little, Brown published a major biography of Zaharias, Wonder Girl, by author Don Van Natta Jr.

On August 26, 2014, her story was portrayed in a "Sport Heroes" episode of the Comedy Central series Drunk History; Didrikson Zaharias was played by Emily Deschanel.

She is the sole character in the 2020 opera Par for the Course, written by composer Lisa Neher and librettist Kendra Preston Leonard. The opera depicts Zaharias's reaction to learning that she will not be allowed to play in the US Open.

Amateur wins

Note: This list is incomplete.

1935 Texas Women's Amateur

1946 U.S. Women's Amateur, Women's Trans-Mississippi Amateur

1947 North and South Women's Amateur, British Ladies Amateur

Professional wins

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, 144 Hole Weathervane, Women's Western Open, All American Open, World Championship, U.S. Women's Open

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, Women's Texas 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 Runyon Cancer Fund Tournament, U.S. Women's Open, All American Open

1955 (2) Tampa Open, Peach Blossom Open

LPGA Majors are shown in bold.

Other wins

1940 Women's Texas Open

1945 Women's Texas Open

1946 All American Open, Women's Texas Open

1947 Hardscrabble Open

1951 Orlando Florida 2-Ball (with George Bolesta)

1952 Orlando Mixed (with Al Besselink)

Major championships