Babe Didrikson: Female Athlete Extraordinaire

“Babe” Didrikson Zaharias (1911-1956) is a female athlete extraordinaire. She is an Olympic gold medal winner who broke world records in multiple sports. Babe excelled at track, golf, basketball, baseball, tennis, swimming, bowling, and billiards. She gained the nickname “Babe” for hitting home runs in amateur baseball like Babe Ruth did for the New York Yankees.

Babe trained for the 1932 L.A. Olympics by jumping hedges in her neighborhood. During qualifying trials, she qualified in five events, but women could only take part in three. Didrikson, 21, won gold in javelin, setting a world record at 143 feet. The next day, she broke her world record by 11.7 seconds in the 80-meter hurdles, winning another gold. She tied for first with Jean Shiley in the high-jump at five feet, five inches. The judges disqualified the technique she used and gave her the silver medal. Watchers criticized the decision because Babe had used the same method throughout the competition without prior objection.

To supplement her minimal sports income, Babe Didrikson sang and played harmonica in vaudeville. In 1934, she turned to golf. Over the next twenty years, she won eighty-two tournaments. She also won seventeen consecutive women’s amateur golf tournaments in the 1940s before returning to pro golf in 1947. Her record still stands. Babe became a founding member of the LPGA. 

A year after being diagnosed with colon cancer in 1953, she won the U.S. Women’s Open by a record 12 strokes. In 1955, the colon cancer returned, and she died from it in 1956.

Other awards received include:

• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year — six times (1932, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1954)

• Bob Jones Award (1957) — the highest honor given by the USGA

• World Golf Hall of Fame Inductee (1974)

• Presidential Medal of Freedom (posthumously awarded in 2021)