THE OTHER BABE

Happy Birthday to one of the greatest woman athletes in American History.

       Two of the greatest athletes of the 20^th Century were nicknamed Babe.  One of them was possibly the greatest female athlete in history.  She was born Mildred Ella Didrikson.  Her parents were Norwegian immigrants.  She grew up a tomboy.  She acquired the nickname Babe after hitting five home runs in a kids game.  No great student, she failed eighth grade and dropped out of high school to be an insurance company’s ringer.  The job was officially secretary, but she was hired to win the national basketball championships in 1930, 1931, and 1932.  She routinely scored 30 points at a time when it was unusual for women’s teams to reach that total.  She then was the company’s track team.  She competed in 8 of 10 events, winning six, and taking the championship by herself.  In 1932, she competed in the Los Angeles Olympics.  She won golds in the javelin and 80-meter hurdles (setting a world record) and a silver in the high jump.  She is still the only Olympic athlete to win medals in running, jumping, and throwing.  She played baseball and threw innings in major league spring training games.  She once struck out Joe Dimaggio in three pitches.  She still holds the record for longest baseball throw by a woman.  Her greatest fame came in golf.  She was the first female golf celebrity.  She won ten major tournaments and a total of 82.  She is the only woman to make the cut in several men’s tournaments.  As if that was not enough to seal her claim to greatest female athlete, she was also an outstanding swimmer, diver, roller-skater, bowler, and pool player.  She was a champion sewer.  She sang and played the harmonica and had a minor hit with a song entitled “I Felt a Little Teardrop”.  In 1938, she met a professional wrestler named George Zaharias and they got married.  She died at only age 45 due to colon cancer.  Before passing away, she was an advocate for cancer awareness and was invited to Eisenhower’s White House as such.  In 1976, she was put in the National Women’s Hall of Fame.  In 1981, she was put on a stamp.  In 2000, ESPN placed her #10 on its list of greatest athletes of the 20^th Century, the highest placed woman.

                –  Amazing p. 427  /  https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/sports-and-games/sports-biographies/babe-didrikson-zaharias