(1912-1956)
- Born in 1912 in Port Arthur,
Texas, to Norwegian parents Ole Nickolene and Hannah Marie (Olson) Didriksen
- Real name is Mildred Ella (Babe)
Didrikson
- Got her nickname from boys who
said she batted like Babe Ruth
- Played basketball in high school
and was recruited in 1930 to spark the women’s basketball team, the Golden
Cyclones
- Between 1930-32, she led the team
to two finals and was voted All-American
- In the summer of 1933, she
decided to become a championship golf player
- Captured the title in her second
tournament
- Texas Women’s Golf Association
led the U.S. Association to rule her ineligible to compete as an amateur,
disqualifying her from all tournament play
- Continued exhibition tours and
endorsements
- Met her husband George Zaharias,
a well known wrestler, ant the 1938 L.A. open
- Won 17 consecutive tournaments
before turning professional in 1947
- In 1950 the Associated Press
voted her Woman Athlete of the Half-Century
- In April 1953, Babe underwent a
colostomy to remove cancerous tissue
- Was the first woman ever to serve
as a resident professional at a golf club
- In
1955, she established the Babe Zaharias Trophy to honor outstanding female
athletes