By: Troy MacNeill

ORLANDO, Fla. (March 7, 2024) – A life encompassed by athletics. A storied life that included accomplishments in every sport and arguably the title of “greatest athlete of all time.” Mildred Ella “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias broke barriers and rewrote the history books.
 
She’s been called “Wonder Girl” and was widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes of the 20^th century. Mildred Ella Didrikson Zaharias was born on June 26, 1911 in Texas. In 1915, at a young age, Didrikson Zaharias began her athletic career by playing neighborhood baseball. This is where she earned the nickname “Babe” after baseball legend, Babe Ruth.


 
Babe Didrikson Zaharias excelled in every sport she tried. She became an accomplished athlete in basketball, track, golf, baseball, tennis, swimming, diving, boxing, volleyball, handball, bowling, billiards, skating, and cycling. A natural athlete, she was doing all of this while working an everyday job. Women were not widely celebrated in the sporting world at the time, but that didn’t stop Babe from dominating in any sport she chose.
 
From 1930 through 1932, Didrikson was a member of the women’s All-America basketball team. During the same period she also won eight events and tied in a ninth in national championship competition in track and field. In the 1932 Women’s Amateur Athletic Association (AAU), competing as a team by herself, Didrikson won six individual events and the team title, outscoring the 20-women runner-up team from the Illinois Athletic Club 30 points to 22 – an event that has been declared to be the greatest single achievement in a series of events in the history of athletics.


 
She became known for her competitiveness and brash confidence. This was on full display at the 1932 Olympic Games. At the time, women were not encouraged to compete in sports at this magnitude. Through sexist remarks and hurtful claims, Babe Didrikson Zaharias was not deterred in the slightest.
 
 After reading about the 1928 Olympics, she vowed she would one day compete in Olympic track and field. She trained daily with her sister, jumping hedges in the neighborhood. During the qualifying trials, she made the cut in five events, but women were only allowed to participate in three. At the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, 21-year-old Zaharias received a gold medal for the javelin throw, setting a new world record at 143 feet. The next day she set a new world record (breaking her own) of 11.7 seconds in the 80-meter hurdle, winning another gold medal. After a much-debated tie for first in the high-jump (at 5’5”), the judges disqualified the technique she used and gave her the silver medal.
 
Despite all of the records and dominant performances across many different sports, Babe is best known for her achievements in golf. She began playing golf casually in 1932, but from 1934 she played that game exclusively. Babe would go on to win 82 golf tournaments throughout her career, including 17 straight golf championships in 1947. In 1948, Babe would take home the title for the U.S. Women’s Open, a feat she would repeat two years later.


 
Didrikson Zaharias’ biggest achievement in golf came without even swinging a club however. There were limited options for female golfers in the 1940s, so Zaharias joined with golfer Patty Berg to co-found the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in 1949. Didrikson Zaharias would go on to be the top competitor of the LPGA before she carried the title of President of the LPGA, a role she held for the rest of her life.
 
Babe Didrikson Zaharias earned many accolades in her legendary sports career. She was voted the World’s Greatest Woman Athlete of the First Half of the 20th Century by the Associated Press (AP), and the only athlete to be named Woman Athlete of the Year by the AP six times. In 2019, she was awarded the 3^rd AAU Gussie Crawford Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is presented to trailblazers in amateur sports, recognizing their efforts both on and off the playing surface. In 2021, Babe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor as well.
 
In today’s landscape where female athletes rewrite history books and break records across sports in all genders, Babe Didrikson Zaharias was one of the athletes who led the way. Her dominance in sports opened the eyes of millions and inspired countless athletes along the way.