Perhaps the greatest all-around female athlete of all time, Mildred Didrikson attained multiple world championship titles in her chosen sport of golf. But she was more than just a sportswoman. She was a fearless trailblazer, a woman unafraid to defy the conventional expectations of women of her generation.
Mildred Ella Didrikson was born in Port Arthur, Texas on June 26, 1911, to a working-class Norwegian immigrant family. From an early age, she excelled at every sport she encountered, though she had a special aptitude for basketball, baseball, and track and field. She even claimed that she was nicknamed Babe after legendary baseball player Babe Ruth, when she scored five home runs in a row — though some accounts suggest that her mother gave her the nickname Bebe (which was later Anglicised to Babe) for reasons unrelated to sport.
When she wasn’t out on the sports field, Didrikson was a talented seamstress and often created and mended her own sports garments. In the late 1930s, she pursued a brief career as a singer and harmonica player and released several tracks with Mercury Records.
Didrikson left school at fifteen to pursue her sporting career and she was rewarded with early success. In the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, she broke four world records over just two days of competition. She set a new Olympic record on her very first javelin throw of the competition — a record she broke on her second throw. Later that day, she won gold in the 80 m hurdles, equalling the then world record, and exceeding it the following day. She also won silver in the high jump. To this day, Didrikson is the only athlete to have won individual Olympic medals in separate jumping, throwing, and running events. She played semi-professional baseball in the winter of 1933–34 season and struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig at an exhibition game. Didrikson also excelled at softball, swimming, figure skating, billiards, and American football.
In 1932, Didrikson began to play the sport that would bring her the most success and joy of all: golf. By 1934, she was playing only golf. She was catapulted into the spotlight after winning the US Women’s Amateur tournament in 1946. Because of the sexist attitudes towards women in that era, few golfing tournaments were open to them. After repeatedly facing off against the same few women players, Didrikson decided to take on a challenge. Ever the icon, she became the first woman to make the cut in what was previously a men-only event: the 1945 Los Angeles Open. In 1948, she also became the first woman to ever qualify for the US Open, though sadly, the Golf Association refused to let her compete — perhaps afraid that she might beat a few of their male golfers. By 1950, Didrikson had won every title available to female golfers, amassing a whopping 82 wins throughout her golfing career, including a Women’s Grand Slam in 1950.
Despite her extraordinary success as an athlete, Didrikson was often viciously mocked by the media for her appearance. Attitudes towards women in sports were deplorable in that period. Many people criticized her for partaking in these “mannish” activities. Even when they celebrated her achievements, they implied that she was only able to succeed in sports because she lacked femininity. Though she had once proudly brought her working-class, tomboyish swagger to the upper-class world of the golf course, she soon began to swap her slacks for dresses, perhaps hoping to stave off criticism from the press.
In 1938, Didrikson met famous wrestler and sports promoter Goerge Zaharias at a charity golfing event. The two hit it off immediately and were married within the year; Zaharias even retired from wrestling in order to become his wife’s manager. However, they were unable to conceive a child and were rejected by adoption agencies (probably due to Didrikson’s career). Their romance may have faded as a result, but they definitely remained the closest of friends throughout life and collaborated on various charitable ventures, including the Babe Zaharias Fund which they co-founded to raise money for cancer research and women’s athletics.
In 1950, Didrikson met fellow golfer Betty Dodd, who was 20 years her junior. Despite their age gap, Didrikson became not only a mentor but a close friend to Todd. They shared a love of performance and would allegedly often play music for other female golfers and athletes, with Didrikson on harmonica and Dodd on guitar. They are widely believed to have been lovers. In 1950, Dodd moved in with Didrikson and George Zaharias and spent the following six years there, until Didrikson’s death. In her 1995 biography Babe, Susan Cayleff quotes Dodd as saying: “I had such admiration for this fabulous person [Didrikson]. I loved her. I would have done anything for her,” as well as joking “We always had a lot more fun when he [Zaharias] wasn't around.”
In 1954, Didrikson was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent major surgery to remove a tumor. Only a month later, she made history when she won a tenth Women’s Open championship in a record-breaking 12 shots — with a colostomy bag strapped to her leg. This made her the first player ever to achieve 30 major tournament wins. But sadly, her cancer recurred and she died in Galveston, Texas, aged only 45.
Few athletes can claim to have had half the career that Babe Didrikson had. Her legacy is unsurpassed. She changed the face of women’s sport forever.
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