Babe Didrikson (1914 - 1956)

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Babe : The Life and Legend of Babe Didrikson Zaharias by Susan E. Cayleff

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was the premier female athlete of her era, beginning with two gold medals in the 1932 Olympics and extending through a professional golf career that ended just before her death in 1956. Cayleff, professor of women's studies at San Diego State, examines this unique life from three perspectives: Babe's life as she lived it; the public persona Babe created in order to cope with the attitudes and mores of the times; and, finally, Babe's lesbianism. Unable to acknowledge her sexuality, Babe was forced to manufacture a palatable lifestyle for public consumption; hence, her marriage to professional wrestler George Zaharias. In researching her subject, Cayleff relies on Didrikson's sanitized autobiography, subsequent biographies, newspaper accounts, and interviews with family and friends, including the woman with whom Babe shared an intimate relationship, fellow golfer Betty Dodd. The result is a groundbreaking portrait of an astute, gifted woman forced to cope with a society that grudgingly approved of her athleticism but wasn't willing to deal with her sexuality.  -- Wes Lukowsky From Booklist

"This is the first book to tell of Babe's relationship with Betty Dodd, but Cayleff does not label it "lesbian." That is because Babe herself never did. Remember that this was the 1950s. They were life partners, spouses. The loved each other. Cayleff's book is important for bringing this relationship to light, as well as many other hidden realities of Didrikson's life--her heroism as an "out" cancer patient (when it was taboo to talk about it), as well as how Babe manipulated the press." -- Anonymous Review

Babe Didrikson Zaharias by Russell Freedman

When Babe Didrikson Zaharias was a child, her goal was to be the greatest athlete who ever lived. Few people come as close to their childhood goals as Babe did. She was an All-American basketball player, an Olympic gold medalist in track and field, and a championship golfer who won eighty-two amateur and professional tournaments. She also mastered tennis, played exhibition baseball, and was an accomplished diver and bowler. The Associated Press elected her Woman Athlete of the Year six times and in 1950 named her Woman Athlete of the Half Century. Babe accomplished all of this at a time when most girls and women didn't take part in these sports.

Babe Didrikson: The Greatest All-Sport Athlete of All Time by Susan E. Cayleff, Susan Cayleff

A gold medal Olympian, Babe Didrikson, recently rated by ESPN as one of the top ten athletes of the twentieth century, excelled at every sport she tried: running, jumping, javelin throwing, swimming, basketball, tennis, golf, and baseball. Gifted and controversial, Babe's athletic prowess and personality took the country by storm from the 1930s to the 1950s. From Texas tomboy to sports superstar, Babe set the bar for every female athlete who would follow her and opened the world's eyes to what one dedicated woman can achieve. Author Susan E. Cayleff, whose adult biography of Babe Didrikson was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, now brings the rousing true-life story of Babe to today's young women.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias Biography

From the National Women's Hall of Fame

Excerpt:

Babe Didrikson, the female athletic phenomenon of the century, was the child of Norwegian immigrants. Reared in poverty in South Texas, she began her extraordinarily versatile athletic career in high school basketball. She soon found that few sports opportunities were open to women. In fact, in the 1920s the trend was toward the elimination of interscholastic competition for girls, because of its "undue stress" and "morbid social influences." In many high schools all but intramural sports disappeared, and not until the 1970s would girls' high school competition be restored.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias

From Women in American History

Excerpt:

Born in Port Arthur, Texas, on June 26, 1914, Mildred Didrikson (known as "Babe") grew to be one of the world's greatest athletes. In 1930, 1931, and 1932, she was a member of the women's All-America basketball team. From 1930 through 1932 she won eight events and tied for a ninth in national championship competition in track and field. In the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles she won the 80-metre hurdles and the javelin throw and was deprived of a third gold medal only because she had used the then-unorthodox Western roll in winning the high jump. She also excelled in baseball and softball, swimming, figure skating, billiards, and even football...

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