62-424: Mildred Ella " Babe " Didrikson Zaharias ( / z ə ˈ h ɑːr i ə s / ; née Didrikson ; June 26, 1911 – September 27, 1956) was an American athlete who excelled in golf , basketball , baseball , and track and field . She won two gold medals and a silver in track and field at the 1932 Summer Olympics before turning to professional golf and winning 10 LPGA major championships. Mildred Ella Didrikson
124-531: A Jew , she was strongly opposed to Adolf Hitler 's edict barring Jews from the German Olympic team . She accused International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Avery Brundage of "deliberately concealing the truth" about Hitler and Nazi Germany. She also argued that Brundage had little respect for the harmful effects of Nazi Germany's intense regime on members of the Jewish community. Copeland raised awareness on
186-638: A harmonica player and recorded several songs on the Mercury Records label. Her biggest seller was "I Felt a Little Teardrop" with "Detour" on the flip side. Already famous as Babe Didrikson, she married George Zaharias (1908–1984), a professional wrestler , in St. Louis, Missouri , on December 23, 1938. Thereafter, she was largely known as Babe Didrikson Zaharias or Babe Zaharias . Didrikson gained world fame in track and field and All-American status in basketball. She played organized baseball and softball and
248-451: A 1950 amateur golf tournament in Miami and became close almost immediately. Cayleff wrote, "As Didrikson's marriage grew increasingly troubled, she spent more time with Dodd. The women toured together on the golf circuit, and eventually Dodd moved in with Zaharias and Didrikson for the last six years of Didrikson's life." They never used the word " lesbian " to describe their relationship, but there
310-443: A feat never equaled by anyone. By 1950, she had won every golf title available. Totaling both her amateur and professional victories, Zaharias won a total of 82 golf tournaments. Charles McGrath of The New York Times wrote of Zaharias, "Except perhaps for Arnold Palmer , no golfer has ever been more beloved by the gallery." While Zaharias missed the cut in the 1938 PGA Tour event, later, as she became more experienced, she made
372-539: A latecomer to the sport in which she became best known. Shortly thereafter, she was denied amateur status and consequently, in January 1938, she competed in the Los Angeles Open , a PGA (Professional Golfers' Association) tournament. No other woman competed against men in this tournament until Annika Sörenstam , Suzy Whaley , Michelle Wie , and Brittany Lincicome almost six decades later. She shot 81 and 84, and missed
434-656: A new world record in the discus throw at the Olympic trials, at 115 feet, 8.5 inches. Prior to the Olympiad, in February 1928 she ran the lead leg in the 440-yard (400 m) relay in the 1928 Olympic trials. In so doing, she helped the US Women's team set a new record in the event of 50.0 seconds, and actually qualified for the Olympics in that event. Sources disagree, however, whether it
496-490: A silver medal in discus at the 1928 Summer Olympics , a gold medal in discus at the 1932 Summer Olympics , and gold medals in discus, javelin, and shot put at the 1935 Maccabiah Games in Mandatory Palestine . In 1928, The New York Times reported that Copeland was "considered by many the all around best woman athlete in the country." Until the 2008 Beijing Games 74 years after she became an Olympic champion, she
558-618: A spokesperson for the American Cancer Society . Her work in this area was honored by US President Dwight Eisenhower on a visit to the White House. She was named the 10th Greatest North American Athlete of the 20th Century by ESPN , being the highest-ranked woman on their list. Zaharias broke the accepted models of femininity in her time, including the accepted models of female athleticism. Standing 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) tall and weighing 115 lb (52 kg), Zaharias
620-420: A train, Didrikson threw water on Pickett and Stokes, because Didrikson didn't like having African-American athletes on the team. Pickett and Stokes were later removed from the team, and replaced by white athletes who had qualified with slower times from the trials. Didrikson is the only track and field athlete, male or female, to win individual Olympic medals in separate running, throwing, and jumping events. In
682-440: A willowy Englishwoman with a picture-book swing that produced elegant shots but not especially long ones. Zaharias developed a grooved athletic swing reminiscent of Lee Trevino 's, and she was so strong off the tee that a fellow Texan, the great golfer Byron Nelson , once said that he knew of only eight men who could outdrive her. "It's not enough just to swing at the ball," Babe said. "You've got to loosen your girdle and really let
SECTION 10
#1732852662520744-686: A woman. Zaharias had her greatest year in 1950 when she completed the Grand Slam of the three women's majors of the day: the U.S. Open, the Titleholders Championship, and the Women's Western Open, a feat that made her the leader on the money list that year. Also that year, she reached 10 wins faster than any other LPGA golfer, doing so in one year and 20 days, a record that still stands (as do her records for reaching 20 and 30 wins, in two years and four months and five years and 22 days, respectively). She
806-465: Is also in the World Golf Hall of Fame . Zaharias is the highest-ranked woman, at No. 10, on ESPN 's list of the 50 top athletes of the 20th century. In 2000, she was ranked as the 17th-greatest golfer, and the second-greatest woman player (after Mickey Wright ) by Golf Digest magazine. She broke the mold of what a lady golfer was supposed to be. The ideal in the 20s and 30s was Joyce Wethered ,
868-490: Is little doubt that their relationship was both sexual and romantic, and Zaharias has been described as the first lesbian gold medallist in Olympic athletics. In 1953, Zaharias was diagnosed with colon cancer . After undergoing surgery, she made a comeback in 1954. She took the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, her only win of that trophy, and her 10th and final major with a U.S. Women's Open championship, one month after
930-503: Is the name given to a person upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname , the given name , or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth register may by that fact alone become the person's legal name . The assumption in the Western world is often that the name from birth (or perhaps from baptism or brit milah ) will persist to adulthood in
992-461: Is the masculine form. The term née , having feminine grammatical gender , can be used to denote a woman's surname at birth that has been replaced or changed. In most English-speaking cultures, it is specifically applied to a woman's maiden name after her surname has changed due to marriage. The term né can be used to denote a man's surname at birth that has subsequently been replaced or changed. The diacritic mark (the acute accent ) over
1054-520: The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame report that she set the world record six times each in shot put, javelin, and discus from 1925–32. The 1928 Summer Olympics were the first Olympics to include women's track and field events. In weight throwing Copeland could only compete in the discus throw, because the javelin throw and shot put were not yet on the program (they would follow in 1932 and 1948, respectively). She set
1116-672: The Ladies Professional Golf Association . She was a founding member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association, in 1950. Serious illness ended her career in the mid-1950s. Zaharias won a tournament named after her, the Babe Zaharias Open of her hometown of Beaumont, Texas . She won the 1947 Titleholders Championship and the 1948 U.S. Women's Open for her fourth and fifth major championships . She won 17 straight women's amateur victories,
1178-583: The Phoenix Open , where she shot 77-72-75-80, finishing in 33rd place. At the Tucson Open , she qualified by shooting 74-81 and then shot a 307 in the tournament and finished tied for 42nd. Unlike other female golfers competing in men's events, she got into the Los Angeles and Tucson Opens through 36-hole qualifiers, as opposed to a sponsor's exemption. In 1948, she became the first woman to attempt to qualify for
1240-502: The U.S. Open , but her application was rejected by the USGA . They stated that the event was intended to be open to men only. In March 1934, Didrikson pitched a total of four innings in three Major League spring training exhibition games: Didrikson also spent time with the House of David barnstorming team and is still recognized as the world record holder for the farthest baseball throw by
1302-456: The e is considered significant to its spelling, and ultimately its meaning, but is sometimes omitted. According to Oxford University 's Dictionary of Modern English Usage , the terms are typically placed after the current surname (e.g., " Margaret Thatcher , née Roberts" or " Bill Clinton , né Blythe"). Since they are terms adopted into English (from French), they do not have to be italicized , but they often are. In Polish tradition ,
SECTION 20
#17328526625201364-549: The "Female Athlete of the Year" six times for track & field and for golfing, and, in 1950, overwhelmingly voted for her as the "Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the Century". Aside from her impact on the women and girls of her time, she impressed seasoned sportswriters also: She is beyond all belief until you see her perform...Then you finally understand that you are looking at
1426-565: The 1931 State Fair of Texas in Dallas ; she did win the South Texas State Fair in Beaumont, embellishing the story many years later in 1953. She attended Beaumont High School. Never a strong student, she was forced to repeat the eighth grade and was a year older than her classmates. She eventually dropped out without graduating after she moved to Dallas to play basketball. She was a singer and
1488-429: The 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. In the 80-meter hurdles, she equaled the world record of 11.8 seconds in her opening heat. In the final, she broke her record with an 11.7 clocking, taking gold. In the javelin, she also won gold with an Olympic record throw of 43.69 meters. In the high jump, she took silver with a world record-tying leap of 1.657 metres (5.44 ft). Fellow American Jean Shiley also jumped 1.657 metres, and
1550-463: The AAU shot put championships 5 times (1924–28, 1931). She also won the AAU discus throw title in 1926 (a year in which she set the world record; she began competing in discus because the shot put was not yet an Olympic event) and 1927, and set a new world record in the discus throw at the 1938 Olympic trials. In addition, she won the AAU javelin throw title in 1926 (setting a world record) and 1931. In
1612-477: The Babe Zaharias Fund to support cancer clinics. She is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in her hometown of Beaumont, Texas. During her final years, Zaharias became known not only for her athletic abilities but as a public advocate for cancer awareness, at a time when many Americans refused to seek diagnosis or treatment for suspected cancer. She used her fame to solicit donations for her cancer fund but also as
1674-670: The Denver area for most of the 1940s and early 1950s, became one of the three inductees in the inaugural class (joining Dave Hill and Babe Lind) of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. In 1976, Zaharias was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame . In 1981, the U.S. Postal Service issued an 18 cent stamp commemorating Zaharias. In 2008, Zaharias was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame . On January 7, 2021, Zaharias
1736-601: The LPGA from August 1952 to July 1955. Her colon cancer recurred in 1955. Despite her limited schedule of eight golfing events that season, Zaharias won her last two tournaments in competitive golf. On September 27, 1956, Zaharias died of her illness at the age of forty-five at the John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, Texas . At the time of her death, she was still a top-ranked female golfer. She and her husband had earlier established
1798-598: The Nazi Party was obtaining more power. She was one of 24 former U.S. Olympic champions who petitioned the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1933 to move the Games from Germany. Copeland suggested that the situation of Nazi Germany was serious enough to warrant a change in location for the 1936 Olympics. She supported a reputed idea to substitute the location of the 1936 Games to Tokyo instead of Germany. As
1860-566: The US record in the quarter-mile. One of the track & field events in which she competed, which is no longer contested, was the baseball throw, in which she was second in the nation in 1926. She won nine Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships between 1925 and 1932. A feature article in the May 18, 1926, Pasadena Post noted that she "with all of her athletic prowess ... is very ... feminine in her conduct." She excelled in all throwing events. She won
1922-625: The ball have it." Zaharias wrote an autobiography This Life I've Led . It is no longer in print but is available in many libraries. In 2014, Zaharias was inducted into the Legacy Walk , an outdoor public display that celebrates LGBT history and people. She was inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2016. In 1949, Zaharias purchased a golf course in the Forest Hills area of Tampa and lived nearby. After her death,
Babe Didrikson Zaharias - Misplaced Pages Continue
1984-625: The courses together won the National Golf Course Owners Association's California Golf Course of the Year Award. This 18-hole course is named for Babe Didrikson Zaharias, one of America 's most decorated all-around athletes... This par 71 features slope ratings ranging from 126 to 138, making the course worthy of the great athlete for which it is named. Note: This list is incomplete. LPGA Majors are shown in bold. Birth name#Maiden and married names A birth name
2046-404: The cut in every PGA Tour event she entered. In January 1945, Zaharias played in three PGA tournaments. She shot 76–76 to qualify for the Los Angeles Open . She then shot 76–81 to make the two-day cut in the tournament itself, but missed the three-day cut after a 79, making her the first (and currently only) woman in history to make the cut in a regular PGA Tour event. She continued her cut streak at
2108-432: The cut of one of them, and making the cut of the other two; as of 2023, she remains the only woman to make the tournament cut in a regular PGA Tour event. Zaharias won the 1946 U.S. Women's Amateur and the 1947 British Ladies Amateur – the first American to do so – and three Women's Western Opens . Having formally turned professional in 1947, Didrikson dominated the Women's Professional Golf Association and later
2170-566: The cut. In the tournament, she was teamed with George Zaharias. They were married eleven months later, and settled in Tampa, Florida , on the premises of a golf course that they purchased in 1949. Didrikson became America's first female golf celebrity and the leading player of the 1940s and early 1950s. In order to regain amateur status in the sport, she could compete in no other sports for three years. She gained back her amateur status in 1942. In 1945, she participated in three more PGA Tour events, missing
2232-508: The danger of ignoring religious and racial hatred perpetrated by Nazi Germany. She wanted people to know that the racial discrimination encouraged by members of Nazi Germany should not be overlooked, even in sports. The boycott movement fell through, however, and the 1936 Games proceeded in Germany. Copeland competed at the 1935 Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv in Mandatory Palestine . There, she won
2294-548: The following years, she performed on the vaudeville circuit , traveled with teams like Babe Didrikson's All-Americans basketball team and the bearded House of David (commune) team. Didrikson was also a competitive pocket billiards (pool) player, though not a champion. She was noted in the January 1933 press for playing (and badly losing) a multi-day straight pool match in New York City against famed female cueist Ruth McGinnis . By 1935, Didrikson began to play golf ,
2356-531: The formative decades of women's competition in track and field . Consequently, her accomplishments are not fully reflected by the two Olympic medals she won in the discus throw . She competed first for the Pasadena Athletic and Country Club beginning in 1925, and from 1931 on for the Los Angeles Athletic Club . She also competed in running; in 1928 she was part of a women's relay team that set
2418-451: The gold medal in the discus with her last throw. A Los Angeles Record reporter wrote: "Confident, calm and perfectly poised, [she] made a perfect throw." In doing so she also set a new Olympic record. That throw of 133.16 feet (40.59 m) was also a new world record. The 27-year-old Copeland was at the time the oldest American woman to have won an Olympic gold medal in a track & field event. The shot put, which she excelled in,
2480-669: The gold medals in her three events, the shot put, the javelin, and the discus throw. In view of her contributions to women's track and field, she was made a member of the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame, the Helms Athletic Hall of Fame , the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (1980), the Woman’s Track and Field Hall of Fame, and the Los Angeles High School Sports Hall of Fame (2010). In 1990 she
2542-786: The golf course was sold. It lay dormant as developers attempted to acquire the land for residential housing. In 1974, the City of Tampa took over the golf course, renovated it, and reopened it, naming it the Babe Zaharias Golf Course. At some point afterward, it was accorded historical-landmark status. In 1980, the Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms Resort in City of Industry, California built two courses, The Ike and The Zaharias. The courses were designed by William F. Bell (original design) and Casey O'Callaghan (renovation). In 2010,
Babe Didrikson Zaharias - Misplaced Pages Continue
2604-474: The javelin, she broke the world record three times in 1926 and 1927. Between 1928 and 1931, she took a hiatus from competing, to focus on her law school studies. In 1928, The New York Times reported that Copeland was "considered by many the all around best woman athlete in the country." Both Great Athletes in Olympic Sports (Salem Press; 2010), by Kjetil André Aamodt and Laura Flessel-Colovic, and
2666-562: The most flawless section of muscle harmony, of complete mental and physical coordination, the world of sport has ever seen. The Associated Press followed up its 1950 declaration fifty years later by voting Zaharias the Woman Athlete of the 20th Century in 1999. In 2000, Sports Illustrated magazine also named her second on its list of the Greatest Female Athletes of All Time, behind the heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee . She
2728-423: The nickname "Babe" (after Babe Ruth ) upon hitting five home runs in a childhood baseball game, but her Norwegian mother had called her "Bebe" from the time she was a toddler. Although best known for her athletic gifts, Didrikson had many talents. She also competed in sewing. An excellent seamstress , she made many of her clothes, including her golfing outfits. She claimed to have won the sewing championship at
2790-405: The normal course of affairs—either throughout life or until marriage. Some reasons for changes of a person's name include middle names , diminutive forms, changes relating to parental status (due to one's parents' divorce or adoption by different parents), and gender transition . The French and English-adopted née is the feminine past participle of naître , which means "to be born". Né
2852-506: The pair tied in a jump-off when the bar was raised to 1.67 metres (5.5 ft). Shiley was awarded the gold after Didrikson was ruled to have used an improper technique. She did not compete in the discus throw, as fellow American Lillian Copeland beat her out in the Olympic trials; Copeland went on to win the gold medal in discus. Before the 1932 games, Didrikson was involved in a racial incident involving fellow athletes Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes , both of whom are black. In Denver, on
2914-496: The shot put. Returning to America, she attended and ultimately graduated from the University of Southern California Law School , and became less focused on sports for a number of years. Nevertheless, Copeland qualified for the US 1932 Olympic team for the discus throw. She competed in her home town in the 1932 Summer Olympics after beating out Babe Didrikson to qualify, and won
2976-399: The surgery and while wearing a colostomy bag . With this win, she became the second-oldest woman to win a major LPGA championship tournament (behind Fay Crocker ). Babe Zaharias now stands third to Crocker and Sherri Steinhauer . These wins made her the fastest player to reach 30 wins (five years and 22 days). In addition to continuing tournament play, Zaharias also served as the president of
3038-499: The team to an AAU Basketball Championship in 1931, Didrikson had first achieved wider attention as a track and field athlete. Representing her company in the 1932 AAU Championships , she competed in eight out of ten events, winning five outright, and tying for first in a sixth. Didrikson's performances were enough to win the team championship, despite her being the sole member of her team. Didrikson set four world records, winning two gold medals and one silver medal in track and field in
3100-595: The term z domu (literally meaning "of the house", de domo in Latin ) may be used, with rare exceptions, meaning the same as née . Lillian Copeland Lillian Copeland (née Drossin ; November 24, 1904 – July 7, 1964) was an American track and field Olympic champion athlete, who excelled in discus , javelin throwing , and shot put , setting multiple world records. She has been called "the most successful female discus thrower in U.S. history". She also held multiple titles in shot put and javelin throwing. She won
3162-563: Was a member of the Xi Chapter of Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority and joined the track & field team in 1924. While at USC, she won every track event she entered. She had a role as a basketball player in the silent 1927 comedy film The Fair Co-Ed . She received a BA degree in political science in 1928. She was the first Olympian who was an alumna of Los Angeles High School and the University of Southern California. Copeland competed during
SECTION 50
#17328526625203224-521: Was a world or US national record. Once she arrived in Amsterdam , however, she only competed in the discus throw at the 1928 Olympics, where she finished second to Poland's Halina Konopacka , winning a silver medal. Inasmuch as it was the first time the event had been held, she was the sport's first Olympic silver medalist. Two weeks later, at a competition in Brussels, Belgium , she set a new world record in
3286-578: Was accepted by her husband George, four months after her death. She was one of six initial inductees into the LPGA Hall of Fame at its inception in 1977. Zaharias has a museum dedicated to her in Beaumont, Texas the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum . Several golf courses are named after her. A Tampa, Florida golf course that she and her husband owned, the Babe Zaharias Golf Course, was given landmark status. In 1973, Zaharias, who had lived in
3348-575: Was an expert diver, roller-skater, and bowler. Didrikson's first job after high school was as a secretary for the Employers' Casualty Insurance Company of Dallas, though she was employed only in order to play basketball as an amateur on the company's "industrial team", the Golden Cyclones . As a side note, the competition was then governed by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). Despite leading
3410-550: Was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald J. Trump . It would be much better if she and her ilk stayed at home, got themselves prettied up and waited for the phone to ring. Williams' remark typified the attitude of some toward women who did not fit the traditional ideals of femininity current in the first half of the 20th century. However, in the same time period, the Associated Press chose her as
3472-629: Was born on June 26, 1911, the sixth of seven children, in the coastal city of Port Arthur , Texas . Her mother Hannah and her father Ole Didriksen were immigrants from Norway . Although her three eldest siblings were born in Norway, Babe and her three other siblings were born in Port Arthur. She later changed the spelling of her surname from Didriksen to Didrikson. She moved with her family to 850 Doucette in Beaumont, Texas , at age 4. She claimed to have acquired
3534-655: Was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame . Copeland joined the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in 1936, and worked there until she retired in 1960. At the Sheriff's Department, she worked in the Lennox and Firestone Juvenile divisions. She died on July 7, 1964, in Los Angeles, at 59 years of age at Sunset Hospital after a lengthy illness. At the time of her death, she
3596-603: Was not included in the women's events at the Olympic Games until 1948, depriving her of a chance to compete in it for additional Olympic medals. Although she had begun preparations to defend her Los Angeles gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Games in Nazi Germany , and was invited to compete for the United States at the Games, she ultimately chose to boycott them. Her plans to boycott the 1936 Olympic Games arose in 1933, just as
3658-559: Was physically strong and socially straightforward about her strength. Although a sports hero to many, she was also derided for her "manliness". Zaharias was inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1951 (now part of the World Golf Hall of Fame ). In 1957, she posthumously received the Bob Jones Award , the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. It
3720-424: Was the leading money-winner again in 1951, and in 1952 took another major with a Titleholders victory, but illness prevented her from playing a full schedule in 1952–53. She was a close friend of fellow golfer Betty Dodd . According to Susan Cayleff 's biography Babe, Dodd was quoted as saying, "I had such admiration for this fabulous person [Zaharias]. I loved her. I would have done anything for her." They met in
3782-532: Was the only American woman to win the discus throw at a modern Olympics. She has been inducted into the USATF Hall of Fame, the Helms Athletic Hall of Fame , the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame , and the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame . Copeland was born Lillian Drossin to Polish-Jewish immigrants in New York City. Her mother was from Grodno (now in Belarus ). Her father died when she
SECTION 60
#17328526625203844-415: Was young, and after her mother remarried they moved to Los Angeles, California , and changed their surnames to Drossin. Her stepfather was Abraham Copeland, the manager of a fruit and produce company. She lived in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles , and later in Pasadena, California , and attended Los Angeles High School , graduating in 1923. She attended the University of Southern California , where she
#519480