Babe has been called, "the greatest athlete of all...for all time." She was a phenomenon in the area of athletics-a champion in basketball, track-and-field, and golf. She also excelled in baseball, tennis, and swimming. Her determination to become the greatest athlete who ever lived changed women's sports forever.
When she was born in Texas, and given the name Mildred Didrikson, Babe was a nickname given to her after Babe Ruth. She was the third child born into a Norwegian family. Her father was a seaman and a carpenter. Her mother was a skier and a skater. Babe starting showing her athletic abilities early in her life. Her first organized was basketball. At the age of eighteen she was scouted out by the manager of the Houston Employers Casualty Company's women's athletic teams. She began working for the company and became the forward of the company team, the Golden Cyclones.
Track-and-field was the sport that Babe decided to conquer next. She entered the Amateur Athletic Union women's national track-and-filed championships and won six events. In the process she also broke four women's world records. She was now crowned with the name, "Wonder Girl."
Two weeks later she was part of the U.S. Olympic Team in Los Angeles, California. She won gold medals and broke world records in the javelin throw and the eighty-meter hurdles. The next day she won a silver medal in the high jump.
At this time women could not earn money in sports so Babe had to join the professional world. She performed in exhibitions, on the vaudeville circuit, and toured with an all-star basketball team. People started to view her as a "freak." Women were not supposed to be doing those kinds of things.
In 1934 Didrikson took up her next sport, golf. With her typical self-confidence, she practiced with extreme determination. She went on to win the Texas Women's Amateur Championship in 1935. She was unable to play on the amateur tour because of her professional sports experience. She decided to wait three years in which she stayed away from professional sports. After this time she was able to join the tour, in 1943. At this time she went on the win the U.S. Golf Association amateur tournament in 1946 and fifteen more tournaments between 1946 and 1947.
In 1946 she helped establish the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). Her participation in the sport attracted other women to join. She continued to compete through the 1950's, even though she had cancer. In 1954 she was nominated and then named Woman Athlete of the Year.
In 1956 she died form the cancer that she had been living with for several years. Today, she continues to be known as one of the most outstanding and influential athletes of all time.
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