Babe Didrikson Zaharias Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Babe Didrikson Zaharias
OCCUPATION: Basketball Player, Golfer, Track and Field Athlete
BIRTH DATE: June 26, 1911
DEATH DATE: September 27, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH: Port Arthur, Texas
PLACE OF DEATH: Galveston, Texas
Full Name: Mildred Ella Zaharias
Nickname: Babe Didriksen

Best Known For

Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1914–1956) was named "Woman Athlete of the Half Century" in 1950 for her skills in basketball, track & field, and golf.

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Babe Didrikson Zaharias

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Babe Didrikson Zaharias. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 06:39, May 20, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/babe-didrikson-zaharias-9542047.

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Babe Didrikson Zaharias. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/babe-didrikson-zaharias-9542047 [Accessed 20 May 2013].

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CBE/CSE Style

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AMA Style

Babe Didrikson Zaharias. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/babe-didrikson-zaharias-9542047. Accessed May 20, 2013.

Zaharias was the greatest woman golfer of all time, the winner of seventeen successive golf tournaments in 1946-1947, and of eighty-two tournaments between 1933 and 1953. The Associated Press voted her "Woman of the Year" in 1936, 1945, 1947, 1950, and 1954. In 1950 the AP acclaimed her the "Woman Athlete of the Half Century." The skinny, shingle-headed teenager, a shy and socially immature girl who could win at sports but usually antagonized her fellow competitors, became a poised, well-dressed,

graceful, and popular champion, the darling of the galleries, whose drives whistled down the fairways and whose comments won the hearts of the spectators. Paul Gallico paid perhaps the finest tribute to her: "Much has been made of Babe Didrikson's natural aptitude for sports, as well as her competitive spirit and indomitable will to win. But not enough has been said about the patience and strength of character expressed in her willingness to practice endlessly, and her recognition that she could reach the top and stay there only by incessant hard work."