Preview

Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
838 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Babe Didrikson Zaharias
The Greatest Female Athlete of All Time?

Delores Baugher
PE 110
Professor Gimbert

Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias was arguably the best female athlete of all time. Larry Schwartz, in an article written for ESPN.com, tells us not only was Zaharias a gifted golfer, she excelled at many sports. She seemed to do it all – track and field, basketball, bowling, roller skating, tennis, swimming, boxing, and more. She loved athletics and competition as a child and never lost her passion for sports. She was a world record setter and a winning Olympian. If someone asked her if there was anything she didn’t play she said, “Yeah. Dolls.” In an age when female athletes were considered odd, even freakish, Babe Zaharias ignored society’s opinion and followed her dream – “to be the greatest athlete who ever lived.” Born in 1911 to parents that emigrated from Norway to Port Arthur, Texas, Babe claimed she earned her nickname (after Babe Ruth) for hitting 5 home runs in one baseball game as a child (Biography.com). The large Didrikson family struggled financially and Babe worked at a variety of jobs to help the family, including sewing gunny sacks for a penny apiece. Her sewing skills were another talent she possessed. She actually won a championship at the Texas State Fair for making a dress (Biography.com).
Her athletic skills were honed at home by hard work, playing ‘boys’ games and working out on a homemade weight lifting apparatus her father built. It consisted of a broomstick and flat irons (Biography.com).
In 1930, at the age of 15, Melvin J. McCombs, coach of a national championship girls’ basketball team, spotted HHerBabe as she played forward for her high school basketball team. He recruited her to play for the Employers Casualty Company in Dallas. To protect her amateur status, she was hired by the firm as a secretary, but her real job was to play ball. That team, the Golden Cyclones, went on to win the national



Cited: Schwartz, Larry “Didrikson was a woman ahead of her time.” ESPN.com. Babe Didrikson Zaharias Biography.com

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    1. Inventor of basketball wrote the following letter – “You are not only an inspiration to basketball players throughout the world, but a model of all girls teams. Your attitude and success have been a source of gratification to me in illustrating the possibilities of the game in the development of the highest type of womanhood.”…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Babe Didrikson Essay

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Born in June 26, 1911, Mildred Ella (Babe) Didrikson Zaharias was the sixth out of seven siblings. Her family moved to Beaumont, Texas in the year 1915 where they were encouraged by both their parents to participate in athletic activities. Mildred Didrikson earned her nickname when she began playing baseball and the boys on her team thought she batted like Babe Ruth and she was also a talented basketball…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although women have made great contributions in science, only a few were credited for their work. Many of these women faced a wide variety of challenges that inhibited their contributions to the science community. Others were unable to attain positions they were interested in, as women were often strongly criticized in the academic fields. Although criticism lessened in the 20th century, both the 17th and 18th centuries proved to be extremely difficult for women in science. For most women during this time, the only education they received was from private tutors if they were able to afford it. While this is a good way to begin an education, women were constantly discouraged from attending private universities. Both Maria Winkelmann and Laura Bassi were some of the first women in science to be acknowledged for their accomplishments in science and set foundations for future women to peruse an education in science.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 30 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Babe Ruth was born on February 6, 1895. He was from Baltimore. He died on august 16, 1949. His moms name was Kate Ruth and his dad was George senior. He had two wife’s his first ones name was Claire and his second wife’s name was Helen. He had two kids a boy and a girl the girls name was Dorothy. The boy’s name was Julio. When Babe was a kid his parents thought that he needs a better…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mildred Ella Didrikson was born June 26, 1911, in Port Arthur, Texas, but when she was a little more than three years old, she and her family moved to Beaumont, Texas (Schoor 12). As a young athlete Babe displayed drive and determination to accomplish the goals she set for herself. “Babe” came later when she began hitting home runs in baseball (Schoor 12). Babe’s father Ole Didrikson was a ship’s carpenter and cabinetmaker and Babe’s mother Hannah Marie Olson had been an outstanding skier and skater (Schoor 11). Hannah gave birth to seven children Dora, Esther Nancy, Ole Jr, Louis, Lillie,…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Latimer’s book about Mia Hamm helped me better understand Mia Hamm’s struggles and achievements. It is a reliable source because the author researched all the information and used reliable sources.…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Womens basketball is often overlooked and judged, little do people know how much of an impact it can have on a lady playing the sport. Most people think of basketball as a mans sport, and could never interpret the game from a female players perspective. In the autobiography "She Got Game: My Personal Odyssey" by Cynthia Cooper it shows the reader just that, the dedication being brought by a woman into the game of basketball. Cynthia Cooper is one the best female basketball players America has produced. In the past ten years she has accumulated MVP awards, scoring titles, gold medals, and championships. Cooper shares how she made it to the top of her profession after growing up poor in Watts and wining a scholarship to USC. She spent years on a European basketball court where she proved herself to be one of the best female basketball players of all time, culminating with Olympic glory and becoming a WNBA star. "She Got Game" is the story of a female gifted athlete that is living proof that hard work, commitment, and determination can pave the way for success no matter what obstacles are put in front of you.…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Babe Ruth was born in Baltimore, Maryland on February 6, 1895 to parents Kate-Schamberger Ruth and George Herman Ruth Sr.; he was one of eight children. While growing up in Baltimore Babe Ruth was constantly causing trouble. At the age of 7 he would skip school, wander the dockyards, drink, chew tobacco, and taunt local police. So to stop these bad habits his parents sent him to St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys. This is where he was first introduced to baseball. While playing he caught the eye of Jack Dunn the owner of the minor league Baltimore Orioles. Only 19 at the time Babe Ruth was given a…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Babe Ruth Biography

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Babe Ruth, or George Herman Jr., was born February 6, 1895, in Baltimore, Maryland (Trimble 1). His father, George Herman Ruth Sr., owned a saloon where he and his wife, Catherine Ruth, worked. George Sr. and Catherine had eight children, but only two of them survived into adulthood, Babe and his sister Mary Margaret. The Ruth’s were very poor and could not afford a hospital…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Prior to Title IX (before 1870), women’s opportunity for physical activity was restricted due to the fact that sports were a “men’s” thing. Activities for women included noncompetitive and rule-less where they emphasized informal activities rather than competition. Women in sports, before Title IX was signed, made huge strides against the stereotype that women cannot compete. In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel and who set the world record. In 1945, Babe Didrikson Zaharias became the first woman to compete in the PGA golf tour where she made the 36-hole cut to compete against men. On June 23, 1972 Title IX was signed and put into effect. Title IX stated that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Even after the implementation of Title IX, women in sports still make strides for equality among sports with men. Not only are they in competition with each other, they are in competition with society and the equality amongst themselves and men.…

    • 2483 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever heard this quote, “Every strike brings me closer to my next home run,” well Babe Ruth really meant it and you might not believe me now but he wasn’t lying. George Herman Ruth Jr. better known as Babe Ruth was a really admirable person to look back on, so here’s some information about him to get to know him as a person a little better. George Herman Ruth Jr. (Babe Ruth) was born on February 6, 1895, in Baltimore, Maryland. His parents were Kate Schamberger Ruth and George Herman Ruth Sr. He was one of eight children born to his parents and one of the only two to survive infancy. At the age of 7, the trouble making kid became too much of a handful for his busy parents so his family sent him to St. Mary’s Industrial School for…

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Alberta Turner Biography

    • 2163 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Hoover, F. (1999). Turner 's determination the backbone of her career. The Columbus Dispatch, pp. 04D…

    • 2163 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lupkin, S. (2012, December 3). Cte, a degenerative brain disease, found in 34 pro football…

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Throwing Like a Girl

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. Fallow acknowledges the objections of feminists to the phrase “throwing like a girl.” Yet that is not the only derogatory phrase towards women. Activities such as football, hockey and hunting are mainly men’s sports too. It is clear that women gather more negative associations than the male population. Feminists challenge the phrase “throwing like a girl” because it is proven that men and women’s shoulders are aligned similarly and there are no structural differences between them. Boys are taught from a young age the importance of sports and playing ball while girls are not. Feminists argue that there are many women who can throw better than men and that “it’s not gender that makes the difference in how they throw.” (388) In my opinion Fallow does a good job of negating such objections.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gender Inequality In Sport

    • 1933 Words
    • 8 Pages

    “I don’t want to be a great female athlete. I want to be a great athlete” (unknown). Taking a look back on history, we could not possibly keep track of the number of times women were not given equal opportunity as men. It started off with rights as a whole, and then moved to voting, and even to this day we continue to battle with equal pay. Due to our biological makeup, men are key to our survival. As we have come to evolve and expand our knowledge, our past does not align with our present or even our future. Women have now moved themselves up the ladder and are making leaps and bounds just for a sense of equality. There is one roadblock that still to this day we have not been able to battle through. This is the world of sports. This is a world of blood, sweat, and no room for tears. This is an industry where it…

    • 1933 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics