The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Athletes 2023
Babe Didrikson-Zaharias
- Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Athletes 2023
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Sport(s):
Track & Field
Golf -
Statistics:
1 80 m Hurdles Olympic Gold Medal (1932)
1 Javelin Throw Olympic Gold Medal (1932)
1 High Jump Olympic Silver Medal (1932)
10 Majors
4 Western Open Wins (1940, 1944, 1945 & 1950)
3 Titleholders Championship Wins (1947, 1850 & 1952)
2 U.S. Women’s Open Wins (1948, 1950 & 1965)
6 AP Female Athlete of the Year Awards (1932, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1950 & 1954)
Member of the IAAF Hall of Fame
Member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame
Member of the World Golf Hall of Fame -
In 1932, Mildred “Babe” Didrikson had one of the best Olympics of any American female, winning Gold in the 80 m hurdles and the javelin while also capturing Silver in the high jump. That in itself is impressive enough, but she was just getting started.
Already an excellent basketball and baseball player (in 1934, she pitched a shutout in an exhibition game for the Athletics against the Brooklyn Dodgers), Didrikson took up golf, and three years later, became one half of a power couple when she married wrestler/actor, George Zaharias.
Didrikson Zaharias's profile raised women's golf, and she would win 82 tournaments, including ten Majors. She was the most popular woman on the tour, and she was a six-time AP Female Athlete of the Year, five of which occurred as a golfer.
Sadly, her life came to an early end when she died of colon cancer in 1956, a disease she first contracted three years earlier. She was only 45.
We are proud to nominate Babe Didrikson Zaharias for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.
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