American Decades
Didrikson, Mildred "Babe" 1911-1956
TRACK & FIELD STAR
Greatest Woman Athlete.
Most observers generally agree that Babe Didrikson Zaharias was the finest woman athlete of all time, which was exactly what she always wanted to be. There was nothing she could not do short of winning the Kentucky Derby (as one sportswriter said)—and the 1930s were only the beginning of her extraordinary, though tragically short, career. Born in Port Arthur, Texas, she earned the nickname "Babe" because as a schoolgirl she could hit home runs like Babe Ruth. She played on every sports team in high school and became a high-school basketball star. She played for an AAU-sanctioned insurance-company team in Dallas—the Golden Cyclones—and led the team to a national championship in 1931, while reaching the finals in 1930 and 1932 as well. She made all-American three times. Since few sportswriters followed women's sports, not many people knew about Babe at first.
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1930's Sports
