Posted on June 26, 2018
One of the greatest female athletes of all time...
But during her lifetime, some people criticized Babe Didrikson (later Babe Zaharias) as being too "manly."
And one sportswriter wrote about her, "It would be much better if she and her ilk stayed at home, got themselves prettied up, and waited for the phone to ring."
Yi-ikes!
The fact that a sportswriter was willing to put something like that into writing, let alone to be published under his own name, shows you just how sexist the world was during Didrikson's lifetime!
So...you are probably wondering what sport Didrikson played.
To which I would counter, "Don't you mean what sportS, plural, she played?"
Didrikson was an expert diver, roller skater, and bowler, she participated in other sports as well, she accomplished a TON in basketball, baseball / softball, and track and field, and she is best known for her dominance of women's golf!
Wow!
Her accomplishments include winning gold medals in the Olympics and winning 10 LPGA golf tournaments.
Didrikson changed the way that people thought about female athletes, because she was strong and she was so direct in the way that she accepted her own strength. Unfortunately, she was struck by colon cancer, but fortunately, she used her fame to raise money to fight cancer, to raise awareness of cancer, and to make people more willing to openly acknowledge and talk about cancer.
She died of cancer at age 45, which is way, way too young - and she was still one of the top-ranked golfers the day she died!
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