Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias

1. Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias Born: 1914 In Port Arthur, Texas Exact Date Unknown Died: September 27, 1956 in Galveston, Texas

2. Family • Mother: Hannah Didrikson • Father: Ole Didrikson • Brothers: Ole Jr., Luis, and Arthur • Sisters: Dora, Nancy, and Lillie • Husband: George Zaharias

3. Early Life • She was not the best in school, but she had a great work ethic and her parents always tried to help her. • In school she earned the reputation of bully because she would challenge anyone who annoyed her to a fistfight. • She earned the nickname Babe because she hit so many homeruns when she played baseball. • When she wasn’t playing sports she loved to dance and play the harmonica.

4. High School • She played fifteen different sports well in high school. • For her basketball team she was an All-American basketball player three different times. • Later in high school she decided to play for a semi professional basketball team and she led them to a national championship.

5. Track and Field • In nineteen thirty-two she won two gold medals and a silver medal in track and field at the age of eighteen. • In one track and field meet she set four records in three hours. • For another track meet she scored thirty points and in second place was a whole athletic club with twenty-two points.

6. Other Sports Accomplishments • Most sports experts consider her the best female athlete of all time. • Babe was also known for her great sportsmanship. • In a baseball exhibition game she struck out Joe DiMaggio and he is in the Hall of Fame.

7. Last Years • Two years before she died she underwent cancer surgery. It worked at the time but the cancer came back two years later. • In nineteen fifty-six she died of colon cancer in John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, Texas.