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Never one to hold back, an animated Babe coaxes the ball into the hole on the 18 th green at Chicago’s Tom O’Shanter Country Club in the Women’sAll-Pro Golf Tour on May 4, 1950.Photo: AP Images (AP Photo/Ed Maloney)Long before the “Battle of the Sexes,” there was Babe...The Babe Dirikson Zaharias Museum by Debbie Z. HarwellIn 1973 when Billie Jean King was carried into the Astrodome on a litter reminiscent ofCleopatra to take on Bobby Riggs in a tennis match billed as the “Battle of the Sexes,”she grabbed the attention of a nation excited to test the ideals of Second Wave feminism.While the match generated tremendous hype, in reality, the greatest female athlete inmodern times had stopped competing two decades earlier. Only one woman ranks inthe top ten of the 100 greatest athletes of the twentieth century—“Babe” DidriksonZaharias—a woman who rewrote the record books in a time when gender expectationslimited the opportunities of women athletes and questioned their femininity.32 Vol. 6, No. 3–Sports
Babe was born Mildred Ella Didrikson in Port Arthur, Texas,on June 26, 1911. She moved to Beaumont three years later andreceived her nickname at an early age while playing with boysin the neighborhood who said she could throw and hit homerunslike baseball great Babe Ruth. As a student at Beaumont HighSchool, Didrikson competed in every sport open to women.While playing in a basketball game against Heights High Schoolin <strong>Houston</strong>, she caught the eye of Colonel M. J. McCombs, ascout for the Employers Casualty Company of Dallas. Like manybusinesses in that era, the firm maintained athletic teams thatcompeted as part of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). Mc-Combs recruited Babe to work as a secretary for Employers tomaintain her amateur status while playing on the company’s basketballteam. This opportunity appealed not only to her desire tocompete at a higher level, but also provided a source of incomefor her family during the Depression. Babe received approval totake a brief leave from high school to complete the season withEmployers’ Golden Cyclones and, in the process, began one ofthe most illustrious careers in sports history. 1As a high school and amateur athlete, Babe won competitionsin swimming, diving, bowling, track and field, tennis,billiards, basketball, softball, and baseball. While playing forthe Golden Cyclones, she was a three-time All-American inbasketball from 1930-1932. Nothing up to that time, however,matched her accomplishments in track and field. RepresentingShown here practicing her winning form on the hurdles, Babecompeted for the Employer’s Casualty Company of Dallas in AAUtrack and field events.Photo courtesy of the Mary and John Gray Library Special Collections andLamar University Archives, Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas.Babe, on the far left, was athree-time All-American in basketballfrom 1930-1932 whileplaying on the Golden Cyclonessponsored by EmployersCasualty Company of Dallas.Babe demonstrates her form inthe javelin, in a pose reminiscentof ancient Olympians.Employers Casualty at the women’s AAU and qualifying tryoutsfor the 1932 Olympic Games, Babe competed in eight of the tenpossible track and field events. She won six of them—all withina three-hour time span—and set world records in four, with oneof those being a tie. Babe single-handedly won the tryouts witha total of thirty points; the entire twenty-two member IllinoisWomen’s Athletic Club finished second with twenty-two points.This ranks as one of the greatest individual achievements of alltime in a series of athletic events. 2When Babe attended the 1932 Olympics, the rules restrictedwomen athletes to competing in no more than three events,leaving to speculation the question of how many medals Babemight have won based upon the pace she set at the qualifiers.She won gold and set world records in the javelin with a throwBabe won several swimmingand diving competitions.The Western roll style of jumpingcaused Babe to receive the silverrather than gold medal despitehaving tied for the highest jump.All photos courtesy of Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum, unlessotherwise noted.Babe’s Winning Results:1932 AAU and Olympic Qualifier(The latter four were world records)Shot put: 39’ 6 ¼”; Long jump: 17’ 6”;Baseball throw: 272’ 2”; Javelin: 139’ 3”;80-meter hurdles: 12.1 seconds;High jump: 5’ 3 3/16” (tie)Vol. 6, No. 3–Sports 33
Page 1 and 2: Volume 6 • Number 3 • Summer 20
Page 3: table of contentsReaders’ Forum P
Page 6 and 7: A Conversation with...MR. ASTRO, LA
Page 8 and 9: young player, you know, to try to m
Page 10 and 11: Astros owners R. E. “Bob” Smith
Page 12 and 13: all the time. And then, I spent my
Page 14 and 15: LD: Yes, I did. Sportsman’s Park
Page 16 and 17: By Ernesto ValdésTrying to instill
Page 18 and 19: ecause I wasn’t very old and . .
Page 20 and 21: Coach Tellez giving pointers to Pat
Page 22 and 23: Rain or Shine:How HoustonDeveloped
Page 24 and 25: since the St. Louis Cardinals owned
Page 26 and 27: City on the international map.Peopl
Page 28 and 29: Hofheinz worked with Monsanto to in
Page 30 and 31: Story Sloane’s GalleryHermann Par
Page 32 and 33: THE FIRST PROMISING RUMOUR I heard
Page 36 and 37: Babe Didrikson Zaharias demonstrate
Page 38 and 39: Babe sets up a putt at the Babe Did
Page 40 and 41: 38 Vol. 6, No. 3-Sports
Page 42 and 43: Today, multilingual signage of busi
Page 44 and 45: A large crowd gathered for the much
Page 46 and 47: The neighborhood welcome sign indic
Page 48 and 49: preservation CAN work in houston:Th
Page 50 and 51: of falling to the wrecking ball, as
Page 52 and 53: SpawGlass Construction managed the
Page 54 and 55: “KUHF’s ‘Texas Originals’ w
Page 56 and 57: 24 Ibid; Richard Dean, “BASEBALL
Page 58 and 59: 6 “Houston Deco: Modernistic Arch
Page 60: University of HoustonCenter for Pub

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