Women's History Month intends to honor, inspire, educate, unite and promote women in the face of forces intent on subjugating and silencing them. It is about those who overcame overt and imbedded assumptions and prejudice to be their best selves. RGB said it well:
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.”
DAY 23: BABE DIDRICKSON ZAHARIAS
(Free image from Wikipedia Commons)
I was amused years back when people made a bid deal out of Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan having some success in a professional sport different from teh one they gained fame in. Jackie Robinson, a multi-sport athlete in college, is a more suitable comparison. But none are The Babe.
Babe won two gold medals and a silver in track and field at the 1932 Olympics while setting four world records. She played professional golf, winning 10 LPGA major tournaments and 82 overall. She also qualified for 7 men's tour events. She led her team to a AAU Basketball Championship in 1931, then won the 1932 AAU Team Championships as she competed in eight of ten sports, winning or tying for first in six. Impressive? Yes. Even more so as she was the only member of the team.
At age 24, she began playing golf. At 34, she made the cut in a men's professional tournament, the only woman in history to do so. She was a formidable opponent on the LPGA tour until health issues forced her to stop, but not before she and twelve other founders formed the Ladies Professional Golf Association.
She wasn't without flaws. Born and raised in early 1900s southern Texas, Babe had a racist streak, and used her leverage to get two African-American athletes removed from the Olympic team.
Along the way, Babe was a skilled seamstress, making many of her clothes for social and athletic wear, and a recorded singer and harmonica player.
The press tried to demean her for being "too manly", with some professing that she has to actually be a man to be this good. Sporting organizations tried to ban her from competing against men, knowing that she had a fighting chance to be their equal. Babe fought hard against these norms, and succeeded more often than not. Her actions paved the way for women to break through male assumptions of what was "lady like", and compete.
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