LGBTQ Icons
Mildred Ella " Babe " Didrikson Zaharias (/ zəˈhɑːriəs /; née Didrikson; June 26, – September 27, ) was an American athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball, and track and field. She won two gold medals and a silver in track and field at the Summer Olympics before turning to professional golf and winning 10 LPGA major championships. Hers was an extraordinary life that was cut tragically short by cancer. Didrikson gained world fame in track and field and All-American status in basketball. 
A Maverick Golfer’s Struggles in a More Conformist Time
Cayleff wrote, "As Didrikson's marriage grew increasingly troubled, she spent more time with Dodd. The women toured together on the golf circuit, and eventually Dodd moved in with Zaharias and Didrikson for the last six years of Didrikson's life. [20]. The daughter of Norwegian immigrants, her father was a carpenter, her mother a homemaker. The family home sat in the working-class part of town, with a yard just big enough for kids to run in.
Babe Didrickson
The youngest girl in a poor family, she got the nickname “Baby” at birth, which was shortened to “Babe” as she got older. Didrikson was a nat- ural athlete who excelled at games usually reserved for boys, like bas- ketball, which she played in high school and later as a semi-pro. Her parents emigrated from Norway. In high school she competed in track and field and basketball, then left to play basketball for the Amateur Athletic Union AAU.
Queerplaces
The Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum and Visitor Center in Beaumont, Texas, houses her Olympic medals, golf clubs and other memorabilia. Didrikson died of colon cancer at the age of Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias June 26, — September 27, was an American athlete who achieved a great deal of success in golf, basketball, baseball and track and field. She won two gold medals in track and field at the Summer Olympics, before turning to professional golf and winning 10 LPGA major championships. 
Babe Didrikson Zaharias
By , Didrikson began to play golf – the sport in which she became best known. Didrikson became America’s first female golf celebrity, and the leading player of the s and early s. Personal life In , Didrikson married George Zaharias – a professional wrestler. They met while playing golf. They did not have any children. .
Beaumont’s Own “Babe”
Beaumont, Texas Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum and Visitors Center N. Martin Luther King Parkway (at I) Beaumont was home to the young Mildred "Babe" Didrikson (), one of the greatest athletes of all time. The Didriksons moved here when Babe was a child, after a flood destroyed their Port Arthur home. As one biographer. . "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias Historical Marker
Mildred Ella Didrikson Zaharias, universally known as Babe — here shown after winning the Women’s Western Open in — was best known as the most accomplished female golfer of the s. . Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Before she was known as “Babe,” she was Mildred Ella Didrikson – born in Port Arthur, Texas, in and raised in Beaumont. The daughter of Norwegian immigrants, her father was a carpenter, her mother a homemaker. They didn’t have much. The family home sat in the working-class part of town. .