I knew a little bit about Babe and read a little bit about her in a book called Shattering the Glass: The Remarkable History of Women’s Basketball by Susan Shackleford and Pamela Grundy, but I wanted to know more, and this book didn’t disappoint me at all.
From her high school basketball team as a Senior in 1930, she was recruited by the Golden Cyclones, a women’s basketball team from the Employers Casualty Insurance Company. During that time, that is how a lot of teams were formed, from companies. Boy, good choice as she helped them win the 1931 AAU women’s basketball championship. How is that for some good PR for the company.
I was amazed at her athleticism and everything she accomplished as a basketball player, a track and field Olympian, and a golfer. Golf was by far her most successful. She was one of the founding members of the LPGA. How she got started in those sports is mentioned.
No matter what she did sport wise, she was the best at it. A of people (mostly men) didn’t like that she was a woman who was athletic and a winner. They probably felt jealous that she was better than them. She even competed with and against men (actors and athletes), and most times defeated them. Because of her success as a female athlete, she was hired as a “vaudeville performer” where she played her harmonica and showcased her athleticism. From the book, you can tell she always expected to win and used her mouth to intimidate her competition.
Obviously, her tale of growing up, her family, her life and marriage to George Zaharias, her colon cancer, and her death was discussed prominently. Unlike some people who kept “bad” health news to themselves, she was public from the start and advised the world to donate to cancer research and she also visited sick cancer patients while she was also sick. She even won a few golf tournaments after she had her surgery.
The only that thing that beat her was her cancer, and that really sucks because she could’ve accomplished a lot more. But, in her short time as a female athlete, she accomplished a lot. I am very glad I read this book as I really enjoyed it. I added a book by Grantland Rice, who was a male journalist during Babe’s time and he took a liking to everything she did.
Per Wikipedia, just look at this list and think how amazing it was for a female and the years she did it:
1932 Summer Olympics
 | 1932 Los Angeles | 80 m hurdles |
| 1932 Los Angeles | Javelin throw |
 | 1932 Los Angeles | High jump |
Golf
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Turned professional | 1947 |
| Former tours | LPGA Tour (joined 1950, its founding) |
| Professional wins | 48 |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| LPGA Tour | 41 |
| Other | 7 |
| Best results in LPGA major championships (wins: 10) | |
| Western Open | Won: 1940, 1944, 1945, 1950 |
| Titleholders C’ship | Won: 1947, 1950, 1952 |
| U.S. Women’s Open | Won: 1948, 1950, 1954 |
| Achievements and awards | |
| World Golf Hall of Fame1974 (member page)LPGA Tour Money Winner1950, 1951 LPGA Vare Trophy1954 Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year1932, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1954 Bob Jones Award1957 Presidential Medal of Freedom2021 | |
