Babe Didrikson Zaharias
"the most talented athlete,male or female ..." Paul Gallico
Bio
- Born- June 26, 1911
- Born in Port Arthur, Texas
- Real name - Mildred Ella Didriksen
- Died of cancer- 1956 at the age of 42
Coming-of-Age
Babe Didrikson Zaharias' love for sports were shown early on.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias got the nickname "Babe" after a baseball game in which she hit many home runs. She knew what she wanted to do with her life when she said "Before I was even in my teens, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life... to be the greatest athlete ever...".Her love for sports became evident when she was sent to the store to get hamburger meat. Her mother told her to hurry , but on the way back she stopped to watch a baseball game in the neighborhood for a minute. The next she knew, she was playing along with them. Babe's father self-proclaiams himself responsible for her athletic abilities, but Babe says it was her mother who passed it on to her. Babe was described as athletic, competitive , and always willing to play with boys. She was the ringleader of many neighborhood pranks in her new home on 850 Doucette Street.
Babe was not an easy child to raise. When her mother, Hannah, made her a dress and sent her to school in it, Babe ripped it on the playground. When she got home, Hannah ran after her, forgetting about an ankle she sprained getting out of a cab. Babe later apologized. In high school, Babe went out for every sport available to girls. She excelled in every sport she tried, including golf, track, baseball, archery, swimming, horseback riding and basketball.
Analysis
Works Cited
Parascenzo, Marino. "Zaharias, Babe Didrikson." World Book. Chicago: World Book,
2014. N. pag. World Book Student. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/
article?id=ar615760&st=babe+didrikson>.
McCann, Michelle Roehm, and Amelie Welden. Girls Who Rocked the World. New York:
Aladdin, 2012. Print
Freedman, Russell. Babe Didrikson Zaharias. New York: Clarion Book, 1999. Print
"Babe Didrikson Zaharias." Bio. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.biography.com/#!/people/
babe-didrikson-zaharias-9542047#legacy&>.