DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I wouldn't change a word. There are names that belong to Texas the way rivers belong to the land, and Mildred Didrikson is one of them — though the world came to know her by a different name altogether. Born June 26, 1914, she grew up to be the kind of athlete that makes you wonder if the rulebook was written before she arrived.
At eighteen years old — eighteen — she stepped onto the world stage at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games and didn't just compete. She set two world records. Two.
The 80-meter hurdles and the javelin throw. Not one record. Two.
Let that land for a second. Now, when you're that remarkable, people start reaching for comparisons, and the comparison they reached for was the most famous name in American sports at the time — George "Babe" Ruth, the baseball player. And so Mildred became Babe.
That nickname followed her right out of track and field and into every other sport she touched, because the woman excelled at all of them. Eventually she turned professional and set her sights on golf, where she won five major titles as a championship golfer. In 1938 she married George Zaharias, and the full name Babe Didrikson Zaharias would go on to mean something.
It would mean so much, in fact, that in 1949 the Associated Press voted her the Outstanding Woman Athlete of the First Half of the 20th Century. The whole first half of a century — and the vote wasn't close in spirit, I can tell you that. She passed on September 27, 1956.
What she left behind was a record — a collection of records, really — that the world was still trying to catch up to. The Beaumont City Council of Women's Golf Association saw to it that a marker was erected in her honor, and Jefferson County holds that marker still. Babe Didrikson Zaharias.
Remember the name exactly as it is, because there won't be another one like it.
What the marker says
(June 26, 1914 - Sept. 27, 1956) At 18, set two world records in the 1932 Los angeles Olympic games-- in 80-meter hurdles and javelin throw. Excelling at all sports, became a professional athlete and won 5 major titles as a championship golfer. Was nicknamed after famous baseball player Geo. "Babe" Ruth. Married George Zaharias, 1938. Was voted Outstanding Woman Athlete of First Half of 20th Century by Associated Press, 1949. Outstanding Women of Texas Series, 1968. Incise in base: Erected by Bmt. C.C.W.G.A.