In honor of Women's History Month, the SCGA would like to remember the life of Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias, who was inducted into the SCGA Hall of Fame in 2009.
Named Woman Athlete of the Year six times between 1932 and 1954, Zaharias won two gold medals in the 1932 Olympic games for the 80-meter hurdles and javelin (setting Olympic record in both events). She was also a prolific basketball player.
However, it was her impact in the golf world that made Zaharias so remarkable. Called one of the 10 best golfers - male or female - of all time by Bobby Jones, Zaharias won 82 tournaments on the amateur and professional level, including a string of 17 consecutive amateur tournaments in 1946 and 1947.
A founding member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), Zaharias was the leading money winner for four consecutive years (1948-1951) and won 10 women's professional championships, including every major of her era.
In 1951, Zaharias was elected one of four charter members of the LPGA Hall of Fame and later was enshrined in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Her life was tragically cut short when she was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1953; she died in 1956 at the age of 45.
