Babe Zaharias

Babe Zaharias, born Mildred Ella Didrikson, was an American athlete widely regarded as one of the greatest all-around sportswomen in history, excelling in Olympic track and field, basketball, and professional golf before her death in 1956. No reliable modern net worth figure exists for her; contemporary reports indicated she was earning around $100,000 a year from tournaments and endorsements at the peak of her career, a very large sum for the era.

Early Life & Family

Mildred Ella Didrikson was born on June 26, 1911, in Port Arthur, Texas, to Norwegian immigrant parents. Her mother had been an accomplished skier and skater in Norway. She earned the nickname “Babe” — after Babe Ruth — as a child, reportedly after hitting five home runs in a single baseball game.

Rise to Fame

Didrikson first rose to national prominence as a track and field and basketball star, earning All-America basketball honors from 1930 to 1932. At the 1932 Amateur Athletic Union championships she won six individual events and the team title, and later that year, at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, she won gold medals in the 80-meter hurdles and javelin throw, plus a silver medal in the high jump.

Career History

After the 1932 Olympics, Didrikson took up golf and quickly became the dominant woman player of her era, winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1946 and 17 consecutive tournaments in 1947. In 1949, she co-founded the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) alongside golfer Patty Berg. She also competed at a high level in other sports over her career, including softball, swimming, figure skating, and billiards. In 1950, the Associated Press named her the greatest female athlete of the first half of the 20th century.

How They Built Their Wealth

Zaharias built her wealth through professional golf tournament winnings and endorsement deals during a period when she was reportedly earning around $100,000 annually, an exceptional income for a female athlete in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Precise historical financial totals are not fully documented and no equivalent modern net worth figure can be reliably stated.

Personal Life

She married professional wrestler George Zaharias in 1938, taking his surname. In 1953, she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and underwent surgery, including a colostomy. Remarkably, she returned to competitive golf just months later and won the U.S. Women’s Open again in 1954. She died of cancer on September 27, 1956, at age 45.

Babe Zaharias’s Olympic medals, dominant amateur and professional golf record, and role co-founding the LPGA leave her remembered as one of the most versatile athletes of the 20th century.