As well as being one of the 13 founding members of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in 1950, she went on to win 14 consecutive tournaments at the peak of her career.
However, because of Zaharias’ love of entertaining the gallery on the golf course with lewd jokes and colorful language, coupled with her refusal to conform to the traditional stereotypes of femininity of the time, she was a pariah amongst her fellow competitors and the subject of sexism and prejudice from the media.
“If somebody was looking at Babe and they were sexist or they didn’t think that women belonged on a golf course or in a track and field event, she heard a lot of that,” Don Van Natta Jr. — author of “Wonder Girl: The Magnificent Sporting Life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias” — told CNN Sport.
“She was criticized for her look; she was criticized for not being ladylike enough. There were comments made in the press, that she should be home sitting by the phone, waiting for a suitor to call her as…
