was an American athlete named by the Guinness Book of Records, along with Lottie Dod, as the most versatile female competitor. She achieved outstanding success in golf, basketball, and track and field. Zaharias had her greatest year in 1950 when she completed the Grand Slam of the three women's majors of the day, the U.S. Open, the Titleholders Championship, and the Western Open, in addition to leading the money list. That year, she became the fastest LPGA golfer to ever reach 10 wins, doing so in one year and 20 days, a record still standing. She was the leading money-winner again in 1951, and in 1952 took another major with a Titleholders victory, but illness prevented her from playing a full schedule in 1952-53. However, this did not stop her from also becoming the fastest player to reach 20 wins (two years and four months). Babe Didrickson Zaharias was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1953, and even after undergoing cancer surgery, she made a comeback in 1954. She took the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, her only win of that trophy, and her 10th and final major with a U.S. Women's Open championship, one month after the cancer surgery. With this win, she became the second-oldest woman to ever win a major LPGA championship tournament (behind Fay Crocker). Babe Zaharias now stands third to Crocker and Sherri Steinhauer). These wins, made her the fastest player to reach 30 wins (five years and 22 days)[7]. In addition to continuing tournament play, she also served as the president of the LPGA from 1952 to 1955. Her colon cancer recurred in 1955, and that limited her schedule to eight golfing events that season, but she managed two wins, which stand as her final ones in competitive golf. The cancer was a fatal one, and Babe Zaharias died at the John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, Texas. At the time of her death, at age forty-five, she was still in the front ranks of female golfers. We offer an an extremely scarce 1930 BEAUMONT HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK. Her name is spelled DIDRIKSEN which is somewhat ironic as today her name is most commonly misspelled Didrickson. She is pictured twice in the yearbook. This is from her jr. year. GREAT EYE APPEAL.
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