Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum & Visitor Center

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Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum & Visitor Center
Zaharias museum.jpg
Exterior of the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum & Visitor Center
USA Texas location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Texas
Location Beaumont, Texas
Coordinates 30°05′48″N94°06′51″W / 30.096719°N 94.114125°W / 30.096719; -94.114125
TypeSports museum
Website www.babedidriksonzaharias.org

The Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum & Visitor Center is a museum dedicated to Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias that is located in Beaumont, Texas. [1] [2] [3] [4] Fronting on Interstate 10, it is freely open to the public Monday through Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm. [1] The museum consists largely of trophies and awards that Zaharias accumulated during her career, as well as memorabilia, newspaper clippings, and photographs. [2] [3] [5] [6] The museum also functions as a visitor center for Beaumont. [4] Money raised by the museum helps fund scholarships for female students at Lamar University. [7]

Described by George E. McLeod as "a big trophy case", [5] the museum prominently features a silver cup trophy that Zaharias won at a meet in Chicago in 1932, as well as her three medals from the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The museum also showcases a set of her golf clubs. More of her trophies are on display at the Babe Zaharias Golf Course's clubhouse in Tampa, Florida. [5]

Born in Port Arthur in 1911, Zaharias was perhaps the world's premier female athlete from the 1930s to the 1950s; she won two gold medals and a silver medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and excelled in basketball, golf, and track and field. [6] [8] In basketball, she was a three-time All-American. [3] She also competed in sports as diverse as billiards, bowling, diving, and roller skating. [6]

In 1950, Zaharias helped to found the Ladies Professional Golf Association along with her husband, the wrestler George Zaharias. [7] The couple also founded the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Foundation, which continues to help fund cancer research and support women's athletics as well as the museum. [5] In 1956, Babe Didrikson Zaharias died suddenly of colon cancer at the age of 45; she was buried in Beaumont, which honors her with an annual golf tournament in addition to the museum. [6] [7] The Beaumont Convention & Visitors Bureau has described her as both the "world’s greatest female athlete" and as the region's "hometown legend". [2]

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References

  1. 1 2 "The Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum & Visitors Center". Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum Foundation. Archived from the original on 2015-12-19. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum & Visitor Center". Beaumont Convention & Visitors Bureau. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum & Visitors Center". Office of the Governor, Economic Development and Tourism. Retrieved January 9, 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  4. 1 2 "Beaumont: Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum & Visitors Center". Texas Historical Commission . Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 McLeod, Gerald E. (February 16, 2007). "Day Trips: The Babe Zaharias Museum is a tribute to one of the greatest female athletes of all time, Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias". The Austin Chronicle . Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Moffatt, Lori (November 2015). "10 Things to Do: Beaumont". Texas Highways . Archived from the original on January 3, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 "Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias". Humanities Texas. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Mildred Didrikson". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 2011-04-08. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
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