Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias

Babe Zaharias spent much of her last fifteen months in John Sealy Hospital at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where she died on September 27, 1956, at 45. A year earlier she and her husband, George, had set up the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Fund, which paid for a tumor clinic there. Her body came home to Beaumont. The Handbook of Texas also records the 1932 national AAU meet, where she entered eight of ten track and field events, placed in seven and won five.

What the plaque says

Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (June 26, 1914 - Sept. 27, 1956) At 18, set two world records in the 1932 Los angeles Olympic games-- in 80-meter hurdles and javelin throw. Excelling at all sports, became a professional athlete and won 5 major titles as a championship golfer. Was nicknamed after famous baseball player Geo. "Babe" Ruth. Married George Zaharias, 1938. Was voted Outstanding Woman Athlete of First Half of 20th Century by Associated Press, 1949. Outstanding Women of Texas Series, 1968. Incise in base: Erected by Bmt. C.C.W.G.A.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• McFaddin-Ward House — 3.0 mi
  A Beaux-Arts Colonial Revival mansion finished in 1906 and lived in by one family for 75 years, with free guided tours of three furnished floors, the carriage house and gardens.
• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 6.6 mi
  A re-created oil boomtown on the Lamar University campus, with a derrick, period shops, a 1941 granite monument and an optional re-enactment of the January 1901 Lucas gusher.
• Village Creek State Park — 9.1 mi
  A 2,466-acre state park on one of the few free-flowing creeks in Texas, with a launch for the Village Creek Paddling Trail, boat rentals and sandy-upland trails in the Big Thicket.
• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 20 mi
  Port Arthur's regional museum in a former bank building: fossils, Native Americans, the petroleum story, a 125-foot history mural and Halls of Fame for musicians, athletes and artists.

More markers nearby

• J.P. Richardson, Jr: The Big Bopper — 0.3 mi
• Site of Collier's Ferry — 0.4 mi
• Aubrey Wilson "Moon" Mullican — 1.6 mi
• William McFaddin — 1.6 mi