Sport: The Babe Is Back

Mildred (“Babe”) Didrikson Zaharias took the news as calmly as she takes one of her rare setbacks on a golf course. “I’ll beat it,” she said. The doctors had just told her that she had cancer. Before she went under anesthesia for a three-hour operation less than four months ago, husband George Zaharias told the Babe, “Honey, we’ll be at Tam O’Shanter this year.” Last week, with doctors marveling at her recuperative power (the Babe calls it “spiritual muscle”), she was back on the golf course playing in Chicago’s Tam O’Shanter tournament.

On the practice tee, as hundreds of newsreel photographers, sportswriters and well-wishers crowded around, the Babe smacked out one of her trademarks: a 250-yd. drive. She grinned: “Man, if I hit it any better it would kill me.” With only three full practice rounds behind her, the Babe started out. Husband George was full of forebodings: “I don’t expect her to do too good. She’s prepared for any disappointment.”

At first, her face tense with effort, the Babe found nothing but traps and trouble. She looked tired, and between shots she sat and rested on a red leather shooting stick. For the first nine holes, it was a poor (for her )45. In trouble, the Babe always relies on a classic remedy: “I just loosen my girdle and let go.” After chiding herself good-naturedly—”I’ve seen shots today I’ve never seen in my life”—the Babe loosened up, let go and began playing the kind of golf that won her four “world championships” on the Tam O’Shanter course.

She was 37 on the incoming nine, one under par, for a creditable 82. Pleased over her score despite the bad first nine, the Babe said: “Now I’m going to quit worrying and start working.” Win or lose, the Babe was philosophical about her comeback. “I’m just going to keep walking around the course and see if I can get in shape for the world.”