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Show Pfl fit fiCE Jk pHE mighty Babe has returned. No, we are not referring to Babe Ruth. We are turning to Babe Didrikson Zaharlai, without any Question the most remarkable woman wom-an athlete of all time. The Babe, while practicing for the next la-diet' la-diet' tennii championship, returned re-turned to the headlines of goli in Chicago recently, re-cently, where she continued to hit the ball incred- Babe Didrikson ible distances, from 260 to 290 yards. It has been exactly 12 years since Babe startled big crowds in the 1932 Olympic games, held in Los Angeles. An-geles. The Babe was then entered in the hurdles, the high Jump and the javelin throw. She wanted to enter three other events but she was balked by Olympic rules that limit the number of competitions for any single person. Just after the 1932 Olympics were over, I played golf with the Babe. Her long game was magnificent magnif-icent and her short game a nightmare. night-mare. At that time she could neither chip nor putt with a 20 handicap player but she was driving over 250 yards and playing 170 yard holes -with a mashie or a six iron. The Babe has come a long way In her golf since 1932, although her long game is still the feature of her play where she can keep pace with most of the longer hitters among the pros. Her wrestler husband, George Zaharias, displacement 270 pounds, is lucky to get within 40 yards of any tee shot his wife may happen to hit. The Babe weighed 125 pounds in 1932 and she is now up around 150, but there isn't half an ounce of fat on her frame. All Around Phenomenon Here are a few things Babe Didrikson Did-rikson could do on her way to the spotlight: Throw a baseball 315 feet, on a par with any good big league outfielder. out-fielder. Run, jump and chuck the Javelin in record time and measurements. Carry a football through a good line and throw a forward pass accurately ac-curately 50 yards. Swim and dive within a fraction of championship standards. Hit a tennis ball harder than Helen Wills or Alice Marble. And play pretty well. Drive a golf ball from 260 to 290 yards and bit a 3 Iron well over 200 yards. Ask Bobby Jones or Billy Burke. A good rifle shot and a good horsewoman. All in all, we once figured out 16 sports in which she excelled, proving prov-ing 12 of these in motion pictures that were all carefully and accurately ac-curately made. As a kid around 20 she could out-box out-box and outpunch any lightweight in her vicinity. She almost wrecked two well known professional lightweights light-weights in less than three rounds. We keep forgetting. She was also picked as the best woman basketball basket-ball player in the history of the southwest. The total list seems to include track and field, football, baseball, boxing, golf, tennis, basketball, swimming, diving and a few others. Should Have Concentrated There is no telling what heights Babe Didrikson might have reached if she had only concentrated on some single sport, especially golf or tennis. She has already turned in a 66 at golf, but her short game has never had quite the steadiness that her long game carried, with power on a par with the best of the pros and far beyond the average good amateur. Babe Didrikson's power and control con-trol comes from an amazing amount of coordination, remarkable remark-able timing and two strong, sinewy hands and wrists that are beyond the average strong male. Yon might ask a famous golf pro about a friendly scuffle, where the Babe nailed him with a short right hook to the body and he had to cancel his golf engagement for the next week. In any event it is good to have the Babe back with us again in competition. She is the most remarkable re-markable competitive proposition her sex has ever known if you care to take in 10 or a dozen fields of play. The main pity is that she scattered her talents into too many directions, in place of concentrating on two or three games. Horses vs. Humans How would a member of the so-called so-called human race compare with a horse, age for age? Who would finish fin-ish on top? We are now referring to competitors among both breeds, when it comes to speed and stamina. The answer is, there would be no competition. The horse would win, backing in. A race horse at seven-years seven-years old approximates a man at 45, and one from 15 to 17 years old j is about in the same age class as a man of 80. I |