Excited about watching the Women’s World Cup Final tonight and thinking about historic women athletes, in particular Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias, voted Woman Athlete & 9th Greatest Athlete of the 20th Century by AP.
“She is beyond all belief until you see her perform . . .Then you finally understand that you are looking at the most flawless section of muscle harmony, of complete mental and physical coordination, the world of sport has ever seen,” wrote sportswriter Grantland Rice. As a reminder of what Babe and other women were up against here’s what sportswriter Joe Williams thought: “It would be much better if she and her ilk stayed at home, got themselves prettied up and waited for the phone to ring.”