“Babe” Didrikson Endorsed Tennis Rackets

First Published December, 2012

In her biography, Mildred “Babe” Didrikson is quoted as saying, “My goal in life was to be the greatest athlete that ever lived.” Whether she achieved that goal or not is open to discussion, but there is absolutely no doubt that she sure took a good run at it.

At the Beaumont, Texas High School that she attended in the late 1920s, Babe literally went out for every girls sports team, which included volleyball, baseball, golf, swimming, track and basketball. And yes, she even was on the tennis team at Beaumont High where she played doubles with a partner who had an equally colorful nickname , “Peewee” Blanchete.

Immediately after high school she went on to become an AAU All-American basketball star and an Olympic track and field champion at the age of 18. She won two gold medals and one silver while breaking world records in the javelin and the 80 meter hurdles at the 1932 Los Angeles Games.

In 1933, she seriously took up the game of golf where she would eventually have her greatest success. Strangely, it was golf that pushed Babe back into the game of tennis. When Babe won the Texas State Amateur golf tournament in 1935, other competitors claimed that Babe was a professional, because she had accepted payments to play basketball, track and field, and pocket billiards. As a result, Babe was banned from amateur golf at a time when there were no real professional opportunities for women in golf.

So, Babe toured the world playing golf exhibitions with champions like Gene Sarazen and also toured the U.S. with the House of David professional baseball club as a pitcher. Her income was also supplemented by the contract that she signed with P. Goldsmith and Sons of Cincinnati that paid her $2,500 a year to endorse their golf and tennis equipment.

The 1936 Goldsmith catalog featured five different “Olympic Star” Babe Didrikson signature models, including the only endorsed American racket with a shaped handle, Model CD-R, which is a fantail with a butt cap. The 1940 Goldsmith catalog offered four different Babe “Olympic Star” photo decal rackets ranging from ranging in price from $4.00 to $13.50.

By January of 1940, Babe had gotten married to wrestler George Zaharias and had tired of the constant touring. That month she signed an agreement with the U.S.G.A. that she would cancel all her professional sports contracts (including Goldsmith) and not compete in golf tournaments for three years in return for the reinstatement of her amateur golf status in 1943.

Babe, not one to sit around too long, decided “to see whether I couldn’t work my way to the top in one more sport.” As a result, she started taking lessons from Eleanor “Teach” Tennant at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club. Among Tennant’s other students over the years were Bobby Riggs, Mo Connolly, Alice Marble, Pauline Betz and even movie stars like Clark Gable and Carole Lombard.

Babe attacked the game of tennis with her usual determination “playing a stunning 16 or 17 sets a day” according to one writer. Babe developed her game to the point where she could beat Tennant (a former nationally ranked player) regularly, as well as play competitive practice matches with some of the best amateurs in the country.

In the autumn of 1941, after a year and a half of intense tennis training, she felt she was ready to compete at the highest level, so she sent in her entry for the prestigious Pacific Southwest Championships, a U.S.L.T.A. event.

Due to the strict U.S.L.T.A. rules concerning amateur status, Babe’s application was rejected and she was told that she would never be eligible for a U.S.L.T.A. event. Babe, being Babe, was disappointed but resilient and switched sports again to become “one of the best woman bowlers in Southern California” while serving out her golf suspension. In 1943, she returned to golf and went on to be a Hall of Fame player winning ten major championships and a total of 82 titles in her golf career.

Good Collecting.

“Babe” Didrikson Endorsed Tennis Rackets

Tilt Top Tennis Rackets

Backwards Tennis Rackets