Customer Reviews

Wonder Girl: The Magnificent Sporting Life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wonder Girl is an incredible and wonderful biography of Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

More than a sports or golf book, Van Natta writes a compelling story of the greatest athlete of all time and shows her from every angle, warts and all, as she trail blazed through the first half of the 20th century.

Unfortunately, Babe is largely forgotten today as the super star she was back in the early half of the last century. A front line warrior for woman's rights in sports, Olympic gold medalist, founder of the LPGA, and the first celebrity to fearlessly bring cancer awareness into America's living room, Babe did it all in such a short time.

Van Natta brings all of these acomplishments and more back to the forefront for the public who have forgotten her in his new book in a compassionate, honest and reverent manner. Wonder Girl is a moving portrait of one of America's greatest daughters and a must read for all.

I had heard of Babe Didrikson before I read the book but had no idea what an amazing athlete she was! A female Jim Thorpe. Beyond her athletic achievements, she was a fantastic character and her life was filled with both major achievements and challenges - her sporting life as well as her personal life. If she was alive today she would easily be among the most famous athletes in the world.

Any sports fan will of course love this book. But its not just for sports fan. Babe was such a character and lived such an interesting life that you don't have to be a sports fan to love this book.

"Wonder Girl" is a wonderful book. It not only gives you information about Babe but about the era and the way amateur and professional athletes were treated by the sports' governing bodies. Van Natta wrote in such a way that the book didn't read like a by-the-numbers biography. I couldn't put it down and while I knew how the story ends, I was still brought to tears by Van Natta's description of Babe's last days.

Had no idea about how much Babe had achieved. Amazing childhood, and even more incredible achievements in spite of great odds given the constraints on women in the 1920s, 30s and beyond. She was a trailblazer in many areas, not only in sports but sponsorships, for both men and women. Learned a lot about women's leagues and corporate sponsorships and how they have evolved, too. This was a very interesting read.

No matter how badly the Babe behaves, you can't help but love her for her ambition and grit. I had a hard time putting this book down, it is so well written.

This was a great review of the life of the Babe. Though I knew of her last years, I had no idea about her growing up years and the constant urge she had early in life to be the best in every sport. She helped make golf what it is today, much like Tiger Woods has on the men's tour. Very well researched. It was interesting to know the relationship she had with her family and George. A good read.

I enjoyed reading this book about Babe Didriksen. It's too bad she is not well known these days. A lot of women athletes owe their accomplishments to her and the fact that she made it easier for women to compete in sports. I gave it a 4 because the writing style was a bit confusing to me. At times it felt like you were reading now and looking back at her life while other times it felt like you were really there. Anyway, overall I like the book and it also comes with photos. This book should be mandatory reading in high school or college, in courses about women's studies or for those students studying sports management. The accomplishments of this great woman athlete should be better known by younger generation students.

This was a great story. I remember seeing her story back in the 70's on TV. This CD/book really gave some more detail with her life. It was a great story telling about a wonderful woman.

She was the Margaret Sanger of women's sports . . . willing to do and say anything that would draw attention. She played to the crowd and had no false modesty. Van Natta does not sugarcoat Babe Didrikson's shortcomings in people skills, but after awhile, the compete/win/bend the rules/boast/compete/win/boast/bend the rules gets a bit much. This woman was probably as insufferable in life as she is in this book. There is no denying she was a superlative female athlete at a time when you couldn't even buy basketball shoes specifically designed for women's feet. This book also highlights the struggles Babe faced with the definition of amateurism and the gross inequalities of opportunity in women's vs. men's sports, in part because women were considered too weak to compete at an advanced level. The author could have drawn a few useful parallels between the Babe's self-inflicted overtraining and today's overzealous athletes and coaches who ignore the warning signs of body destruction. This biography provides ample evidence that Babe Didrickson Zaharias was a pioneer among women who have now managed to adopt many of the less-than-healthy aspects of competitive sports.

When Sports Illustrated selected its top athletes of the 20th century, Babe Didrikson Zaharias was the only woman listed among the top 10. She was in the elite company of Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Wayne Gretzky, Jesse Owens, Jim Thorpe, Willie Mays and Jack Nicklaus.

After reading Wonder Girl, you'll understand why Babe was an easy choice to be listed about the 10 greatest athletes of the 20th century.

Author Don Van Natta Jr. does a commendable job of bringing Babe to life for the generations of sports fans who are too young to remember her. Babe died in 1956 from cancer at the age of 45.

Growing up in Texas, Babe's goal was to be "the greatest athlete who ever lived." In 1932, Babe single-handedly won the AAU National Women's Track and Field Championships in Chicago. She was the only team member to represent Employers' Casualty. Competing in an unheard of eight events against 20 teams, some with 22 members, Babe tallied 30 points to win the team title. She won gold in five events--broad jump, baseball toss, shot put, javelin and 80 meters hurdles, and she tied for first in the high jump. She qualified for the Olympics in three events, hurdles, high jump and javelin.

In the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, Babe won two gold medals and a silver medal. She was disqualified in the high jump, finishing second. She set two world's records and an Olympic record. Grantland Rice wrote that Babe was "the most flawless section of muscle harmony, of complete mental and physical coordination the world of sport has ever known."

Despite her athletic prowess, Babe wasn't easy for her teammates and fellow competitors to like. She could be cocky, arrogant, selfish, obnoxious, boastful and a media hog.

Invited to play golf with Grantland Rice and a few of his male friends, Babe demonstrated a powerful, precise golf swing and the ability to drive the ball 250 yards or more. Impressed, Rice wrote that Babe was the "world's greatest athlete."

With no professional sports outlet, Babe was relegated to barnstorming with basketball and baseball teams, earning up to $1,000 a month during the Depression when women typically earned $3 a week.

She saw her future was in golf, and for a couple years she practiced 12 to 15 hours a day. She went on to dominate women's amateur golf, being named AP Female Athlete of the Year from 1945-1947. In 1947, she became the first American to win the British Amateur, the most prestigious women's tournament in Europe. She won 14 consecutive tournaments from 1946-47, more than any other female or male golfer in history. She turned pro in August 1947.

Endorsing products and playing in golf and baseball exhibitions kept her in the spotlight. From 1948-1951, Babe gave a staggering 656 golf exhibitions. In 1948, she earned more than $100,000 in endorsements and exhibitions, more than baseball great Ted Williams.

In 1949, the LPGA was formed and Babe was one of four charter members. From 1950-55, Babe won 29 professional tournaments. She was diagnosed with cancer in 1953. In 1955, 15 months after major cancer surgery, Babe won the U.S. Women's Open by 12 strokes. In April 1955, Babe won the last tournament she played in.