Evening star., 1954-12-20
By GrontIond Rice

The Shouting"
By GrontIond Rice
In my opinion. the two girls
who did most to turn the sports
spotlight on their sex were
Eleonora Sears and Babe Didrik-
son Zaharias. a Boston society girl
and solid Texas miss. didn't
glimpse the Sears girl in the
early 1900s when she was blazing
a trail by kicking holes in all
! feminine concepts Of competitive
sports. She played "a mans
game" in tennis. An excellent
| player with smashing game,
she was also a powerful SWIM
mer, a golfer who could punch
her shots, a fine horsewoman
and a squash rackets champion
for many years.
The successor to Miss Sears
was and remains my old girl
friend Babe" 1t is an odd turn
that two of the sports immortals
were called "Babe"-Babe Ruth
and Babe Didrikson.
/ first met the Babe in 1882
Just before the Olympic Games
opened at Los Angeles. The Of
ficialS would allow her to enter
only three events. Babe was up
set. She wanted to enter six or
seven She won the javelin and
the 80-meter low hurdles, but
was disqualified in the high
jump and had to settle for sec
ond place when her record leap
was dlsallCwed.
The day after the Games,
Paul Calico, Westbrook Pegler,
and I made a golf date with
Babe and took her out to Brent
wood. The Babe was then a
tallish, slender young kid of IT.
She had held a golf club few
times but had played no golf.
Watching the Babe that day
in early August, 1882, I thought
I saw the making of a golf
champion.
Braven Dyer, sports columnist
of the Los Angeles Times, was
along and on this, Babes baptis-
NAL round of golf, we must have
been as chubby f1vesome as ever
cluttered up a fairway. Babe
and ! stood the other three.
Babe Decides Issue.
II was all over the course. and
you know it, Babe snorted when
I mentioned that baptism. You
tried to look out for me, so you
couldn't play your own game. I
remember we came to the short
18th hole and you said. Babe,
we're all even. We've got to do
something Calico drove the
green; you and I were trapped.
You said, That makes it tough.
Remember"
I sure do. Babe whispered,
Don't worry, Grant. I'll handle
this" Then she turned to GAL
lico. paul" she said, I'll race
you to the green" Paul takes
no challenge from any woman
and few from men. 1t was down.
hill; then uphill. Babe was in
Olympic condition. Calico, a
one-time Columbia oarsman, was
not. Babe kept 2 feet ahead of
him all the way-like Rusty the
electric rabbit at a dog track.
AS they reached the green, Gal
lico collapsed all out and all
in. When it came his time to
putt. Paul four-putted. We won
the hole and the match.
Boosting the Babe was one of
the most pleasant and satisfying
Jobs in sport. She so rarely let
me down on any competitive as
signment. Grants girl" they
called her. 1t was all right by
me.
In 1885 Babe took up golf
seriously. BY the end of 1885
she was playing championship
golf and 10 years later, at the
age of 39-none of my gals ever
quite reaches 40-she was still
at the top of her game! In
between. her game survived an
attack of cancer with a serious
operation.
A large part of my interest on
the female side of the case has
been centered in Helen Wills and
Glenna Collett at tennis and
golf, largely because they were
the first two young stars l fol-
lowed and watched develop al
most from childhood to world
fame. In tennis I've studied
them from Helen Wills to
Maureen Connolly.
Started Bid as Child.
Helen Wills came east to prove
her place in the shining sun of
fame when she was only II or 13
years old. She was a serious
faced youngster. earning the
name of Little Miss Poker Face
Even then she had fine power for
a kid, perfect concentration and
the will to win. From the start
she was a fine competitor. Helen
never quite had the deft-footed
action and amazing hand
wizardry of Suzanne Lenglen, the