{"id":13205,"date":"2016-03-29T13:00:02","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T17:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=13205"},"modified":"2023-03-29T09:31:58","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T13:31:58","slug":"womens-history-month-4-sporting-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/womens-history-month-4-sporting-women.html","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s History Month: 4 Sporting Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article \u2013 in honor of Women\u2019s History Month \u2013 Gena Philibert-Ortega searches old newspapers to learn more about four American record-setting sporting women. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.<\/span>\u201d
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Love sports? Can you name some of the most important women athletes of the 20th century? Chances are you might have some trouble. Female athletes don\u2019t always get the attention they deserve.<\/p>\n

To research this article, I searched for articles about sporting women in GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>. I found many interesting articles about a number of women athletes \u2013 and I\u2019ll admit that I had only heard of one of the following women. As I read more about their lives I was amazed at what these women achieved in sports like golf, swimming, and track and field \u2013 and how in some cases they were beating records set by male athletes. Who are these women? Let\u2019s take a short look at what the newspapers had to say.<\/p>\n

Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1911-1956)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mildred Ella \u201cBabe\u201d Didrikson Zaharias was a successful athlete in multiple sports including golf, basketball, and track and field. She was a versatile athlete that took to every sport she tried with ease.<\/p>\n

While I tend to associate her with golf, as a young woman Babe successfully competed in the 1932 Olympics held in Los Angeles, taking home two golds and one silver medal in track and field events.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 5 August 1932, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of course she also played golf later in life. In the 1930s she started playing golf professionally and would become a founding member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt that sports ran through Babe\u2019s blood. Like many successful women, the media didn\u2019t always report on her achievements but instead wanted to know more about her personal life \u2013 including when she was going to get married. In this 1932 newspaper article she likens marriage to a decathlon that didn\u2019t interest her. In response to the question of whether she had a \u201cfeller\u201d she detailed the wife\u2019s daily decathlon:<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the 10 events: Dish washing, scrubbing, washing, cooking meals, cleaning the house, caring for the baby, going to the grocer, hanging up the ice-card, making the beds and darning socks. I\u2019m an all-around athlete but there are 10 events that would wear me out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"article<\/a>
San Diego Union (San Diego, California), 19 August 1932, page 13<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Surprisingly, it wasn\u2019t too many years later that Babe Didrikson did marry. She and fellow athlete George Zaharias, whom she met during a golf tournament, were married in December 1938 and would remain together until her death in 1956.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Idaho Statesman (Boise, Idaho), 27 December 1938, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Margaret Ives Abbott (1876-1955)<\/strong><\/p>\n

How would you like to earn Olympic gold but go through life never knowing it? That\u2019s exactly what happened to Margaret Ives Abbott, daughter of writer Mary Ives Abbott, who played and won a nine-hole golf tournament at the 1900 Paris Olympics. But because of the disorganization of the games she didn\u2019t realize she was competing in the Olympics. The 1900 games were very different from what we are accustomed to today. For one thing, there were no opening or closing ceremonies, and despite being the \u201cSummer\u201d games they were held over a five-month period, from May 14 to October 28. It\u2019s easy to see how the athletes, and everyone else, might have been confused.<\/p>\n

Before Margaret\u2019s Olympic win, she was already known as a golf champion. This 1898 newspaper article proclaims:<\/p>\n

Miss Abbott plays on both the Wheaton and Onwentsia links and has won prizes at the game. In some quarters she is thought to be the coming woman of the West.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"article<\/a>
Boston Journal (Boston, Massachusetts), 7 June 1898, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A short notice in this 1900 newspaper about Margaret\u2019s October 1900 Paris golf tournament win is most likely reporting her Olympic victory. It is noted that she won an \u201cold Saxon porcelain bowl.\u201d The Olympians of the 1900 games did not receive medals as they do today.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 14 October 1900, page 31<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two years after the Olympics, in 1902, Margaret had a big year. The \u201cQueen of Golf\u201d played in the golf tournament at La Boulie in Paris and married Chicago writer Finley Peter Dunne, who was a newspaper colleague of her mother\u2019s. Margaret would continue to play golf as she raised her family. She died in 1955 never realizing she was an Olympic champion.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Denver Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colorado), 18 June 1902, page 8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alice Coachman (1923-2014)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Born in 1923 in the segregated South, Alice Coachman grew up in a discouraging time for African American women athletes. But that didn\u2019t stop her. She trained the best she could using homemade equipment, which led to her eventually competing for national titles in high jump \u2013 winning 10 titles in a row from 1939 to 1948. Because of the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games, Coachman\u2019s first opportunity to compete was in the 1948 London games. It was there that she won the high jump gold by leaping 5\u20196 1\/8\u201d in the air. Coachman was the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal and went on to be the first to secure an endorsement deal.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Richmond Times Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), 8 August 1948, page 31<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alice Coachman\u2019s athletic career was very brief. After winning Olympic gold she retired from sports at the age of 25 and spent the rest of her life teaching.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
San Diego Union (San Diego, California), 27 October 1949, page 30<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gertrude Ederle (1905-2003)<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve looked at three women who made Olympic history. The last athlete I researched didn\u2019t compete in the Olympic \u2013 but there\u2019s no doubt she has a place in sports history.<\/p>\n

Crossing the English Channel is a 21-mile swimming challenge. The first person to swim the English Channel without assistance was Matthew Webb in 1875. No one would successfully cross the Channel again until 1911. It was believed that women were too delicate for such an arduous sports challenge, but in 1926 four women were up for that challenge. One of those women, American Gertrude Ederle, had tried unsuccessfully in 1925 but her second attempt a year later was successful. She became the first woman to swim the English Channel, leading to a newspaper headline that proclaimed: \u201cGertrude Ederle Swims Channel. U.S. Star First Woman to Accomplish Feat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, Washington), 6 August 1926, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article is a great account of her 1926 record-breaking attempt. It also includes a smaller article about Gertrude\u2019s rival Lillian Cannon, who cheered Gertrude on as she swam. The article recounts:<\/p>\n

When Gertrude was six and one-half miles off the English Coast at 3:10 p.m. Lillian sportingly donned a suit abroad the La Morinie and was rowed over to the Ederle tug. She was greeted with cheers.
\nLillian climbed abroad the Alsace and dived from the deck into the water where Gertrude greeted her with a smile.
\n\u201cHello Lillian,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are fifty miles from nowhere.\u201d
\n\u201cWhy, you are almost there,\u201d replied Lillian.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gertrude did keep swimming and made it to England, shaving two hours off the best time from a male swimmer.<\/p>\n

After her Channel feat Gertrude continued swimming, eventually working as a swimming teacher for deaf children. She died in 2003 at the age of 98 years.<\/p>\n

Sporting Women<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether you are researching a female family member that played sports in school, or a woman who won Olympic gold, you can find information about sporting women in old newspapers. Good luck with your own research!<\/p>\n

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