I suppose you could call this “tough broads” day. When I say “tough broads,” I mean that in a nice way.
Maybe “strong women” would be a better term.
At any rate, these three had little spots in my life when I noticed them. And all three had something “significant” happen on this date, May 1.
So first. Babe Didrikson Zaharias
I’ve mentioned her before, and she may have been my first book report ever. I don’t remember how I happened upon her, but I was enamored from the start. After reading one book about her, I wanted to find more and more.
At any rate, it was on this date, May 1, 1955, that Babe Didrikson Zaharias won the Peach Blossom LPGA Tournament in Spartanburg, SC.
The victory marked the 41st LPGA title of her career. To note, Babe had colon cancer at the time. She had been battling it for quite a while. She started extremely strong in the tournament, but she started to lose steam in the final two rounds. She held on, though, and beat Marilynn Smith by two strokes.
This is significant, at least for fans of Babe, because it marked the final time she would set foot on a golf course for an LPGA event.
Despite her illness, which was getting worse by the day, she managed to pull together enough strength to win.
Here are some things about her.
• Throughout her amateur and professional golf career, Babe Didrikson Zaharias won 82 tournaments. This included ten majors.
• Her final major win at the U.S. Women’s Open came after her cancer diagnosis. She won that tournament by 12 strokes while wearing a colostomy bag.
• Golf probably wasn’t even Didrikson’s best sport. She totally commanded the track and field events at the 1932 Olympics Games. She finished those games with gold medals in the 80-meter hurdles and javelin throw. She earned a silver in the high jump.
Sadly. On September 27, 1956, less than two years after her final golf tournament victory, Babe Didrikson Zaharias died. She was 45. (Born June 26, 1911)
Second. Gloria Steinem
Many people don’t know, but this women’s rights advocate endured a brief but grueling stint as a Bunny in Manhattan’s Playboy Club.
It was on this day, May 1, 1963, that Gloria Steinem published the first half of her landmark written account of that experience, called, “A Bunny’s Tale,” in SHOW magazine. She didn’t go there to actually be a Bunny. No, she was acting as an undercover reporter. Of course, the book exposed the “glamorous” lie and facade of Hugh Hefner’s empire. “A Bunny’s Tale” revealed a world of misogyny and exploitation. Steinem uncovered the ugly truth about the working conditions of those women and what they were “expected” to do as Playboy Bunnies.
Steinem’s writings were one of the first feminist attacks on Playboy and the male-centric lifestyle it embodied. It changed some things in this system, but Steinem regretted the piece for years after it ran. She was pigeonholed as a result. For a long time, publishers only asked her to take other undercover roles. She was also haunted by all the photos of herself in the Bunny costume, which had been taken during her brief time as an employee. Eventually, though she was glad to have written it and exposed what she did.
And finally. Calamity Jane.
She was born on this date, May 1, 1856, near Princeton, Missouri.
There are a lot of myths about her life. But she was known for her work on the Wild West stages throughout the late 1800s. Yet, the truth of things? I believe she was misplaced. Jane didn’t seem comfortable in her own skin. She eventually settled in the rugged boomtown of Deadwood, South Dakota. But the reality of her life is this. She tried to live in a man’s world with some successes and some failures. In the end, she drank hard and into oblivion. It eventually killed her. She died at the age of 51 on August 1, 1903, in Terry, South Dakota, not far from Deadwood. She got on a train and didn’t know where she was going. It took her to Terry, where she died in a drunken stupor.
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“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
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“Being a woman is a terribly difficult trade since it consists principally of dealings with men.”
― Joseph Conrad, Chance
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“When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch.”
― Bette Davis
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The big gals. In a big way.
