More than a hero to feminists and young women who aspire to athletic achievement, athlete Babe Didrikson was a sports hero in the finest American tradition, larger than life, with super-sized faults to match her virtues. Carrying a chip on her shoulder from her rough and tumble upbringing, Didrikson approached life with a swagger and a wisecrack. She brought controversy and excitement to the refined world of women's golf, and challenged assumptions everywhere she went. She broke world records regularly and broke barriers set up against women. Her statistics are an inspiration to women athletes everywhere. But it is the flesh and blood Didrikson, angry, cocky, competitive, and irrepressible, that forged her place in history's sports hall of fame.

Babe Didrikson

"Before I was even into my teens I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up," Didrikson wrote, "My goal...