Athlete

I earned more medals, broke more records, and swept more tournaments in more sports than any other athlete in the twentieth century.
I was born in Texas to Norwegian immigrant parents in 1913. My brothers nicknamed me “Babe” because I hit so many home runs in baseball games. I competed in track and field, basketball, baseball, billiards, tennis, diving, and swimming.
While playing basketball for Beaumont High School in 1930, I was offered $75 a month to work for Employers Casualty Company of Dallas so that I could play for its team. I earned AAU All-American honors from 1930-’32. After taking up track in 1930, I won four events is an AAU competition.
I single-handedly won the 1932 AAU championships, which served as Olympics qualifying, on July 16th in Evanston, Ill. The sole representative of Employers Casualty, I scored 30 points, eight more than the runner-up team, which had 22 athletes. In a span of three hours I competed in eight of ten events, winning five outright and tying for first in the high jump. I set world records in javelin, 800-meter hurdles, high jump and baseball throw.
In the 1932 Olympics Games, I set two world records and won two gold medals in the javelin and 80-meter hurdles, plus a silver medal in the high jump.
After taking up golf in the early ‘30s, I went on to win 55 amateur and professional events. In 1947 I won 17 tournaments in a row. From 1940 to 1950 I won every available golf title. After turning pro, I won 10 majors. I lost only once in seven years of competition.