Both Jack Johnson and Babe Didrikson were considered to be some of the first “outsiders” to achieve success with their respective sports of boxing and golf. Jack Johnson was one of the first African-American boxers back in the 1910s, a time when boxing was a largely, if not mostly, white sport. On the other hand, Babe Didrikson was one of the first female golfers, and overall athletes, back in the 1930s, mostly playing sports that were, and kind of is still to this day, male dominated. Both athletes challenged preconceived notions of what it is like to play their respective sports, setting the stage for future athletes, specifically African-Americans and females. One story from the reading that is particularly interesting about Jack Johnson was one about his childhood, where Johnson was a part of an interracial gang in Galveston, Texas and made many white friends (Runstedtler 13). This was very different compared to expriences of other black youth in that era, in the 1880s, especially in Texas. The experiences of Johnson’s youth when it came to interactions with …show more content…
One particular story from the reading that shows this comes from the sports world, where Didrikson defeated Paul Gallico (Cayleff 86). With this loss, Gallico wrote an article in Vanity Fair calling Didrikson “Muscle Moll”, and stated that women should only play “beautiful sports”, with golf not being one of them (Cayleff 86). Gallico, writing this article, shows that he cannot fathom losing to a woman, and just because a woman beat him, that means that women should not play some sports, like golf, because it is “unlady like” (Cayleff 86). This position was one that many men did share, but because Didrikson did show to a man that a woman could play a man’s sport like golf well, it opens up the conversation and the realization that a women could be as good, if not better, than a man at