Didrikson Decision

When the Amateur Athletic Union suspended Mildred ("Babe") Didrikson, the one-girl track team of Dallas, Tex., on suspicion of having sold an automobile testimonial (TIME, Dec. 19), many an observer reflected that if ever it was logical for anyone to make a living from athletic ability, it was logical for Babe Didrikson, expert exponent of all sports. Last week, while the A. A. U. pondered her case, she announced that they need ponder no longer, that she would turn professional out & out. The Southern A. A. U. soon announced that she was exonerated, reinstated. But logical Babe Didrikson closed her thin lips, shook her long jaw, stuck to her decision. She said she wanted to write about sports and perhaps other subjects, also "do some film work." Further Didrikson plans:

"Just by way of keeping myself in training, I am seriously considering taking up long-distance swimming in a big way. It is one branch of athletics I have not specialized in before. I became interested in it seriously for the first time at the Olympic Games. It awakened a latent ambition to do something real in that sphere.

"But I realize that I am too light in weight to withstand the gruelling endurance test of a long distance swim. I want to swim around Manhattan Island then do both the English Channel and the Hellespont. That means I'll have to put on some extra poundage. Quite a lot of it, for I weigh only 130 now.

"So I have already doubled my food intake. Until a week ago, I'd been eating only one meal a day. My friends say I'm sure to lose my slim figure (they say I'm slim) but if I do I'm sure I can get it back again. I've done more difficult things. . . ."

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