Mildred Didrikson Zaharias and Ina Eloise Young would be so proud of Colorado’s sports female Sunday night, especially after one, Mikaela Shiffrin, became the greatest alpine skier in history Saturday.

“Babe’’ Didrikson became the greatest female athlete in the world (and was selected ninth overall among men and female) and married wrestler George Zaharias of Pueblo. She lived in Denver from 1943-52 and eventually was selected to the first Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

In 1908 the 25-year-old Young became the first female“sporting editor’’ in the United States at the Chronicle-News in Trinidad and wrote alongside the fabled Damon Runyon, then the Rocky Mountain News sports editor who promoted an all-star baseball game in Pueblo. She covered the World Series in 1908, then worked for The Denver Post for years.

It’s unfortunate that neither Zaharias nor Young were privileged to cover the multitude of exceptional female athletes in Colorado.

I’ve been lucky to do so many columns on those athletes for 49 years.

Sportsfemale of Colorado (SWOC) will honor 49 female athletes and contributors to female’s sports with their families, friends and fans at the prestigious organization’s 49th annual awards event Sunday at a Denver Tech Center hotel.

One Hall of Fame honoree is golfer Jill McGill, who was born in Denver and played at Cherry Creek High School and Southern Cal and won the U.S. female’s Amateur and the U.S. female’s Public Links. When she was 15 Jill agreed to play 18 holes at Cherry Hills with me. She grooved a 68, and I wallowed through 108 strokes. McGill turned pro in 1994 and would go on to finish second at the British female’s Open. At 50 last year she won the U.S. Senior female’s Open.

I’ve followed Becky Hammon since she was a three-time All-American at Colorado State, played in the WNBA, became an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs and the past season was hired head coach of the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.

The keynote speaker will be Tanya Haave, who is among my favorite all-time people. She was born in Evergreen and played at the high school (and later coached there), was a Rocky Top high leading scorer in the storied University of Tennessee basketball history and reached three Final Fours. Sadly, however, as I did at UT, she majored in journalism at UT. After playing pro basketball throughout the world and coaching, Haave has been the head coach at Metro State for 13 years, accumulating the most victories in the Roadrunners’ history. She is in the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

I enjoyed becoming friends with Dorothy Hammill (1976 Olympic gold medalist and World Champion), who trained most of her career at The Broadmoor, and another Cherry Creek graduate, Amy Van Dyken, who wore more gold medals (four) than any other female or male Summer Olympics athlete in 1996 and won six in all during her career. And she has valiantly battled paralysis after her spinal cord was severed in a traffic accident.

Heart-warming and mind-bending stories from more than two dozen sports and almost 50 athletes will be told Sunday night.

Sophia Smith was born in Windsor and played high school soccer and basketball at Fossil Trace, then was the star of the Stanford NCAA championship soccer team. She was drafted in the first round by the Portland Thorns FC of the National female’s Soccer League in 2020, then was named the NWSL regular-season MVP, scored the first goal in the final and received the championship MVP award.

Mikaela Shiffrin!

Mikaela reached the summit of female’s and men’s World Cup with her record 87th first place Saturday in Sweden, remarkably passing super Swede Ingemar Stenmark. The slalom victory followed her tying giant slalom triumph the previous day.

Shiffrin, who was born in Vail and has built her first home in Edwards, also has set the record for Colorado Sportsfemale of the Year five times – 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018. She has won the overall World Cup championship five times and two Olympics gold medals. Mikaela will win again and again etc., after announcing Saturday she will compete through the 2026 Winter Games.

Shiffrin couldn’t be at the event here because she has more World Cup slaloms to win later this week.

First, though, Mikaela will celebrate her 28th birthday Monday.

Mildred Didrikson Zaharias and Ina Eloise Young would be so proud of Colorado’s sports female Sunday night, especially after one, Mikaela Shiffrin, became the greatest alpine skier in history Saturday.

“Babe’’ Didrikson became the greatest female athlete in the world (and was selected ninth overall among men and female) and married wrestler George Zaharias of Pueblo. She lived in Denver from 1943-52 and eventually was selected to the first Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

In 1908 the 25-year-old Young became the first female“sporting editor’’ in the United States at the Chronicle-News in Trinidad and wrote alongside the fabled Damon Runyon, then the Rocky Mountain News sports editor who promoted an all-star baseball game in Pueblo. She covered the World Series in 1908, then worked for The Denver Post for years.

Mikaela Shiffrin sets World Cup skiing record with 87th win

It’s unfortunate that neither Zaharias nor Young were privileged to cover the multitude of exceptional female athletes in Colorado.

I’ve been lucky to do so many columns on those athletes for 49 years.

Sportsfemale of Colorado (SWOC) will honor 49 female athletes and contributors to female’s sports with their families, friends and fans at the prestigious organization’s 49th annual awards event Sunday at a Denver Tech Center hotel.

One Hall of Fame honoree is golfer Jill McGill, who was born in Denver and played at Cherry Creek High School and Southern Cal and won the U.S. female’s Amateur and the U.S. female’s Public Links. When she was 15 Jill agreed to play 18 holes at Cherry Hills with me. She grooved a 68, and I wallowed through 108 strokes. McGill turned pro in 1994 and would go on to finish second at the British female’s Open. At 50 last year she won the U.S. Senior female’s Open.

I’ve followed Becky Hammon since she was a three-time All-American at Colorado State, played in the WNBA, became an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs and the past season was hired head coach of the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.

The keynote speaker will be Tanya Haave, who is among my favorite all-time people. She was born in Evergreen and played at the high school (and later coached there), was a Rocky Top high leading scorer in the storied University of Tennessee basketball history and reached three Final Fours. Sadly, however, as I did at UT, she majored in journalism at UT. After playing pro basketball throughout the world and coaching, Haave has been the head coach at Metro State for 13 years, accumulating the most victories in the Roadrunners’ history. She is in the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

I enjoyed becoming friends with Dorothy Hammill (1976 Olympic gold medalist and World Champion), who trained most of her career at The Broadmoor, and another Cherry Creek graduate, Amy Van Dyken, who wore more gold medals (four) than any other female or male Summer Olympics athlete in 1996 and won six in all during her career. And she has valiantly battled paralysis after her spinal cord was severed in a traffic accident.

Heart-warming and mind-bending stories from more than two dozen sports and almost 50 athletes will be told Sunday night.

Sophia Smith was born in Windsor and played high school soccer and basketball at Fossil Trace, then was the star of the Stanford NCAA championship soccer team. She was drafted in the first round by the Portland Thorns FC of the National female’s Soccer League in 2020, then was named the NWSL regular-season MVP, scored the first goal in the final and received the championship MVP award.

Mikaela Shiffrin!

Mikaela reached the summit of female’s and men’s World Cup with her record 87th first place Saturday in Sweden, remarkably passing super Swede Ingemar Stenmark. The slalom victory followed her tying giant slalom triumph the previous day.

Shiffrin, who was born in Vail and has built her first home in Edwards, also has set the record for Colorado Sportsfemale of the Year five times – 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018. She has won the overall World Cup championship five times and two Olympics gold medals. Mikaela will win again and again etc., after announcing Saturday she will compete through the 2026 Winter Games.

Shiffrin couldn’t be at the event here because she has more World Cup slaloms to win later this week.

First, though, Mikaela will celebrate her 28th birthday Monday.