A pioneer in the truest sense, this golf champion paved the way for today’s professional woman golfer.  She won her first tournament at the age of 18 and was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 1941, soon after winning the U.S. National Amateur Championship.  A two-time runner-up in the U.S. Open, Hicks was also a member of the U.S. Coast Guard and earned her pilots license.  She broke new ground in 1944, as one of three founding members of the Women’s Professional Golf Association, the first of its kind.

A champion with a pioneering spirit, Hicks was inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.