Tennis legend Billie Jean King says men often walk up to her “with tears in their eyes.” They want her to know that watching her beat Bobby Riggs in the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” match changed their world. “They say, ‘If I hadn’t seen that match, I know I wouldn’t be bringing up my daughter in the same way, because I insist that she and my son have equal opportunity.’”
On a national tour to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Title IX, the 1972 legislation that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education programs, King spoke to an enthusiastic, mostly female crowd in Maples Pavilion on April 28. She high-fived her way to a stage near the free-throw line and mugged her way through an almost two-hour conversation with LaDoris Cordell, JD ’74, special counselor to the president and Stanford’s Title IX compliance officer.
How much did King earn in 1967, when she took home three Wimbledon titles? “Zippity doo dah.”
What was the impact of the Riggs match on her life? “Sometimes I wake up in a sweat at night, thinking I haven’t played that match yet. Then I realize, ‘I’m 63, I’ve played it.’”
King’s remarks came at the end of a daylong conference on Title IX that was sponsored by the Center on Ethics and drew prominent national voices, as well as Stanford faculty, coaches and students. Director of athletics Bob Bowlsby addressed the “implications of the environment of commercialization” in intercollegiate sports, and head women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer spoke eloquently about the impact of the federal legislation: “Now little girls can really dream.” Panelists at the conference also noted widespread noncompliance with Title IX. For example, although women in Division I colleges are on average 54 percent of the student body, they receive only 43 percent of sports participation opportunities. “Girls still get $135 million less in scholarships,” King said. “We’re still so far behind—millions and millions of dollars behind.”
But the evening was mostly a celebration of King’s many accomplishments, including her role in establishing the Women’s Tennis Association in 1973. Three days before the start of that year’s Wimbledon tournament, she and 44 other female players holed up in a hotel room. “I told Betty Stove, ‘Lock the door,’ and at the end [of the discussion] we had formed the WTA. It was the first time women’s tennis had one voice.”
Last August, American tennis officials renamed the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., the United States Tennis Association Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Quite a tribute for a kid who grew up playing on public courts in Long Beach, Calif.
King recounted how she had saved $8.29 in a Mason jar for her first racquet, and how she applied nail polish to keep fraying strings playable. She also told the Maples crowd that she’d been a backup singer for Elton John, and that her ophthalmologist is former tennis pro Renee Richards. On a quieter note, King said that coming out publicly as a lesbian was “the longest, hardest journey for me.” Adding that she was a “big believer in therapy,” King observed that, “Truth is important, and your truth can change as you discover who you truly are.”
