Sports People in Profile; Billie Jean King
Written by; Tao MacLeod
There is an icon of tennis who came to represent the constructive and supportive blending of sport and politics. Billie Jean King came to prominence in the late 1960s, and 1970s, retiring from playing in 1984. In this time she won 39 Grand Slam titles, including six Wimbledon and four US Open singles titles, in addition to being a world class doubles player being ranked as a world number one in both formats. She was and still is a strong advocate for gender equality, campaigning for equal pay within the racquet sport. King also became one of the early high profile LGBTQ+ athletes on the global stage, challenging perceptions on older conceptions around femininity and female athleticism. In this profile we will take a look at an interesting and eventful career, that spanned several years and an advocacy that continued after she stopped competing.
Billie Jean King (née Moffitt) was born in California in 1943 to religious and active family, with both of her parents participating in a variety of activities. Her younger brother Randy Moffitt was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and Toronto Blue Jays. As a child she was rather sporty herself, playing softball for a while. She switched to tennis at age 11, because her parents thought that it was a more ladylike pastime for their daughter, showing the social values and ethos of the time. She showed promise at her new sport, however, her aggressive style of play and choice of outfits occasionally brought about conflicts. At 12 years of age she was excluded from a group photo due to her choice of sports kit. She felt more comfortable playing in a pair of shorts, instead of the more traditional skirt, but this was deemed inappropriate for a young lady.
Despite the early negative experiences of being sidelined due to her choice of sportswear, Billie Jean continued progressing with her playing career. Her first major success came when she was 17 and was found in the women’s doubles tournament of Wimbledon of 1961. Here King and her playing partner Karen Susman (née Hantze) Jan Lehane and Margaret Court (née Smith) 6–3, 6–4. She was a part of the team that won the inaugural Federation Cup in 1963. This was a competition that she would go onto win several times more over her career. In the same year she got to the Wimbledon singles finale, but lost out to Margaret Court 3–6, 4–6. However, she got to the final again in 1966, this time beating Brazilian Maria Bueno 6–3, 3–6, 6–1. This was her first Grand Slam victory. She turned professional in 1968 and went onto win several more, including wins in Australia, France and her native USA.
In the autumn of 1964, Billie Jean became engaged to Larry King, finally getting married in September 1965. Her new husband was supportive of her feminism, as well as her tennis career. However, by the late 1960s, she had realised that she was attracted to women. In the early 1970s she had started having an affair with her secretary Marilyn Barnett. The extra-marital relationship ended badly and Barnett sued the Kings in May 1981, in what became a complicated bit of court drama. This effectively prompted Billie Jean King to acknowledge the relationship shortly afterwards and become one of the earliest prominent athletes to come out. In 1987, her and Larry divorced. The end of the marriage came about when Billie Jean struck up a relationship with her doubles partner Ilana Kloss. The two women are still together and married in 2018.
Billie Jean King remains in the broader popular culture due to her participation in the Battle of the Sexes exhibition match in 1973. Bobby Riggs was one of the top male tennis players of his generation who’s career straddled both the amateur and professional era. Born in Los Angeles 1918 he won Grand Slams, including Wimbledon and the US and French Open titles during the late 1930s and 1940s. However, he was also a sexist, who didn’t appreciate the qualities of women’s sport. He claimed that he could win a game of tennis over any woman, even after he had retired. In 1973 he challenged 30 year old Margaret Court to a match, who happened to be one of the top players in the world at the time. This was partially due to his desire to earn more money, but also out of an inclination to prove a chauvinistic point. Riggs’s 6–2, 6–1 victory in under an hour made headlines. This riled King, who had previously turned down invitations to play Riggs in a similar type of contest, having previously dismissed the idea as a gimmick. However, the result against Court worried her about the perceptions and opportunities that women’s sport would now be afforded.
The Riggs-King match was arranged for September 20, 1973, at the Houston Aerodrome, Texas. There were 30,492 spectators in the stadium and an estimated television audience of 90 million across 37 countries. The winner would take home the entire prize pot of US$100,000. Riggs was 55 years old at the time, King was 29 and playing in the prime years of her career. The older man took an early lead, however wasn’t able to keep it. Billie Jean won in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. This became a cultural focal point for women’s sport in the progression towards equality. In 2017 Emma Stone and Steve Carrell stared in a movie about this match, entitled Battle of the Sexes.
Equal pay was a major issue for Bille Jean King. Whilst still playing, she campaigned to bring prize money for women in line with men. This continued after she retired and used her public profile to effect change and to move the conversation forward. She also set up organisations and tournaments that would help to promote greater opportunities for females to play and to earn money. During the 1970s King was felt a need to defend the progress made under the Title IX legislation that looked to stop sex discrimination across educational institutions in the USA and did so through the Women’s Sport Foundation that was created in 1974. Her advocacy work continued over the years. In 2014 she founded what latterly became known as the Billie Jean King Foundation, which focuses on the transformative power of sports, education, and activism.
She has had several honours over the years, including having the Federation Cup renamed the Billie Jean King Cup as a tribute to her success over the years. In August, 2009, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from Barack Obama, for her work advocating for the rights of women and the LGBT community. In 1987 she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Billie Jean King has meant many things to a variety of people. Her playing career provided entertainment to many different sports fans. However, she also represented a different type of femininity to what was the norm during her peak performance years of the 1960s and 1970s. Her work around social and economic equality has also had a positive impact on broader society. Some people say that sport and politics shouldn’t mix, but Billie Jean King has shown that the proximity of the two can play an important role in moving things forward.
