Billie Jean King

Christie Barbato

March 28, 2007

History F

Thesis:

Through her achievements in tennis and advocating for women’s rights, Billie Jean King has become the woman that revamped the way society thought about women.

Billie Jean King Outline:

I. Intro

II. Family Life

A. Early Life

1. Family addiction to sports

2. Growing up a tomboy

3. Recreation tennis lessons and coaching by Alice Marble

B. Married Life

1. Life with Larry

2. Affair with Marilyn Barnett

III. Tennis Career

A. Tournaments and Winnings

1. Winnings, awards and recognition

2. Evolution of career and how she used her fame

B. Battle of the Sexes

1. Play by play of the match

2. How it affected her life and career

IV. Equal Rights

A. Title IX

1. Title IX legislation

2. Affects on women athletes

B. Women’s Equality and Equal Pay

1. Equal pay

2. Equality for everyone and the aftermath

V. Conclusion

Billie Jean King was best known for her Battle of the Sexes match against Bobby Riggs, but that’s not all she brought to the table during her lifetime. She was a staunch advocate for women’s rights and equality. She believed that women should be equal in the workplace and in the family. Billie Jean King also raised the bar for women’s tennis and challenged the competition to excel. She was able to set new records and accomplish what most women only dreamed of. With her tennis skills she gained popularity and fame that she used to educate people on equality of all kinds. Through her achievements in tennis and advocating for women’s rights, Billie Jean King has become the woman that revamped the way society thought about women.

Billie Jean King was born Billie Jean Moffitt on November 22, 1943, in Long Beach, California. She was named after her father, Bill, and grew up like him. (Rooney 1-2) Sports were her life from the time she could walk mostly because both her parents were successful athletes. Her mother, Betty, was a swimmer and her father played both baseball and basketball before joining the army. Her favorite sports were baseball and football, just like her father and younger brother. Her younger brother, Randy, later grew up to become a major league pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. When she was ten years old her softball team won the Long Beach City championship and that was the end of being a tomboy. Her father disapproved of her playing with the boys and enrolled her in tennis lessons when she was eleven. He believed that it would be a great sport for her because she could run around and hit a ball with a stick. Billie Jean thought that tennis was a “stupid game”. She had to work odd jobs around the house and for neighbors to buy her first racket. As soon as she took her first tennis lesson at the Recreation Program she was hooked. She exclaimed to her mother that she was going to be number one in the world. She stayed true to that dream because twelve years later she was ranked number one in the world. (Lincoln Library 3)

She didn’t always play the tomboy role growing up. Her family was very conservative and wanted to have a functional family unlike the families of the Depression Era. Her father worked as a firefighter and her mother sold Tupperware and Avon products to support Billie in tennis lessons. The Moffitt kids were very sheltered growing up. (Roberts 50, 53-54) Billie had been fat for most of her life and she struggled with low self esteem and shyness. She had bad eyesight, 20/400, chronic knee problems and she had breathing problems. She was never once hindered by her health problems. Billie Jean once said that, “Sports taught me to laugh at myself, to take life seriously but not take myself too seriously” (Rooney, 1). (King 13)

She was coached by the famous Alice Marble, ranked number one in the world in tennis in the 1930’s. Alice was the first female to win both the British and U.S. Opens in singles, doubles and mixed play in the same year. She was also a defender of women’s rights and she pushed Billie Jean into the advocacy for women’s equality. Alice recognized Billie Jean as a standout early on, but warned Billie about having an ego. Billie accepted the criticism from her mentor and began to reflect on her life and how she lived it. When Billie Jean was fourteen years old she entered her first tournament at Los Angeles Tennis Club. The LATC was a country club and Billie Jean felt very out of place because tennis was reserved for rich children. She encountered her first prejudice at the LATC. Billie Jean wasn’t allowed to be in the club photograph because she wasn’t wearing a tennis skirt. Instead she was wearing shorts and a shirt that her mom had made especially for the competition. The man that took her out of the photograph was Perry T. Jones. Throughout her career he tried to stop her because he believed that tennis was for the privileged, not for the families that play in public courts. Perry T. Jones had also tried to stop Bobby Riggs career, who was from a similar background as Billie Jean. She would later face Bobby Riggs in the second Battle of the Sexes match and together they would change the course of women’s tennis and gender equality. (Roberts 56-59)

Tennis was Billie Jean’s passion, but because of inequality in prize money, Billie realized that it could not support her through life. She went to college where she met Larry King. He was her best friend from the time they met and still continues to be. Billie Jean’s family didn’t like Larry because he thought different than her conservative parents. Larry made Billie think differently and he changed her conservative way of thinking. He was the person that pushed Billie Jean into becoming a feminist. He believed that gender discrimination was wrong in every aspect. (Roberts 62) He said, “All I tried to do was help her understand what was going on and not be limited…They’re not necessarily right or wrong; they have a point of view” (Roberts, 62). Larry married her on September 17, 1965, and became her manager in 1968, when she turned pro. For a while Billie Jean gave tennis up and became a devoted housewife. (Maynard 2) Growing up she had been taught that once a woman gets married they give up their dreams and follow their husbands’. As hard as she tried she couldn’t conform, so she started playing tennis again full time. Billie Jean began to grow apart from Larry and asked for a divorce in 1969. (Roberts 62)

Larry loved Billie Jean no matter what and he thought this was a phase, so he allowed her to experiment. “I had a lot of fear. My sexuality has been the most difficult challenge” (Roberts, 242). She started an affair with Marilyn Barnett in the early seventies. (Maynard 3) Marilyn became her personal assistant and was paid $600 a month to keep quiet about their affair. Marilyn then became too controlling of Billie’s life, so Billie broke up with her. The public never knew about their secret affair until 1981 when Marilyn filed a palimony suit against Billie Jean. Larry, who knew about the affair, stood strong next to Billie and hired Henry Holmes to represent her in court. Henry Holmes was best known for his aggressive behavior and for representing George Foreman and Chuck Norris. Billie won the suit, but lost most everything. She issued a statement saying the Marilyn affair was a “mistake”. That didn’t help Billie Jean any because most of her endorsements and sponsors dropped her in an instant after she acknowledged her sexuality. Billie Jean had to continue playing tennis to make up for the lost endorsements. “The Marilyn thing was tough. I don’t think I’ll ever recover from that in many ways” (Roberts, 293). From the public’s view, Billie Jean didn’t really recover. On February 4, 1982, Billie Jean walked off the court in the middle of her match. (Roberts 177, 145, 174-175)

During that rough time in her life Billie Jean met Elton John who was struggling with the same issues. They were both confused with their sexuality and they helped each other through the tough times. Elton John became inspired by Billie Jean and her work. He dedicated his song “Philadelphia Freedom” to Billie Jean and all her hard work. Billie ultimately decided that she liked being with women more and she started dating Ilana Kloss. They were doubles partners, but they were very private about their relationship, still to this day. Billie Jean was afraid that if she totally came “out of the closet” more endorsements would go away. Larry finally agreed to a divorce in 1987 because he realized that Billie Jean was happier with Ilana than with him. (Roberts 181,140, 146-147)

Since she was eleven, Billie had wowed spectators with her style of play. She had a powerful serve followed by crashing on the net. Her bombardment of volleys and overhead smashes scared most opponents. Billie Jean’s intensity could not be matched as well as her passion for the game. Seven years after entering the “stupid game” of tennis she was ranked number four in the world. She went on to win her first Wimbledon title in doubles with Karen Hantze. They were the youngest doubles team to ever win Wimbledon. She won the Wimbledon doubles title ten more times after that. In 1966, she won her first Wimbledon singles title. Her prize was a gift certificate for tennis apparel, while the men’s prize was cash. (Garner 77) From this moment Billie Jean advocated for the equality of prize money in Wimbledon. Wimbledon didn’t offer equal prize money until 2007, forty one years after Billie Jean brought up the issue of equality. In 1967, she was chosen as the Woman of the Year by the Associated Press and the next year, 1968, she won her third title in Wimbledon. She made one third less than her male counterparts in prize money. In 1970, tournament prize money for men’s singles was $12,500. In the same event, same year, women’s prize money was only $1,500. Larry King once said, “I think it was Manuel Santana who said he’d rather watch cattle graze than women play tennis” (Roberts, 76). Equality was on its way, but it wasn’t there yet. In that same year she was the first woman ever to sign a professional contract. Professionals had a hard life because major tournaments, including Wimbledon, were only open to amateur players. The rules changed in 1968, when the Open Era of tennis began. (Roberts 68) (Rooney 2)

The Open Era of tennis began when the Handsome 8, the top and most favored male tennis players, all turned pro. All tennis fans would be watching them so now professionals would be able to play amateurs in tournaments and professionals didn’t have to get paid under the table. Billie Jean believed that this was good for both men and women; that is why she turned pro in 1968. Her husband, Larry King, didn’t agree with her reasoning and warned her that she would be disappointed with the results of women. In 1971, she became the first female to make over $100,000 in one year and she started to prove Larry wrong. That year she signed onto the Open Tour with Ann Jones, Francoise Durr and Rosie Casals and the National Tennis League was born. Billie’s contract was for two years, and for $80,000. She was allowed to get her first credit card from this contract. Women in this era never possessed credit cards, only the men were allowed to get them. The National Tennis League was open to both males and females, but it was underfinanced. Lamar Hunt started the World Championship Tennis League, which took only males from the National Tennis League. The WCTL disrupted the equality the NTL had established. (Roberts 72-74)

Billie Jean led women to leave the pro circuit protesting the inequality of the WCTL. Many of the women joined her; they were called the Original Nine. Margaret Court, Virginia Wade, Evonne Goolangong, and Chris Evert were the only professionals that didn’t join the protest. While protesting, the women created the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). The only concern of the women was that they would be ostracized for creating a union without the consent of the USLTA. Billie Jean was elected as the first president and named as the co-founder of the WTA. The WTA began advocating equal prize money and the U.S Open was the first major tournament to offer equal prizes because the WTA boycotted the tournament. (Schwartz 3) The protesting also created the Virginia Slims Tour. A men’s tournament from the WCTL, the Pacific Southwest Open, was being held and it excluded women. The Original Nine: Billie Jean, Rosie Casals, Nancy Richey, Val Ziegenfuss, Kristy Pigeon, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kerrie Melville, Judy Tegart Dalton and Julie Heldman, held a tournament the same weekend as the Pacific Southwest Open. (Roberts 91, 77) The tournament was sponsored by Joseph Cullman, the C.E.O. of Virginia Slims. The Virginia Slims Tournament was born and only the Original Nine played in it. The women who didn’t join the protest believed that an all-woman tour would cause lesbian tendencies. (Maynard 2)

Billie Jean continued her winning streak in the early seventies. In 1972, Billie won the U.S. Open, French Open and the Australian Open, which is also known as a “Grand Slam”. In the U.S. Open she won a prize equal to her male counterpart: $10,000. She was named “Sportswoman of the Year” by Sports Illustrated, the first time it had ever been given to a woman. That year she was also named Sports Magazine’s “Tennis Player of the Year”. (Rooney 3)

1973 was the biggest year Billie Jean King had ever had. She accepted a challenge against ex-superstar Bobby Riggs. The “Pigs vs. Libs” match was winners take all; $100,000 prize contest. Billie Jean won the match with ease. In 1974, Billie Jean co-founded WomenSports Magazine which offered encouragement to women athletes. In 1975, Billie accomplished one of her life dreams. She launched a professional women’s softball league. Billie Jean also entered partial retirement because of chronic knee problems. She had many surgeries to try and correct her knee problems. That year she became the most admired women in the world during a poll taken by 17 Magazine. (Schwartz 3-4) She beat out the Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir. In 1976, she was Time Magazine’s “Woman of the Year”. In 1981, Billie Jean finally ended her tennis career for a number of reasons. (Rooney 3-4) The Marilyn Bennet court case, between her and her estranged lover, wore her down and was emotionally draining. Also, in Wimbledon that year she lost to Andrea Jaeger, 18 years old, 6-1, 6-1, in the semifinals. That year she announced her retirement. (Roberts 239-240)

She ended her two decade long career with six Wimbledon singles titles, ten Wimbledon doubles titles, four Wimbledon mixed doubles titles and three U.S. Open wins. (Lincoln Library 2) She became the first woman to sign a professional contract, the oldest woman to win a professional title at 39 ½ years old and she was the most influential player that popularized tennis. (Hall of Famers 1) Billie Jean was ranked number one in the world seven different times and five of those times were consecutive. (Schwartz 1) She also defeated the most number one players and she is tied for winning four major titles. Billie Jean and Christine Truman hold the world record for the longest women’s set ever played. The final score was 6-4, 19-17, in Billie Jean’s favor. (Hall of Famers 1) In 1990, Billie Jean was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and in 2006, the National Tennis Center was renamed to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Also in 2006, the first Hall of Fame for only women’s sports was named the Billie Jean King International Women’s Sport Center, dedicated to all of her work in bettering women’s sports. (Grossfeld 1) In all those years Billie kept one thing in mind, “Victory is fleeting, losing is forever” (Grossfeld, 3). (Maynard 1)

The Battle of the Sexes match was the climax of Billie Jean’s career. For months, Bobby Riggs had pestered Billie Jean to play him in a Battle of the Sexes match. Billie kept denying his offer because she felt that if she lost to him the tour and Title IX would both be damaged. She was also in the process of creating WomenSports Magazine and Foundation and didn’t want to risk its success. When Riggs couldn’t get Billie Jean to play him, he played Margaret Court, number on in the world at the time, on Mother’s Day. It was winner take all, $100,000 and Riggs beat Margaret with an array of drop and trick shots. Thus the match was named the Mother’s Day Massacre. After the match Riggs issued a statement saying that, “Men are supreme, women should stay in the kitchen.”(Maynard, 213). That statement changed Billie Jean’s mind about playing him. (Maynard 2-3)

“Bobby kept trying to get me to play for months, and I kept saying, “No.” But then he beat Margaret Court, who was ranked number one, and I just had to play. I had no choice. I didn’t feel women were accepted as athletes yet. Title IX had just passed and I could see people looking for an excuse to backtrack. I wanted to change the hearts and minds of people to match the legislation we had just gotten in place” (Battle of the Sexes, 1).

At first Billie Jean was tentative about playing Riggs. If she lost, “I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn’t win that match. It would ruin the women’s tour and affect all women’s self esteem” (Schwartz, 1). That thought haunted Billie’s mind throughout the days before the match. Ultimately, she decided that, “Women have enough problems getting to compete against each other at the high school and college level. Their programs are terribly weak” (Kirkpatrick, 3). She thought that by winning this match she could better women’s athletics.

Bobby Riggs was a famous number one player of the late thirties and early forties. The first year he entered Wimbledon as an unknown and won every event; the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. (Garner 77) He was a chauvinistic pig that didn’t respect women one bit and he also gambled frequently. Bobby didn’t respect women athletes and Billie once said, “That creep runs down women. That’s why my feeling is like – hate. I like him for many things, but I hate him for putting down women, not giving us credit as competitors” (Roberts, 94). Billie and Bobby came from the same background and grew up near each other. They were also discriminated against by the same man, Perry T. Jones. Both Billie and Bobby fought through the hierarchy of tennis and became top players of the game. They both also changed the game of tennis when they played each other on September 20, 1973. (Roberts 92-93)

The Battle of the Sexes rematch was held in the Houston Astrodome, commentated by Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, Claudine Longet, and Rosie Casals, and broadcasted by ABC. (Roberts 126) There was a TV audience of nearly 50 million and the stadium was packed. Billie believed that this match wouldn’t be what it turned out to be without the involvement of the media. “I could tell right away from the beginning that this whole idea just set people off. It triggered a lot of craziness, a lot of emotions. Then with the network TV and prime time and Howard Cosell, who back then was bigger than life, I knew it was going to be huge” (Battle of the Sexes, 1). (Maynard 1)

The majority’s consent was that Riggs was going to defeat Billie Jean the same way as he did Margaret Court.

One of Billie’s most devoted fans, her father, commented on how the outcome would be an underdog victory, “Australian girls aren’t like American girls. Sissy Bug will murder this Riggs. No way you beat a good player with tricks. If he gets personal, I’ll punch him out. He ought to write a book, I Feed Three Wives. I hope Sissy shuts him up good. He’s done nothing for the game. If it weren’t for women, where would he be? Sissy will beat him, bet you five” (Kirkpatrick, 4).

Before the match started there were festivities. Billie Jean was carried onto the court by bare-chested men on an Egyptian throne, while Bobby was pulled in a cart by “Bobby’s Bosom Buddies”. (Battle of the Sexes 1) She presented Bobby with a piglet named Larimore Hustle and Bobby presented her with a giant lollypop. (Garner 78-79) Billie Jean also wore a Ted Tinling sequin dress with blue suede Adidas shoes. She wanted to be remembered and she also knew that a first impression meant everything. (Roberts 110)

The match was lopsided from the beginning. Billie Jean was overpowering and overplaying him. Bobby couldn’t keep up with her drop shots and long volleys. During the fourth set of the first match, Bobby knew he was done for. He couldn’t keep up and Billie psyched him out of his game. He also realized that at 55 years old he was no match for a 29 year old. Two sets later, Billie’s dad stood up in the crowd and shouted, “Close him out, Sissy. Close him out” (Kirkpatrick, 6). (Kirkpatrick 5-6)

“It was the greatest feeling…nobody was ever again going to be able to say that women didn’t have what it takes,” Billie Jean said after her monumental win over Bobby, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 (Maynard, 3). “This is the culmination of 19 years of work” (Kirkpatrick, 3). “My job in the match, and I remember this being very clear, was to change the hearts and minds of people to match the legislation of Title IX and what we were trying to do with the women’s movement. I was to validate it, to celebrate it, and to get going toward changing a world where we had equality for both genders” (Roberts, 99). The Battle of the Sexes match justified Title IX, further rallied the effort of the women liberators, tore down the stereotypes of females and honored the game of tennis. Females could now “exert themselves in pursuits other than childbirth” (Schwartz, 1). The match showed that women could compete on the same playing field as men and it “provided a springboard for girls and women in athletics”. Gloria Steinem commented on Billie Jean’s courage to face Bobby, “You felt this was a symbolic match that was going to be used against women and to humiliate them if Billie Jean lost. And for her to take that on, to put herself under that pressure, is the true meaning of heroism” (Roberts, 132). (Roberts 131)

The Battle of the Sexes match created a stir around the world. The London Times called the match “the drop shot and volley heard around the world” (Schwartz, 1). The New York Times wrote, “Most important perhaps for women everywhere, she convinced skeptics that a female athlete can survive pressure-filled situations and that men are as susceptible to nerves as women” (Schwartz, 2). Bobby is credited with being the man who made female tennis the way it is today. Billie and Bobby remained friends until he died in 1995. On his deathbed he admitted to Billie, “We really made a difference, didn’t we?” (Grossfeld, 3).

Billie and Bobby had an amazing impact on women’s sports and tennis. Title IX was passed by President Richard Nixon in 1972 as part of the Education Amendments Act. At that time, Title IX specifically stated that, “No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participating in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance”(“Gender Equality/Title IX”, 1). The original purpose of Title IX was to prohibit discrimination of gender in schools, not necessarily sporting activities. In 1975, a Title IX regulation was put in place by President Gerald Ford. Now intercollegiate athletics were included under Title IX, but only if the athletics was federally funded. Weinberger, who was the head of the Title IX regulation committee, interpreted that the Title IX regulations intended to grant equal opportunity for males and females, but not necessarily equal funding. (Roberts 156, 146, 163)

Donna de Varona, who was a famous Olympic swimmer, helped Billie Jean with her fight for Title IX. They both agreed that Title IX needed to be altered so that equal funding was available. (Roberts 158) As a result of Title IX, there are more women athletes in college. Today, 87 percent of parents agree that sports are important to both girls and boys. Ninety seven percent of parents also say that sports provide important lessons for girls. It is proven that there are numerous benefits that girls gain playing sports. Girls who play sports gain confidence and self esteem and they also take pride in themselves. They are less likely to get involved with drugs, drinking and teenage pregnancy. Girls that just exercise can reduce the risk of getting breast cancer and developing osteoporosis later in life. (“Mythbusting: What Ever Female Athlete Should Know!” 1) The effects of Title IX can be summed up by the growing number of women athletes. In 1972, the year the law was passed, there were 32,000 varsity women athletes in college. In 2002, there were 150,000 varsity women athletes in college. (Roberts 216)

Another major concern of Billie Jean’s was monetary equality. She believed that equal prize money should be offered at tournaments. “With women and men paid on an equal scale, it demonstrates to the rest of the world that this is the right thing to do for the sport, the tournament and the world,” Billie Jean said after Wimbledon relased that it would offer equal prize money this year (Rudzki, 1). She earned $1,966,487 in prize money, but if tournaments offered equal money, the figure would have been drastically changed. When she started the Virginia Slims Tour she was perceived as a radical for challenging the idea of equality. (Schwartz 3) Many of the tournaments offered equal prize money after the boycotting by the female athletes. The only tournament that never changed was Wimbledon. This year, 2007, is the first year that Wimbledon will offer equal prize money to both winners. It has cost over $1.1 million dollars to ensure equality. “This is an historic and defining moment for women in the sport of tennis, and a significant step forward for the equality of women in our society” (Rudzki, 2). Billie Jean believed that tennis players were genderless so they should be allowed to be paid equally. (Roberts 75)

The effects of Billie’s fight for women’s rights can be shown in the U.S. Women’s World Cup Soccer Team or the William’s sisters. Billie Jean built a tennis league for women and the William’s sisters grew up playing in that league. They also became professionals at fourteen because of the work Billie put in. The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team gained notoriety because they followed her precedents. They used her ideas to get noticed, establish equal pay and create a league of their own. Billie Jean was not only an advocate for women’s equality, but equality for everyone. She is an avid support of gay, civil and gender rights. (Roberts 176) Billie works through the Elton John Foundation to advance the fight against AIDS. She also fights teenage pregnancy and homophobia. (Grossfield 1) Billie said that, “Just because you legislate doesn’t mean that people will change” (King, 16, 17). and she parallels the United States to the Roman Empire. In 1976, Billie Jean went to court again, but this time not for herself. She was there supporting Renee Richards, who had a sexual reassignment, and wanted to play in the women’s tennis league. Billie sympathized with Renee’s confusion and eventually cleared her to play tennis. She is also an advocate for abortion rights because she herself had an abortion in 1971. Abortion was normally tabooed because women in that era lived to start a family. (Roberts 166, 83, 88-89)

Billie Jean King worked her entire life to grant equality to women. Martina Navratilova called Billie Jean the “crusader fighting a battle for all of us. She was carrying the flag; it was all right to be a jock” (Schwartz, 2). She used her fame to educate the public about stereotypes placed on women, people of different race, background, ethnicity and sexual preference. She proved to the world that women are as strong as men and they can handle anything as well or even better than men can. Her achievements not only lie in tennis, but in Title IX and the evolution of the female athlete. Billie Jean said that, “I’m more about what happens off the court. Equality and making the world a better place is the thing” (Grossfeld, 1). She has gained the respect of every young female athlete even though they don’t understand the significance of her impact to society. Jane Anderson sums up what Billie offered the world, “The fact that my macho six year old son has a poster of Lisa Leslie of the WNBA on his door – the fact that he regards the female athlete as every bit as awesome as a man is thanks to Billie Jean…She didn’t change, she did something more fundamental: she changed the way people thought and felt in this country” (Maynard, 3).

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