2008 Woodie Awards
Tennis legend speaks at WCU
Sheena Ahlmer
Issue date: 4/19/05 Section: Athletics
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"What kind of legacy do you want to leave in your life?" asked the 61-year-old womenʼs pro-tennis legend who spoke to women studies students last Friday. Speaker, Billie Jean King, the winner of six Wimbledon singles championships and four U.S. Open titles, encouraged students to change the world as she shared her struggle for womenʼs rights in female athletics.
King established the first successful womenʼs professional tennis tour. She was also named in 1990 as one of Life magazineʼs "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century," among other honors. "How did I ever get into tennis? I met somebody who changed the course of my life forever," said King. That person was Susan Williams. The two met in the fifth grade. Williams asked King if she wanted to play, and King responded, "Whatʼs tennis?" After her first free lesson at the public park, King decided that she wanted to be the number one tennis player in the world. At 11-years-old King knew what she wanted to do in her life. "I didnʼt understand why everyone else didnʼt know what they wanted to do," said King.
As a female, King felt very invisible. "If I can be number one... I still couldnʼt get the same kind of attention the number one guy could," said King. King spent her whole life trying to create equal opportunities for women, and she is most famous for her defeat of Bobby Riggs. Riggs, a 1939 Wimbledon champion, was 55 years old and King was 29 years old at the time of their "Battle of the Sexes" match in September 1973. Riggs continually challenged King, and after he defeated the number one player Margaret Court on Motherʼs day 1973, King, number two at the time, accepted the challenge. The match was a national broadcast. At the time, there were only three networks and PBS on television. "This was Thursday night, this was prime time, this was big," said King. "The more you know about history, the more you know about yourself," said King. "Iʼm pre-Title IX," she said.
King established the first successful womenʼs professional tennis tour. She was also named in 1990 as one of Life magazineʼs "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century," among other honors. "How did I ever get into tennis? I met somebody who changed the course of my life forever," said King. That person was Susan Williams. The two met in the fifth grade. Williams asked King if she wanted to play, and King responded, "Whatʼs tennis?" After her first free lesson at the public park, King decided that she wanted to be the number one tennis player in the world. At 11-years-old King knew what she wanted to do in her life. "I didnʼt understand why everyone else didnʼt know what they wanted to do," said King.
As a female, King felt very invisible. "If I can be number one... I still couldnʼt get the same kind of attention the number one guy could," said King. King spent her whole life trying to create equal opportunities for women, and she is most famous for her defeat of Bobby Riggs. Riggs, a 1939 Wimbledon champion, was 55 years old and King was 29 years old at the time of their "Battle of the Sexes" match in September 1973. Riggs continually challenged King, and after he defeated the number one player Margaret Court on Motherʼs day 1973, King, number two at the time, accepted the challenge. The match was a national broadcast. At the time, there were only three networks and PBS on television. "This was Thursday night, this was prime time, this was big," said King. "The more you know about history, the more you know about yourself," said King. "Iʼm pre-Title IX," she said.
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