Houston Sports - Billie Jean King

Billie Jean King

Born: November 22, 1943

Sport: Tennis (782-192 career record, 39 Grand Slam titles - 12 singles, 16 doubles, and 11 mixed doubles, World #1 Player, Hall of Fame)

As college football continues to get underway with its first full weekend of action, pro football enjoys its final moment before the season begins next week, and baseball approaches its final month before the playoffs arrive, another sport has taken its place on the usual highlight shows.  In the heart of New York, the best tennis players in the world have gathered to compete in the 2025 US Open, which will have its final events wrapped up by the time next week's post is made.  The venue for one of the sport's four major tournaments, boasting 17 individual courts, is called the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.  While not from Houston, the namesake had a memorable match in the city's most iconic venue with which she will forever be associated.  As a sad coincidence, both King's younger brother (Randy Moffitt) and the woman who won the singles title during her first-ever tournament (Angela Mortimer) both passed away over the last week.  This week we'll find out a bit more about Billie Jean King, a woman who changed her sport in numerous ways.

Houston's Astrodome, home to the 1973 Battle of the Sexes

Born in Long Beach, California, Billie Jean Moffitt was the daughter of Bill and Betty Moffitt, and she had a younger brother named Randy.  Although they were a typical American family, with Bill working as a firefighter and Betty staying home with the kids, they were all athletic and participated in various sports.  Young Billie Jean played baseball like her brother, who would eventually have a 12-year career as a major league pitcher, as well as softball, but at age 11 she was encouraged to switch to tennis because it was a more ladylike sport.  That being the case, however, her decision to wear shorts that her mother had sewn rather than a tennis dress was the cause for one of her first instances of conflict, as she was not allowed to participate in a group photo during one particular tournament.  But Moffitt had certainly found her calling as she informed her family's pastor, who happened to be a two-time Olympic gold medal pole vaulter named Bob Richards, that she would become the best tennis player in the world.  Training with world-class coaches like 18-time Grand Slam champion Alice Marble propelled her along that path, and she competed in her first major tournament at the 1959 US Championships (the precursor to the US Open) while just 15 years old.  After graduating from high school she participated in the 1961 Wimbledon Championships, losing in the first round of the singles bracket but teaming up with Karen Hantze to win every single set on their way to victory.  The teenage girls were the youngest paring to compete, and both would go on to add more championship hardware to their collections during their careers, both in singles and doubles play.

With a taste of victory at the highest level under her belt, Billie Jean Moffitt returned to California to attend college at what was then known as Los Angeles State College, now California State University, Los Angeles.  Although she did not graduate, she met another student on campus by the name of Larry King who was destined to become one of the nation's most recognizable broadcasters.  The two fell in love, and a year after Billie Jean left school to focus on her tennis career, they were married in the fall of 1965.  By that time, she had already claimed two additional Wimbledon titles and her first US Championship title in doubles play, King had not yet won a major singles title.  All of that changed in 1966 as she entered the best competitive years of her career, starting with a singles victory at Wimbledon over Brazilian legend Maria Bueno.  The following year she etched her name into the record books by winning singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles at both Wimbledon and the US Championships, the first to accomplish that feat since her coach Alice Marble in 1939, while also adding a mixed doubles title at the French Championships.  A 1968 mixed doubles title at the Australian Championships made King just the 7th player to achieve the career Grand Slam in that event, and her singles title at that same tournament left her just one trophy shy of the same accomplishment as a single player.  That season marked a major change in tennis, as the sport eliminated the division between amateur and professional players, beginning the Open Era of mixed tournament play.  Despite the larger, more competitive fields that participated in the open tournaments, King continued to perform well and won numerous doubles and mixed doubles Grand Slam events, but struggled to win at the highest level of singles competition for a number of years.

It was in 1971, which saw Billie Jean King begin an unprecedented string of dominance across singles, doubles, and mixed doubles competitions, that her activities began to expand beyond simply playing in the sport's regular tournaments.  Alongside husband Larry King she worked to create a competing tour for women that would provide pay potential that matched their male counterparts.  Playing and promoting the Virginia Slims, sponsored by the cigarette makers, King became the first woman to earn over $100,000 on the tennis court in a single year.  After completing her singles career Grand Slam at the French Open, she also announced that she wouldn't defend her 1972 US Open title without equal pay for women after her check was $15,000 less than the men's champion, resulting in a level pay structure beginning in 1973.  That year King also accepted a $100,000 winner-take-all match challenge from a former men's champion named Bobby Riggs, who at 55 years of age had bragged that an old man could still beat the best of the women, and then backed up his bravado by defeating champion Margaret Court four months earlier.  The televised event was dubbed the "Battle of the Sexes" and set in Houston's Astrodome, and as the largest audience ever for a tennis match it became the signature moment for Billie Jean King when she prevailed in straight sets.  The moment was deemed so iconic that the dress she wore for the match is now on display at the Smithsonian Museum.

Despite the success and publicity on the court, however, the Kings' marriage underwent a major shock.  Although still married to Larry, Billie Jean King had started displaying attraction for other women and in 1971 she began having an affair with her secretary, Marilyn Barnett, who lived at their home in Malibu, CA.  After eight years of keeping it a secret, Larry and Billie Jean tried to get Barnett to leave but she refused, threatened to expose the illicit relationship, and eventually attempted suicide on the property.  She survived as a paraplegic but filed suit against the couple for support.  Although the case was dismissed it led to Billie Jean admitting to the relationship, making her one of the first major athletes to admit to a homosexual lifestyle, but the couple remained together until 1987.  Injuries and the strain of playing multiple tours began taking their toll as King got older, and yet she continued to win an amazing number of matches when she chose to compete.  Her 39th and final Grand Slam title came alongside doubles partner Martina Navratilova in the 1980 US Open, although she continued to perform well for many more years at various WTA tour events.  Although her singles career ended in 1983, King did not give up doubles play until 1990 at the age of 46.  In retirement, she has been an outspoken proponent of women's sports, LGBTQ recognition, and advancement of the game of tennis.  In addition to having the home of the US Open named after her in 2006, some of King's other honors and awards include induction in the Women's Sports Hall of Fame (1980), the International Tennis Hall of Fame (1987), the National Women's Hall of Fame (1990), the California Hall of Fame (2006), and the Southern California Tennis Hall of Fame (2011), a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award (1999), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009), the French Legion of Honor (2022), and the Congressional Gold Medal (2024).

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