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Billie Jean KingDoctor of Humane LettersBillie Jean Moffit King was born in Long Beach, California, where she learned to play tennis on the local public courts. By the time she was 17, she had gained international recognition in the sport when she won the women's doubles title at Wimbledon, along with her partner, Karen Hantze Susman. In 1966 she won the first of her six Wimbledon singles titles. Billie Jean King was a leader in the movement to bring professionalism and gender equity to the sport of tennis. In 1972, she won the U.S. Open but received substantially less than the men's winner; she threatened to boycott future tournaments, and in 1973 the U.S. Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money to men and women. During her career, Ms. King won 39 Grand Slam singles, doubles, and mixed doubles tennis titles, including a record 20 titles at Wimbledon. In her 1973 exhibition match against former top men's player Bobby Riggs, a worldwide television audience saw her turn back Riggs's assertion that women players were inferior, beating him 6–4, 6–3, 6–3. She played a central role in the formation of the Women's Tennis Association, the Women's Sports Foundation, and Women's Sports Magazine. In 1974, she co-founded World Team Tennis, the groundbreaking professional league for men and women players. She has created foundations that help enhance the lives of women of all ages and that promote health, fitness, education, and social change to benefit men and women across a variety of issues. She continues to be a leader in the fight for equality in other areas, especially on behalf of those in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. Ms. King has been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the National Women's Hall of Fame, demonstrating the breadth of her impact on society. In 2006, the National Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open, was renamed the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in recognition of her contributions to tennis, sports, and society. She was named one of the 100 most important Americans of the 20th century by Life magazine. |
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Commencement 2008 | Contact |