Billie Jean King, Tennis Legend--and Inspiration

Billie Jean King (born 22 November 1943)

During her long career as a tennis player, Billie Jean King won six Wimbledon championships and four U.S. Open titles--to that, she added four Wimbledon doubles titles and a couple of U.S. Championship doubles titles, as well as singles and doubles championships at the French Open, the Australian Open . . . Well, you get the picture.

Billie Jean King forty years ago,
on the occasion of her 1975
Winbledon victory

But for those of us of a certain age, what we will never forget is that day in 1973 (September 20!) when Billie Jean King beat the crap out of Bobby Riggs in an exhibition match in the Astrodome that was billed as "The Battle of the Sexes."

The staging was grandiose and silly (King entered the arena carried on a golden litter by buff and nearly naked men, Riggs pulled by a rickshaw powered by young women dubbed "Bobbie's Bosom Buddies"), but the event itself--just the idea of the event--was thrilling. So much so that even a non-sports-enthusiast like me can remember the match like it was yesterday.

When King won that match, she won a victory for women and gender equality. And then, after she was outed in 1981, she became an important activist for LGBT rights. 

Here's a link to Don Van Natta's extended article, for ESPN, on the Riggs-King match, "The Matchmaker."

And here's a link to Billie Jean King's Makers video, Billie Jean King: Champion and Activist. In this video, she talks about her playing career, her decision to have an abortion, and her (forced) coming out.

Update, September 2017: A new film, Battle of the Sexes, has been released, focusing on the King-Riggs match. As noted by Manohla Dargis in her review for The New York Times, "Every so often an exceptionally capable woman has to prove her worth by competing against a clown."

The film's release has been accompanied by a spate of articles on the match in addition to reviews of the film. I recommend the piece in The Daily Beast, Katie Baker's "The Battle of the Sexes: How Billie Jean King Beat a Misogynist Pig."

Update, 17 September 2024: A bill introduced last year, on the fiftieth anniversary of Billie Jean King's victory over Bobby Riggs, has awarded Billie Jean King the Congressional Gold Medal. Senate Bill 2861 passed by unanimous consent in the Senate, but of course there were 87 assholes in the U.S. House of Repreentatives who voted against the bill. 

Billie Jean King is the first female athlete to be awarded this honor, which recognizes her lifetime of advocacy: her fight for Title IX, her efforts on behalf of equal pay for remale athletes, and her work to secure LGBTQ rights. 

Update, 19 May 2026: A lovely article in today’s Guardian about King graduating from college on Monday—at age eighty-two. “Yeah, baby, only 61 years,” she is quoted as saying. To read the story, click here. 

Kathrine Switzer: "Run, Kathy, Run!"

Kathrine Switzer (ran the Boston Marathon, 19 April 1967)

On 19 April 1967, Kathy Switzer became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as a "numbered" entry--women were not allowed to compete officially in the race in 1967 (women were first allowed to register and compete five years later).

Switzer registered for the race as "K. Switzer." Race officials tried to block Switzer and get her off the course--the photos are amazing!

Switzer finished the race. 

You can read her account of the race and check up on her life and career at Kathrine Switzer: Marathon Woman.

(Roberta Gibb, "Bobbi," was the first woman to run the marathon, in 1966, when she jumped into the race. She was running again in 1967, though not with an official number.)

Update: Fifty years after her first run in the Boston Marathon, Kathy Switzer ran--and finished--the race in Boston. In 2017, 11,973 of the 26,411 runners who finished the race were female. 

As for Kathy Switzer, she wore the same number, 261, she had in that 1967 race. Here she is, crossing the finish line (at age 70):

"It’s a phenomenal social revolution, and it has happened in my lifetime,” Switzer told Outside Magazine. “To be there in Boston to celebrate that moment, the place where it all began, is extremely gratifying and validating.”