Billie Jean King Spent Her Life Fighting for Equality; Now She’s Headed for the Hall
By Bob Reinert, published to Team USA
Billie Jean King was at the height of her tennis career, and yet to achieve her greatest goals, she knew she needed to do something more.
So on Sept. 20, 1973, the in-her-prime King played Bobby Riggs, a self-described male chauvinist and former Grand Slam singles champion, in a televised primetime event at the Houston Astrodome. A major spectacle that was marketed as proof that men were the superior athletes, the showdown drew an unprecedented 90 million viewers. And King, then 29 and already the owner of 10 major women’s titles, delivered.