Did You Know?
1.That Billie Jean King was born on November 22, 1943 in Long Beach, California?
2.That at the Los Angeles Tennis Club in 1955, Billie Jean was barred from
posing for a group picture of junior tennis players because she was wearing tennis shorts and not a tennis skirt?
3.That Billie Jean was the first female athlete in any sport to earn more than $100,000 in a single season($117,000, 1971?
4.That in 1973 King lobbied for, and obtained, equal prize money
for men and women at the US Open?
5.That Billie Jean Founded the Women’s Tennis Association (1973),
the Women’s Sports Foundation (1974), Women’s Sports Magazine
(1974) and co-founded GreenSlam, an environmental initiative
for the sports industry (2007)?
6.That Billie Jean was the first woman to coach a co-ed team in professional sports (Philadelphia Freedoms, WTT, 1974)?
7.That Billie Jean defeated Bobby Riggs in one of the greatest moments in sports history - the Battle of the Sexes in 1973 and that this match is remembered for its effect on society and its contribution to the women’s movement?
8.That Billie Jean was the first woman commissioner in professional
sports history (World TeamTennis, 1984)?
9. That Billie Jean was one of nine players who broke away from the tennis establishment and accepted $1 contracts from tennis promoter Gladys Heldman in Houston. The revolt led to the birth of women’s professional tennis and the formation of the Virginia Slims Tour and Women’s Tennis Association?
10. That Billie Jean was named Global Mentor for Gender Equality by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2008 and received the NCAA President’s Gerald R. Ford Award in 2009, recognizing her contributions to improving higher education and intercollegiate athletics?
11. That Billie Jean continues to be a leader in the fight for equality and recognition in the GLBT community, and has been honored by many of the leading GLBT organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD and Lambda Legal Foundation?
12.That Billie Jean currently serves on the boards of the Women’s Sports Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation?
13.That Billie won her first Wimbledon title 50 years ago?And was the Only woman to win U.S. singles title on four surfaces (grass, clay, carpet, hard courts)?
14.That Elton John wrote his No. 1 hit Philadelphia Freedom for Billie Jean?
