The Battle of the Sexes between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs took place in September, 1973. Everyone I have spoken with knows of that event, its spectacle and symbolism. Few have known much about Billie Jean King. And it turns out there is a lot to know—not just in terms of her accomplishments but about civil rights, entertainment, and personal drive. Was it just serendipitous that at the same time four men and three women met to discuss Billie Jean King’s autobiography, All In, the Vegas Golden Knights were winning the Stanley Cup?

Our first responder hadn’t finished the book, but she loved it. Even though we know about the bias against women in sports, reading the details of scholarship discrepancies, unequal pay and sexualization is jarring. In 1973, as Billie Jean King was being brought onto the court for the famous battle with Bobby Riggs, Howard Cosell actually said, “And here comes Billie Jean King, a very attractive young lady. If she’d ever let her hair grow down to her shoulders, took her glasses off, she would have somebody vying for a Hollywood screen test.”[i] We remembered how girls only played half-court basketball in P.E. Some of us had been unaware of Title IX of the Education Amendments (1972).[ii] So many things we take for granted! Another of us was moved that Billie Jean King, who grew up in a diverse neighborhood on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, recognized even as a youth in the 1950’s that all the kids in tennis were white. We also appreciated the discussion of amateur vs. professional athletes and the recognition of shamateurism.[iii] Most of us had never heard of World Team Tennis,  a “mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973”.[iv]   

The book was easy to read, if a little dry at times. It was so dense that one of us could only read twenty pages at a time. King seemed honest, talking about her sexuality and her binge eating and weight issues. We thought her husband Larry was amazingly supportive, but we also noted that his outing her abortion and risking their money on his invention was selfish—which brings attention to the fact that this is only Billie Jean King’s side of the story.[v]

Prior to the meeting, some people had mentioned that they did not appreciate her apparent endorsement of Obama and Biden and disparagement of Trump. Her recognition of Obama is not surprising, given that “in 2009, she was the first female athlete to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”[vi]  Also, her support of LGBTQ-rights issues informs her politics which, in my opinion, were only slightly mentioned in the book.

Looking at the generic book club questions I included for this discussion, I brought up that I had gained a new perspective on the issue of transgender inclusion in women’s sports. This was a hot-button issue for one of our members. June is Gay Pride Month and I do not want to avoid talking about controversial subjects or the important connections we make when we read. Sometimes the emotions involved and the topics themselves are too big for our short meetings. Before the meeting started, one member asked if there really were that many people against gays? And after the discussion, one member shared that he has a better understanding of transgender muscle mass changes for athletes. I did read from a challenged children’s book, I Am Billie Jean King by Brad Meltzer. Although the first reaction by some of us was that sex did not belong in a children’s book, we all agreed that the short statement referring to being gay was innocuous.

We continued to discuss locations and people. Some of us remembered other non-fiction books we have read, particularly The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics(2014) by Daniel James Brown. And those Vegas Golden Knights were in the lead 6 – 1. Sports. So much more than entertainment.

• Other works discussed:
• The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics(2014) by Daniel James Brown
• I Am Billie Jean King (2012) by Brad Meltzer.
• PBS American Masters: Billie Jean King (2013) directed by James Erskine

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[i] Howard Cosell is quoted in the book and excerpted in the NPR review: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028435813/tennis-legend-billie-jean-king-puts-it-all-in-her-new-autobiography

[ii] “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance[.]”. https://www2.ed.gov/policy/rights/guid/ocr/sexoverview.html#:~:text=Title%20IX%20states%20“No%20person,provide%20grants%20of%20financial%20assistance

[iii] Shamateurism: “the practice of treating certain athletes as amateurs so that they will be eligible for amateur competition while subsidizing them with illegal payments or with excessive expense money.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shamateurism#:~:text=%3A%20the%20practice%20of%20treating%20certain,or%20with%20excessive%20expense%20money

[iv]Definition of World Team Tennis found on Wikipedia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_TeamTennis

[v] At this point I read the following excerpt from a 1975 Sports Illustrated athlete profile written by Frank Deford:

“Mr. Billie Jean King, which is how he signs autographs, is younger and better looking than the little woman, and in many ways more of an enigma. Unflappable, pragmatic, analytical, as pale of emotion as of face— many in tennis merely classify him as a dead fish and are done with it—Larry is the emotional mirror image of his wife. And yet he has undeniably been vital to her development. Behind every great woman….” https://vault.si.com/vault/1975/05/19/mrs-billie-jean-king

[vi] https://fitzpatrick.house.gov/2023/3/fitzpatrick-leads-bipartisan-legislation-to-award-billie-jean-king-the-congressional-gold-medal#:~:text=A%20tennis%20legend%20in%20the,the%20Presidential%20Medal%20of%20Freedom

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