Billie Jean King graduates from college at 82 years old, six decades after leaving for tennis
Yahoo Sports • • sports
Key Points:
- Billie Jean King, 12-time Grand Slam champion and women's sports pioneer, officially graduated from Cal State at age 82, completing a degree in history she began in the early 1960s before focusing on her tennis career.
- King is the first in her immediate family to graduate college, describing the achievement as one of her most meaningful, though she regrets her late family members could not witness her commencement.
- The availability of remote learning allowed King to complete her coursework while traveling, including classes on LGBT political history, Latin American women and gender, and historiography.
- King, a key figure in advancing gender equality in sports, founded the Women’s Tennis Association and helped pass Title IX, which she ironically had to write an essay about as a student.
- Her efforts contributed to the prominence of female tennis players, with 10 of the 15 highest-paid female athletes last year being tennis players.