Sports Hall of Fame
Billie Jean King
Not only did Billie Jean King won 12 grand slam title and 16 double grand slams, but she single-handedly changed women’s women’s tennis and the image of women athletes forever when she took on tennis legend Bobby Riggs in a “Battle of the Sexes” winner-take-all match. Riggs wanted to prove that women’s tennis was so interior that he, even at 55-years-old, could beat the top women. King swept him in their match and exposed a lot of new people to women’s tennis and showed a wide fan base that women athletes were to be taken seriously. She was a major force in getting women’s tennis players equal prize money to the men. King was not only one of the most dominant players in history on the court, but what she did off the court to advance women’s athletics can’t be quantified with titles or monetary winnings.