Billie Jean King Becomes First Female Athlete Awarded Congressional Gold Medal

For Tennis Now | @Itenisi_Manje | Friday, September 27, 2024
Photo credit: Mike Lawrence/USTA/US Open

The golden age of the iconic Hall of Famer Billie Jean King.

King made history as the first female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. The legislation was signed by President Biden after it passed both houses of Congress.

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Yesterday, President Biden signed legislation to award Billie Jean King the Congressional Gold Medal, following the passage of this bill in the Senate and the House of Representatives, making her the first female athlete to be honored in this way.

The legislation (S. 2861) was first introduced in the House of Representatives (HR 1831) in March of 2023 by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and his fellow Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), “To award the Congressional Gold Medal to Billie Jean King, American star, in recognition of an extraordinary life dedicated to the fight for equal rights for all people, in sports and in society.”

The bill was passed unanimously in the Senate in May of this year, under the leadership of Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), and previously in the House of Representatives. this month.

Before Billie Jean King was awarded this distinction, 11 athletes (and the 1980 US Olympic team) had received the Congressional Gold Medal, but all were men.

The introduction of the rule in 2023 coincided with the USTA’s celebration of 50 years of equal awards at the US Open. In 1973, the US Open became the first sporting event in history to offer equal money to both male and female competitors, each competing for a total of $100,000, including a $25,000 payout to both the men’s and women’s singles champion.

“The passage of the Congressional Gold Medal Act by Congress and its signing into law by the President represents the culmination of a long building process to honor and reward Billie Jean King for her lifelong fight and promotion of equality in this country,” said Dr. Brian Hainline, Chairman of the Board and President, USTA “Billie is one of the greatest athletes and ambassadors the game of tennis has ever seen, and his impact on the court is far greater than his game on it.

“The USTA would like to thank the members of Congress for making this a reality, and the President for signing this legislation, as Billie Jean King has now broken another barrier to become the first female athlete to be honored with a Congressional Gold Medal.”

Billie Jean King became the first to achieve equal prize money when she won the women’s singles title at the 1972 US Open and vociferously demanded that the following year’s US Open pay equal pay for men and women. King’s fate set the tone for the next important year, which saw the formation of the Women’s Tennis Association.

After the historic 1973 US Open tiebreaker, King then defeated Bobby Riggs in the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ at the Houston Astrodome, a match that helped inspire the women’s movement in both sports and society, and is still the greatest of all time. -watch a tennis match every now and then.