Billie Jean King, named one of the “100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century” by Life magazine and the first female athlete to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, has long been a pioneer for social justice. As one of the top tennis players of all time, King won 39 Grand Slam titles during her career -- including a record 20 titles at Wimbledon – but King’s impact resonates further than any athletic accolade could, and her influence continues to reverberate across sport and society today.

King was one of the Original 9 who started women's professional tennis and subsequently founded the Women’s Tennis Association. In a moment that is considered one of the greatest in sports history and will always be revered in the push for gender equity in sport, she defeated Bobby Riggs in the 1973 Battle of the Sexes match. Retiring from the sport in 1983, King remains one of only eight women to have won a singles title in each of the four Grand Slam tournaments.
In the 1970’s, King founded both WorldTeam Tennis and the Women’s Sports Foundation, two organizations that still work toward gender equality in sport today. She was the first woman to have a major sporting venue named in her honor - the National Tennis Center, home of the US Open, was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

In 2009, President Obama awarded King with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, praising her “off-the-court stuff – what she did to broaden the reach of the game, to change how women athletes and women everywhere view themselves, and to give everyone, regardless of gender or sexual orientation – including my two daughters – a chance to compete both on the court and in life.” Five years later, President Obama once again honored King, naming her to the Presidential Delegation for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Among her numerous accolades, King was a recipient of the NCAA's President Gerald R. Ford Award, one of Sports Illustrated’s Top 100 Greatest Female Athletes of the 20th century, and most recently became a Los Angeles Dodgers minority owner. She was the first woman to be honored with the NFL Players Association Lifetime Achievement Award and was also the 1999 Arthur Ashe Courage Award. King also serves on the boards of the Women’s Sports Foundation, the Andy Roddick Foundation, the Elton John AIDS Foundation and is a member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.