United States House of Representatives members Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey announced Tuesday that legendary tennis player Billie Jean King will become the first individual female athlete to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.
According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), the decision to award King the Congressional Gold Medal is a bipartisan piece of legislation that will now be sent to U.S. President Joe Biden for his signature.
The 80-year-old King thanked the House of Representatives for their decision in a post on X on Tuesday night:
King was a 12-time Grand Slam singles champion during her illustrious career, which included winning Wimbledon six times and the U.S. Open on four occasions, plus she won 16 Grand Slams in doubles and 11 in mixed doubles.
Additionally, King is a longtime activist in the area of gender equality, as she fought to secure better pay for women’s tennis players and was the first union president of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
King is perhaps best known for her famous “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match against Bobby Riggs in 1973.
Riggs, who was at one time the No. 1 men’s tennis player in the world, challenged King to a match in an effort to prove that he was still better than one of the top women’s tennis players of the time despite being 55 years of age.
King, who was 29 years old, went on to beat Riggs 6–4, 6–3, 6–3, in front of over 30,000 fans at the Houston Astrodome and with millions watching from home.
In addition to winning a $100,000 prize, King scored a major victory in terms of equality in tennis by proving women’s tennis could be on par with men’s.
The bill to award King the Congressional Gold Medal was first introduced one year ago on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Sexes. Friday will mark the 51st anniversary of the iconic event.
An athlete receiving the Congressional Gold Medal is nothing new, as many trailblazers have been honored before, including baseball legend Jackie Robinson, boxer Joe Louis, track and field star Jesse Owens and golfers Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.
The 1980 United States Olympic team was collectively given the Congressional Gold Medal for their selflessness in not competing at the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow due to a U.S. boycott, marking the first time female athletes had been received the award.
However, King is the first individual female athlete to ever be honored, putting her in a class all her own and giving her another major accolade to go along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom she received in 2009.
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