Billie Jean King Turns into First Feminine Athlete Awarded Congressional Gold Medal

By Tennis Now | @Tennis_Now | Friday, September 27, 2024Photo credit score: Mike Lawrence/USTA/US Open It is a golden yr for iconic Corridor of Famer Billie Jean King.

King has made historical past as the primary feminine athlete awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. The laws was signed by President Biden after passing each chambers of Congress.

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Yesterday President Biden signed into regulation laws to award Billie Jean King the Congressional Gold Medal, following passage of the invoice within the Senate and Home of Representatives, making her the primary particular person feminine athlete to be awarded this honor.

The laws (S. 2861) was initially launched into the Home of Representatives (H.R. 1831) in March of 2023 by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Democratic co-lead Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), “To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Billie Jean King, an American icon, in recognition of a outstanding life dedicated to championing equal rights for all, in sports activities and in society.”

The invoice handed unanimously within the Senate in Might of this yr, by means of the management of Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and within the Home of Representatives earlier this month.

Previous to Billie Jean King being awarded this distinction, 11 particular person athletes (in addition to the 1980 U.S. Olympic workforce) had obtained the Congressional Gold Medal, however all had been males.

The introduction of the laws in 2023 coincided with the USTA’s celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of equal prize cash being awarded on the US Open. In 1973, the US Open grew to become the primary sporting occasion in historical past to supply equal prize cash to each women and men opponents, with every competing for complete purses of $100,000, together with a $25,000 payout to each the lads’s and girls’s singles champion.

“The passing of the Congressional Gold Medal laws by means of Congress and its signing into regulation by the President signify the end result of an extended constructing course of to acknowledge and award Billie Jean King for her lifelong battle and push for equality on this nation,” stated Dr. Brian Hainline, Chairman of the Board and President, USTA. “Billie is without doubt one of the biggest athletes and ambassadors the game of tennis has ever seen, and her impression off the court docket is even better than her efficiency on it.

“The USTA wish to thank the members of Congress for making this a actuality, in addition to the President for signing this laws, as Billie Jean King has now damaged one other barrier to develop into the primary particular person feminine athlete to have been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.”

Billie Jean King grew to become the pioneer for equal prize cash when she received the ladies’s singles title on the 1972 US Open and unequivocally demanded that the next yr’s US Open pay males’s and girls’s gamers equally. King’s ultimatum set the tone for a momentous yr forward, which first noticed the formation of the Girls’s Tennis Affiliation.

After the 1973 US Open milestone of equal pay, King then defeated Bobby Riggs within the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ match at Houston’s iconic Astrodome, a match that helped to propel the ladies’s motion in each sports activities and in society, and nonetheless stays the most-watched tennis match ever.