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Billie Jean King Facts & Worksheets

Billie Jean King is an American tennis player considered one of the greatest of all time in the sport, having won 39 major titles in both singles and doubles.

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Billie Jean King is an American tennis player considered one of the greatest of all time in the sport, having won 39 major titles in both singles and doubles. Adding to her illustrious career as a tennis star, she also paved the way for equality among men and women in sports. She was also known for being one of the first widely known openly gay athletes.

See the fact file below for more information on Billie Jean King, or you can download our 23-page Billie Jean King worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY

  • Billie Jean King was born Billie Jean Moffitt on November 22, 1943 in Long Beach, California.
  • She was born into a family of athletes who subscribed to the Methodist faith.
  • Her father, Bill, was a firefighter who was involved in basketball, baseball, and track.
  • Her mother, Betty, was a stay-at-home mother who was skilled in swimming.
  • Billie Jean has a younger brother named Randy who became a Major League Baseball pitcher and played for 12 years in the major leagues for the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and Toronto Blue Jays.
  • At a young age, Billie Jean was already excelling at softball. In fact, she played shortstop at only 10 years old while her teammates were 4 to 5 years older than her.
  • After her parents suggested that she should engage in a more “ladylike” sport, Billie Jean shifted from playing softball to tennis at 11 years old.
  • She took professional tennis lessons free of charge at the public courts in Long Beach.
  • As for Billie’s educational background, she graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School in 1961.
  • She then matriculated at Los Angeles State College (now California State University, Los Angeles) but left school in 1964 to concentrate on her tennis career.
  • It was in college when Billie Jean met her would-be husband Larry King.
  • At 20 years old, she got engaged to Larry, who was a year her junior.
  • They tied the knot on September 17, 1965.

EARLY CAREER

  • Billie Jean won her first championship for her age bracket in a southern California tournament when she was 14 years old.
  • In 1959, she began to receive coaching from Alice Marble, a tennis star in the 1930s.
  • In 1961, Billie Jean competed in her first Wimbledon tournament in England, where she didn’t win in the women’s singles but nabbed a historical win with Karen Hantze Susman.
  • Billie Jean and Karen drew international attention for being the youngest pair to win the Wimbledon women’s doubles title.
  • While in college, she continued competing and also worked as a tennis instructor until she decided to focus on extensive training in tennis.

MAJOR WINS

  • In 1966, Billie Jean won her first major singles title at Wimbledon.
  • She defended the title in 1967 and 1968. 
  • Not only did she secure her Wimbledon wins, she also won her first U.S. Open singles championship in 1967.
  • In 1968, she emerged as the winner at the Australian Open.
  • In the same year, she ranked as the world’s No. 1 women’s tennis player.
  • Over the next several years, Billie Jean claimed major wins left and right in both singles and doubles, mostly at the Wimbledon and the U.S. Open tournaments.
  • In the span of 1961 to 1979, she won 20 titles at Wimbledon, 13 at the U.S. Open, four at the French Open, and two at the Australian Open. 
  • In 1971, she became the first female athlete to earn more than $100,000 in a single season. 
  • 1972 proved a legendary year for the tennis star as she won three Grand Slam titles in one year: Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, and the French Open.
  • In 1972, she was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated, making her the first female athlete and first tennis player to claim the title.
  • Sports magazine also gave her the title Tennis Player of the Year.

FIGHT FOR EQUALITY

  • As Billie Jean’s professional career was on the rise, the 1970s women’s liberation movement also found momentum.
  • It was in 1972 when she won the U.S. Open and received $15,000 less than the male winner, that she stood her ground in favor of equality. 
  • She criticized the unequal prize money and threatened a boycott.
  • She asserted that she wouldn’t play if the prize money given to male and female athletes was not made equal.
  • Fully taking on her role as a feminist leader in sports, Billie Jean formed a union with her fellow tennis players called the Women’s Tennis Association and served as the organization’s first president in 1973. 
  • Following Billie Jean’s campaign regarding prize money, the U.S. Open became the first major tournament to grant prizes of equal amounts to male and female athletes in 1973.

BATTLE OF THE SEXES

  • In September 1973, Billie Jean participated in an exhibition match against former tennis champion Bobby Riggs.
  • As a self-proclaimed male chauvinist, Bobby wanted to show that men’s tennis was superior to its women’s counterpart and claimed that he could defeat any of the best female players at the time.
  • Held at the Houston Astrodome, the match was called “Battle of the Sexes” and was internationally televised with an audience of over 90 million people.
  • Prior to the game, Bobby triumphed over tennis star Margaret Court in a match infamously known as Mother’s Day Massacre which took place in May 1973.
  • Billie Jean accepted the challenge to play against Bobby for a $100,000 prize money, winner-take-all.
  • She easily defeated Bobby in the widely publicized match.

WOMEN’S SPORTS FOUNDATION & WORLD TEAM TENNIS

  • In 1974, Billie Jean and her husband Larry founded the Women’s Sports Foundation, a nonprofit charity that helps women get involved in sports.
  • They also founded World TeamTennis (WTT), a pioneering co-ed professional sports team.
  • Billie Jean became the first woman to coach a co-ed professional league.
  • In 1984, she also became the first female commissioner of a professional sports league.

PERSONAL LIFE

  • In the early 1970s, while married to Larry, Billie Jean began an intimate relationship with her secretary Marilyn Barnett.
  • In May 1981, Marilyn filed a palimony lawsuit which consequently outed Billie Jean as a lesbian to the public and cost her reportedly $2 million in endorsement deals.
  • Billie Jean was the first prominent female professional athlete to identify as a lesbian.
  • Her marriage to Larry ended in 1987 after Billie Jean developed feelings for her doubles partner, Ilana Kloss.
  • After the divorce, Billie Jean remained friends with Larry and entered a relationship with Ilana.

RETIREMENT AND LEGACY

  • In 1984, she retired from competitive tennis.
  • She was inducted into the following major Hall of Fames: the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame (1980); the International Tennis Hall of Fame (1987), and the National Women’s Hall of Fame (1990). 
  • In 2009, the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom was awarded to her. 
  • In 2020, the Federation Cup was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup in honor of King’s legacy.
  • She had multiple autobiographies published: Billie Jean (1974; with Kim Chapin), The Autobiography of Billie Jean King (1982; with Frank Deford), and All In (2021; with Johnette Howard and Maryanne Vollers).

Billie Jean King Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Billie Jean King across 23 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about Billie Jean King, who is an American tennis player considered one of the greatest of all time in the sport, having won 39 major titles in both singles and doubles.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Billie Jean King Facts
  2. Billie’s Biography
  3. Tennis Terms
  4. Timeline Of Events
  5. Factual or False
  6. Tennis Icons
  7. Inspirational Quotes
  8. Campaign For Equality
  9. Real Reactions
  10. Awarding King
  11. Lessons From The Legend

Frequently Asked Questions

What was Billie Jean King’s most remarkable accomplishment?

Billie Jean King led the world of tennis for over two decades with an iron fist. She held a staggering 39 Grand Slam singles, doubles, and mixed-doubles titles, including a record 20 wins at Wimbledon. Then, in 1973 she made history by overthrowing Bobby Riggs in one of the most discussed matches ever to take place on the court!

How did Billie Jean King change the world?

Billie Jean King has long been a trailblazer champion of equity and social reform. As the founder of the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative and co-founder of World TeamTennis, she created substantial progress in sports for men and women alike over her outstanding career, and that work continues to this day.

How many titles did Billie Jean King win?

King’s impressive 39 significant titles are still remembered today, but her legendary triumph over Riggs in the 1973 Battle of the Sexes truly made her a household name.

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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