Billie Jean King First Individual Female Athlete Congressional Gold Medalist

By Barry Janoff

Photo Montage: USTAUPDATED Sept. 27, 2024: Billie Jean King Friday officially became the first individual female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. The bipartisan legislation passed through the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives before President Joe Biden signed it into law on Thursday. (Full story here.)

September 18, 2024: Billie Jean King has earned numerous awards and won a plethora of tennis tournaments during her life.

She now adds one of the most prestigious honors that can be bestowed.

On Sept. 17, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) passed their bipartisan legislation through the House of Representatives to award Billie Jean King the Congressional Gold Medal — the highest civilian honor bestowed by the U.S. Congress — “in recognition of her lifetime of work fighting for Title IX, and women’s and LGBTQ+ equality on and off the tennis court.”

She becomes the first individual woman athlete to receive the honor.

The men and women athletes on the 1980 U.S. Summer Olympic Team were given the honor en masse “to recognize the athletes of the 1980 US Summer Olympic team, who forfeited the Moscow games due to the United States boycott to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.”

The bill, introduced on the 50th anniversary of King’s win over Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes" last September, had earlier passed unanimously in the Senate.

In September 2023, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) introduced bipartisan legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal to King.

She previously was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 by President Barack Obama.

After passing the House and Senate “with overwhelming support from both parties,” Rep. Sherrill and Rep. Fitzpatrick’s legislation now goes to President Joe Biden’s desk for a signature — “completing a years-long effort to award Billie Jean King with Congress’s highest honor.”

“Thank you. I am deeply humbled and honored,” King posted to social media.

“Billie Jean King’s lifetime of advocacy and hard work changed the landscape for women and girls on the court, in the classroom, and the workplace,” Rep. Sherrill said via Congress.

“That’s why it has been an absolute honor to help lead the bipartisan effort to add another ‘first’ to Billie Jean’s resume of trailblazing accomplishments: the first individual female athlete to earn the Congressional Gold Medal.”

Within her sport, but with actions that resounded well beyond the tennis court, King fronted the “Original 9” in founding the the Virginia Slims Circuit, which became the Women’s Tennis Assn.

The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, NY — home of the U.S. Open Grand Slam — is named in her honor. She ultimately won 39 Grand Slam titles during her pro tennis career.

Her autobiography, All In (2021) was a New York Times bestseller.

According to Rep. Fitzpatrick via Congress, “I am proud to have authored and led this bipartisan, bicameral effort with Rep. Sherrill and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to award the indomitable Billie Jean with the Congressional Gold Medal for her lifetime of advocacy and leadership in the pursuit of equality.

“Throughout her extraordinary life, Billie Jean has broken barriers, led uncharted paths, and inspired countless people to stand proudly with courage and conviction in the fight for what is right. With this bill getting signed into law, we are cementing Billie Jean's legacy as both a champion of tennis and equality whose impact will continue to inspire and empower future generations.”

Among male athletes Roberto Clemente was given the award posthumously in 1973.

Joe Louis was given the award posthumously in 1982, Jesse Owens posthumously in 1988, Jackie Robinson posthumously in 2003, Byron Nelson in 2006, Arnold Palmer in 2009, Jack Nicklaus in 2014, Larry Doby posthumously in 2018, Steve Gleason in 2019, Greg LeMond in 2020 and Willie O’Ree in 2022.

Others who have received the Congressional Gold Medal include Charles Lindbergh, Thomas Edison, Robert Frost, Walt Disney, Sir Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, Charles Schulz and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Billie Jean is an American icon, a tennis legend whose accomplishments on the court are only rivaled by her work off it,” Sen. Gillibrand said via her office.

“From her pioneering work on gender equality and Title IX to her advocacy for the LGBTQ community, Billie Jean used her talent and platform to create lasting change. No one could be more fitting to receive the first Congressional Gold Medal awarded to an individual woman athlete. I look forward to seeing this bill get signed into law.”

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