Tennis Icon Billie Jean King Heads Back to College at 81

Billie Jean King is proving it’s never too late to finish what you started.

King, 81, is pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in history at California State University, Los Angeles, after she left the school in 1964 to play professional tennis. She shared her reasons for returning and selecting this degree on Instagram.

“I’ve gone back to school ... and hope to graduate next year,” she explained. “I’m a history major, and I love history. In fact, it’s probably helped me the most in leadership. I have this saying, ‘The more you know about history, the more you know about yourself, and it helps you shape the future.’ ”

King said her passion for history “helped me create and start women’s professional tennis because I knew the history of tennis.”

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, King said she decided to go back to school this spring after discussing her plans with colleagues at her consulting, investment and marketing firm. She told them, “I hate not finishing.”

When asked what she was referring to, King explained, “I haven’t finished college,” adding, “and you know, I should finish.”

Since re-enrolling, King says she’s have a “great time.”

“I just read like crazy all the time,” she said. 

King is a legend in tennis. In the 1960s and 1970s, she was ranked the world’s top tennis player multiple times. She has won 20 Wimbledon titles and was the first woman to be named the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year, in 1972.

In 1973, King faced former No. 1 ranked tennis player Bobby Riggs in the groundbreaking “Battle of the Sexes” match. King’s victory over Riggs shattered gender expectations in a sport that was mostly controlled by men.

King has been a pioneer in promoting tennis and advocating for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights. In 2006, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) renamed its U.S. Open Grand Slam venue the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, making King the first woman to have a major sports stadium named after her. In 2009, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

King revisited her match with Riggs with AARP in 2017 and explained why she’s been an advocate for many different causes.

“When I was 12, I had an epiphany,” she said. “I was at the Los Angeles Tennis Club. It was the 1950s. I started thinking about my sport. Everyone was white. I said to myself, ‘Where is everybody else?’ It was heavy on my mind at the time.”

“I promised myself that I would fight for equal rights and opportunities for boys and girls, people. The King-Riggs match gave me the biggest platform I could ever have had.”