Thousands of people in America will collect their college degrees this weekend, among the roughly 2 million students expected to graduate this spring.
Only one of them will do so having won 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 in singles.
“I’m still getting messages all day long, I can’t keep up,” Billie Jean King said in an interview Friday, a little less than a week after she walked the stage at California State University, Los Angeles, to collect her diploma — a real one, not one of those honorary degrees that are granted to famous public figures — 65 years after she started studying for it.
“It’s a nice problem to have. And then I’ve got presents,” she said.
King has done a lot in life. She became the world’s best tennis player. She became a groundbreaking symbol of equity in sports when she beat Bobby Riggs in the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes.” It’s still the most-watched tennis match in history.
She led the group that created what is now the WTA Tour. She has championed and pioneered women’s sports as much as anyone.
For more than six decades, though, she felt her resumé still had a hole in it. She never finished the history degree that she started at Cal State in 1961, because that whole tennis thing kind of got in the way.
At 82, just as she did at 17, King prides herself on being a history buff and a learner. And, someone who finishes what she starts.
King chose the school for the opportunity to play college tennis for a program where the men and women practiced together. Three years later, in 1964, she received another opportunity: Training in Australia with Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall and other Australian greats.
She took it, and it changed her life. But it also made her the latest King to attend college without picking up the receipt. Her parents didn’t finish college. Neither did her brother, Randy Moffitt, who left Cal State Long Beach after the San Francisco Giants drafted him into the MLB.
That’s what made King want to finish what she started. It still seemed like a big hill to climb. She thought she needed two more years of credits to receive her diploma, until last year, when she had Marjorie Gantman, who works for her company, Billie Jean King Enterprises, call the college to find out the specifics.
Gantman told her she only needed one year of credits, not two.
“Psychologically, that made a huge difference,” King said.
“I had to read, read, read, read, read,” she said. “I took this one class about women’s sports, which is rare. They didn’t have that in the old days.
“Some of the books were around the 1970s and Title 9,” she said of the groundbreaking civil rights law that helped pave the road to equality for women’s college sports.
“I was there when things were happening, and they didn’t get everything right in the books.”
Professor Kym Morrison’s class, “History of Latin American Women,” pushed her big-time. The oral exams, which were conducted online like all of her studies, were brutal.
And then, last weekend, King became the first member of her immediate family to receive a university diploma. She also gave the graduation speech, completing a 65-year journey.
“Just remember, your legacy is what others think of you,” she told her classmates. “What is important is the value of the contributions you make.”
She spoke of three guiding principles for achieving inner and outer success.
“Relationships are everything. Relationships with yourself, your loved ones, your family, faith and friends.”
“Keep learning and keep learning how to learn.”
“Be a problem solver and an innovator.”
“Our decisions, our actions and our voices will shape what comes next,” she said. “Have fun, be fearless, and make history. I will leave you with the inspiring words of one of my heroes, Dolores Huerta: ‘Sí, se puede! Yes, you can!’”
