HBO will present Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer—a look at the personal and professional lives of the landmark athlete and activist—starting April 26 at 9 p.m. CT. The documentary tells the story of an athlete who revolutionized sports for women and encouraged women to pursue endeavors outside the traditional realm of the home.
King's personal life is well-known to even the casual sports fan. Born Billie Jean Moffitt on Nov. 22, 1943, in Long Beach, Calif., King was the daughter of a stay-at-home mother and a firefighter father. She sharpened her tennis game on public courts in Long Beach, and won her first noteworthy championship in 1961 in the Wimbledon doubles competition with partner Karen Hantze.
King won her first singles championship at Wimbledon in 1966, which led to her No. 1 world ranking. She was the women's singles champ at Wimbledon the following two years as well, and finished her Wimbledon career with a record 20 titles on the site's grass courts. ( She ended up with almost 40 Grand Slam titles overall. )
The televised event also takes an in-depth look at King's rise as an international icon of women's equality, with the defining moment coming on Sept. 20, 1973. On that day, King topped former 1939 men's Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. An estimated 90 million television viewers worldwide witnessed the victory of the pioneer whose ultimate mark on society far surpassed her 39 Grand Slam titles.
Among other achievements, she was the first female athlete to win over $100,000 prize money in a single season. King also spoke out for women and their right to earn comparable money in tennis and other sports.
www.hbo.com/events/billiejeanking/index.html for more info.