| NAGWS is delighted to honor the 2003 Guiding Woman in Sport, tennis great Billie Jean King.
As one of the 20th century’s most respected women, Billie Jean King has long been a champion for social change and equality.
King, one of the most illustrious and celebrated tennis players in history, is recognized for spearheading the women's movement in tennis and for her life-long struggle for equality in women's tennis. King empowered women and educated men when she defeated Bobby Riggs in one of the greatest moments in sports history – the Battle of the Sexes in 1973.
On the court, King left a lasting and indelible mark. She won a record 20 Wimbledon titles with six of them in singles (1966-67-68-72-73-75), won the U.S. Open four times (1967-71-72-74), the French Open in 1972 and the Australian Open in 1968. She was ranked No. 1 in the world five times between 1966 and 1972 and was in the Top 10 a total of 17 years (beginning in 1960.)
King has been heralded as an ardent defender of equal rights for all. Through her foundation, World TeamTennis Charities, King works to inspire all humankind in the pursuit of excellence regardless of race, gender, physical or mental challenges, appearance, or sexual orientation.
Although her place in tennis has certainly been secured as one of the all-time greats, King remains active in the sport she loves. King, who has coached Olympic and Fed Cup teams, led the U.S. squad to five Olympic medals and the 1999 and 2000 Fed Cup titles. She has also done tennis commentary on HBO, CTV, ABC, CBS and NBC.
King has had a long and impressive career of firsts. In 1970, King was one of nine players who broke away from the tennis establishment and accepted $1 contracts from tennis promoter Gladys Heldman in Houston. The revolt lead to the formation of the Virginia Slims Tour and Women’s Tennis Association. In 1971, she was the first woman athlete to win more than $100,000 in any sport. In 1974 she became the first woman to coach a professional team with men when she served as player/coach for the Philadelphia Freedoms of World TeamTennis.
She is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the National Women's Hall of Fame. She is the founder of the Women's Tennis Association and the Women's Sports Foundation.
Also being honored with the Patsy Mink Memorial Title IX at 30 Award is Donna Lopiano. Lopiano is currently Executive Director of the Women’s Sports Foundation.
Lopiano is consistently listed among the top executives in the sports industry in publications such as The Sporting News and Sports Business Journal and considered an expert on Title IX and gender equity issues.
She has been a college coach of men’s and women’s volleyball, and women’s basketball, and softball. She was a college athletic program administrator for 23 years, most notably at the University of Texas at Austin where for an 18 year period as Director of Women’s Athletics, she ran one of the top Division I programs in the county. As an athlete, she participated in 26 national championships in four sports and was a nine-time All-American at four different positions in softball, a sport in which she played on six national championship teams. |