Sports Pioneer Billie Jean King and USA Today columnist Christine Brennan
Bobby Riggs had been a championship tennis player in the 1940's and declared that a male athlete could beat a female athlete no matter what the age. He then defeated women's champion Margaret Court in a nationally televised match in May of 1973. He then challenged Billie Jean King who defeated him handily in straight sets later in the year.
After Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes" in September 1973, Christine Brennan told fellow students "We won!" and it became "the most empowering moment in my life."
Brennan asked, "Were you nervous?" King, now 63, replied, "I couldn't even breathe for 2 months. As each day went by I got calmer and calmer and I let go about 20 minutes before the match."
When did you know you had him? "When I shook hands." King said, "For me. It felt like it was life or death."
King said that men who witnessed the match when they were about 10 years old now come up to her and thank her and say "I have a daughter now."
http://www.clevelandwomen.com/arts/billie-jean-king.htm
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