Grand Marshal Billie Jean King sparks loud cheers in Rose Parade – Pasadena Star News

Billie Jean King, with her signature dark hair and red glasses and rosy blazer, was unmistakable as she left the Tournament House on Pasadena’s Orange Grove Avenue on the morning of Wednesday, January 1st.

She quickly got into the car labeled “Grand Marshal,” a 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III, and sat next to her wife, Ilana Kloss, as the tennis star and activist for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights waited to lead the 136th Tournament of Roses Parade – a 5.5-mile slow ride along Colorado Boulevard.

And the wave, the smile began.

Before the trip began, she noted how much the parade itself touched her life early on.

“I’ll always remember that,” she said Wednesday. “Growing up in Long Beach. It was such a part of my life. The whole family would watch the Rose Bowl Parade. and then we would watch the football game. It was something we would look forward to every January 1st. It was a wonderful opportunity .”

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Tournament President Ed Morales was his easy choice for Grand Marshal, an ideal grand marshal suited to the parade’s theme, “Best Day Ever!”

Her career highlights and impact on society are undeniably astounding.

When she was just 17, the Long Beach native won her first women’s doubles title at Wimbledon. In her career, she won 39 Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles.

Between 1961 and 1979, she won a record 20 Wimbledon titles, 13 US titles (including four singles), four French Open titles (one singles) and two Australian Open titles (one singles).

And what a year 1972 was: US Open, French Open and Wimbledon – three Grand Slams in one year.

She spent six years as the top-ranked female tennis player in the world.

But all the while, tennis was a stage for something bigger.

She pushed for equal prize money in the men’s and women’s fights. His online biography notes that in 1970 she competed in the women’s Virginia Slims Tour, and in 1971 she became the first female athlete to earn over $100,000 in prize money. Still, when she won the US Open in 1972, King received $15,000 less than the men’s champion at the time, Ilie Năstase.

She was instrumental in fighting for equal prize money for female tennis players and pushed for the passage of Title IX, a federal law that provides equal funding for men’s and women’s sports programs, prohibits discrimination based on gender or sex in schools and colleges.

Her legendary “Battle of the Sexes” victory in 1973 against Bobby Riggs, a former men’s world no. 1 player, was watched by more than 90 million people worldwide.

The result: 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 and a victory on the march towards sporting equity.

At the top of her game that year, she led the formation of the Women’s Tennis Association and became its first president. The inclusive World Team Tennis would follow, as well as the Women’s Sports Foundation, with a mission to promote girls’ access to sport.

The barriers would keep coming and King would keep turning them down. In 1981, she was outed as a lesbian and lost her endorsement deals. However, in 1987 she would be elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and in 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center in New York was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

She retired in 1990, a giant on and off the field.