If there's anyone who is getting tired of reading about The Billies, too bad! Nah, this really should be my last posting about the great event held Wednesday night. I talked to several great female athletes about Billie Jean King's contributions to sports and society and here is some of what they had to say:
Lisa Leslie: "She's the only female athlete that I actually saw on television and I think that just the fact that she's opened the door for us and really been a catalyst of Title IX and helping us to have scholarships and the opportunities. I would have never been able to get to USC. Billie Jean King has so much of an impact not just on me but any child born in 1972 [the year of Title IX] and beyond."
Donna de Varona, the Olympic Gold Medalist in swimming and longtime sports broadcaster, told me how she and Billie Jean came together to launch the foundation back in 1974. "Right after she beat Bobby Riggs, I said, 'Why don't we join forces? I'll bring the Olympic community to tennis, you've done so much for women's sports and tennis, we'll put our heads together, we'll start a foundation. She wrote the check and founded the foundation and I was its first president. So we've been friends ever since."
Donna is glad to see people appreciating King so much these days.
"It's about time!" she says. "And at least they did it while she's still alive and can add her personality to the naming of the [United States] Tennis Cenrter, the Hall of Fame in New York and this event. Billie Jean has been able to come back to the foundation and really breathe new life and new energy and create these awards that honor journalists which I think is very important."
Tracy Austin: "I believe that naming the National Tennis Center after Billie Jean King was really, really important not only for women tennis players, but for women in sports," Tracy added. "All women in sports have to realize what she's done, stood up for what is right and stood up for equal rights. But it's not just equal rights for women. She wants equal rights for everybody, for all races, for young and old, she wants everybody to be thought of as equal."
Lindsay Davenport: "When I was about 15 or 16 and first started playing on the tour, I really got an appreciation for Billie Jean - at first because of what she has done for tennis and how she paved the way for players like myself to be fortunate enough to earn a living. The more time you spend with Billie and the more you're around it, you learn that she really kind of paved the way for all women's sports and all female athletes by fighting for what she believed in."