{"id":1649,"date":"2026-05-19T02:39:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T02:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/?p=1649"},"modified":"2026-05-19T02:39:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T02:39:37","slug":"billie-jean-king-graduates-from-college-at-age-82-after-leaving-for-tennis-yeah-baby-only-61-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/2026\/05\/19\/billie-jean-king-graduates-from-college-at-age-82-after-leaving-for-tennis-yeah-baby-only-61-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Billie Jean King graduates from college at age 82 after leaving for tennis: \u2018Yeah baby, only 61 years!\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"border-color:var(--article-border);background-color:var(--article-inner-background)\" class=\"dcr-wqti5a\">\n<div class=\"dcr-2zxs1v\">\n<div style=\"--grid-area:media\" data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tr9ye5\">\n<figure id=\"4853658c-d0b6-4389-bfff-7af19f9d1962\" class=\"dcr-142siv7\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t8m8f2\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Billie Jean King poses with her diploma\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d690076efdd938e1358d1f0f866638032e53e3a8\/0_0_6000_4000\/master\/6000.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"310\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-evn1e9\"><span class=\"dcr-v822l1\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-gup2gr\">\n<div class=\"dcr-fntg6k\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-1xgwz8b\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1os51wo\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Tennis legend Billie Jean King receives her diploma during commencement in Los Angeles.<\/span> Photograph: Jae C Hong\/AP<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-13fd1ms\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"4853658c-d0b6-4389-bfff-7af19f9d1962\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-4tmywn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-194i6pr\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-n4pnam\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1hdkqum\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Tennis legend Billie Jean King receives her diploma during commencement in Los Angeles.<\/span> Photograph: Jae C Hong\/AP<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:border\" data-gu-name=\"border\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:headline\" data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1aqe7zu\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-1k1a1x\">Billie Jean King graduates from college at age 82 after leaving for tennis: \u2018Yeah baby, only 61 years!\u2019<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:standfirst\" data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-15in7js\">\n<p>King distinguished herself as a tennis champ at Cal State Los Angeles, winning Wimbledon doubles while enrolled<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:body\" data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-kn9unn\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1a4fred\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-ydnaza\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-1c9t5u6\">\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">When Billie Jean King left college in 1964, she had a purpose. Within a few years, she had become the top-ranked tennis professional in the world. Over a trailblazing career, she won 39 championships, a Presidential Medal of Freedom and a congressional Medal of Honor \u2013 all while pushing publicly for gender and pay equality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Last year, she finally returned to finish the degree in history she started more than six decades ago. On Monday, she graduated, at 82 years old.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cIt is a privilege for me to be here as a member of your graduating class,\u201d King said at her commencement. \u201cYeah baby, only 61 years!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">King recalled growing up in a working-class family, the daughter of a firefighter father and homemaker mother.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cLike so many of my fellow graduates, I am the first member of my immediate family to graduate college, like many of you,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">She chose Cal State Los Angeles, then known as Los Angeles State College, because the tennis coach, Scotty Deeds, trained men and women together. He said it would help give her the level of competition she needed to excel.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"7ebf9687-91d4-42ce-bb8e-787975d8d3f0\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-173mewl\">\n<div id=\"img-2\" class=\"dcr-1t8m8f2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Billie Jean King tosses tennis balls to graduates\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/5bd18cf6c1fb1cbe4de87daee6edded7fd6a2b63\/0_0_5172_3448\/master\/5172.jpg?width=445&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"445\" height=\"296.66666666666663\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"dcr-evn1e9\"><a href=\"#img-2\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-13fd1ms\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"7ebf9687-91d4-42ce-bb8e-787975d8d3f0\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-4tmywn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-194i6pr\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-fd61eq\"><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Tennis legend Billie Jean King tosses tennis balls to graduates after delivering remarks during commencement at California State University, Los Angeles.<\/span> Photograph: Jae C Hong\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cTheir approach to winning in tennis was revolutionary at the time,\u201d King said of Deeds and the women\u2019s coach Dr Joan Johnson. \u201cEven today most collegiate D-1 and D-2 tennis teams do not have the women and men practice together. Scotty and Dr Johnson had it right and they took the extra step for their student athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">King distinguished herself as a tennis champ in college, winning Wimbledon doubles while enrolled. King was 18 and her partner, Karen Hantze, was 17, making them the <a href=\"https:\/\/ca.style.yahoo.com\/tennis-legend-billie-jean-king-195733875.html\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">youngest team to win<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">But King told the crowd that her true motivation since childhood had been to fight discrimination, a calling she first remembered feeling at age 12, when she realized that virtually everyone at the tennis clubs where she trained was white.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cI asked myself, where is everybody else?\u201d King said. \u201cFrom that day forward, I committed my life to equality and inclusion for all. Tennis is a global sport and it became my platform, but equality was my dream \u2013 to make the world a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">She added: \u201cWe can never understand inclusion unless we\u2019ve been excluded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">King, one of the first openly gay professional athletes, founded the Women\u2019s Tennis Association in 1973 and successfully campaigned to get the US Open to pay equal purses at the US Open. That same year, she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/08\/26\/sports\/tennis\/the-opens-breakthrough-of-1973.html\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">defeated Bobby Riggs in a historic match<\/a> billed \u201cThe Battle of the Sexes\u201d \u2013 a feat later dramatized in a Hollywood film staring Emma Stone and Steve Carell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">King ended her speech with words of advice for her fellow graduates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cHave fun,\u201d King said. \u201cBe fearless. And make history.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-qxqnsy\"><span class=\"dcr-1rq3vad\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-1dzx48f\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-1rrvs2w\">\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-news\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US news<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/west-coast\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">West Coast<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/california\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">California<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-nu129i\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Billie%20Jean%20King%20graduates%20from%20college%20at%20age%2082%20after%20leaving%20for%20tennis:%20%E2%80%98Yeah%20baby,%20only%2061%20years!%E2%80%99&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/18\/billie-jean-king-college-graduation?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-125qj9d\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-zhx6xs\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Fmay%2F18%2Fbillie-jean-king-college-graduation&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/may\/18\/billie-jean-king-college-graduation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-14rjinq\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:right-column\" data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1h2hraq\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tn16h9\">\n<section class=\"dcr-1hko8ef\"><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tennis legend Billie Jean King receives her diploma during commencement in Los Angeles. 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