Ways of Grace

by James Blake

  Today the WTA is the global leader in women’s professional sports, with more than 2,500 players representing nearly one hundred nations competing for a record $139 million in prize money. A former world number one professional tennis player, King has won 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 singles, 16 women’s doubles, and 11 mixed-doubles titles. But somehow none of them would prove as memorable as her victory against Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes. This is in part because it was not only a win for King, it was a win for all women. King’s success that day and over the course of her stellar career inarguably paved the way for equality for all female athletes. Because of King, today equal prize money is awarded in all four major tennis tournaments for men and women.

  King was not just a pioneer of women’s tennis—she also pioneered equal pay for women off the courts. During the course of her life she helped change how women and men perceived feminine identity, women’s role in sports, and also the role of sports in social justice. Her match against Bobby Riggs proved that women were equal with men not only on the court, but also off the court, because her victory helped empower women to believe in themselves and their role in society. Because of King’s win, women felt empowered in the workforce to ask for a raise. Some women had waited ten or fifteen years to do so. But feeling empowered and on equal footing with men, women asked for raises in jobs they had worked at for years, without equal pay or raises, and many got them.

  King fought for equal rights for women because women have historically had fewer rights and freedoms and were also considered less than men. They were considered not as smart, not as strong, not as resourceful. But King knew none of this was true, and it drove her to want to make a difference in women’s lives. She wanted to be a voice for those she felt could not speak up for themselves. King’s challenge to sexism, the supportive climate of second-wave feminism, and the legislative clout of Title IX sparked a women’s sports revolution in the 1970s that fundamentally reshaped American society.

  What King did and continues to do as an activist and advocate moved female athletes forward in leaps and bounds and still affects them today. Sadly, there is still work to be done, as US women today earn seventy cents on the dollar to men. Companies employing women in positions of power are still far too rare. It appears that it takes women starting the companies (which, statistically, are more successful than those founded by men) to have their leadership roles filled with women. What King started must continue—we cannot lose the momentum. The sports community is lucky to have athletes like Venus Williams and Megan Rapinoe who are willing to fight and continue fighting for equality for women in sports.

  Know Your History

  King is vocal about the issues that are important to her and has been since the beginning of her career. I appreciate that she made time to speak with me for this book. I was curious to find out what drove her to be the outspoken advocate she has been and when the first time was that she felt the need to advocate. When I caught up with King I had a long list of questions to ask her. King is one of my tennis heroes. Not only has she been a trailblazing tennis player but she has been an activist throughout her entire forty-year tennis career. First and foremost, I wanted to find out about the first time King decided to advocate, the issue she spoke out about, and what that felt like for her. King didn’t have to think long about her answer.

  “I had an epiphany when I was twelve,” she responded. “I was at the Los Angeles Tennis Corp during the Pacific Southwest where all the top players would go after the US Nationals, which is the US Open now. I had played tennis about a year and I started to understand that tennis is a platform, it could take you places and you could do things with it. But I knew for me as a girl, it would be a different journey than for a boy. There are a lot of similarities between race and gender that people don’t pick up on sometimes. I do, because I’m a woman. I’m on the other side, a side that doesn’t always do as well. As a man of color, you and I should be hand in hand in a lot of issues that affect our race and gender. Of course, you have daughters now, so you’ll start to understand issues of gender through them.

  “That was the moment of truth for me, to decide that I was basically going to fight for equality for the rest of my life. To fight for the same opportunities as men. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, and it took me a long time to do it. I really fought for pro tennis, and sometimes that got me in trouble. Those were really difficult days to try to get the game to be professional, and on fourteen dollars a day, women made far less than the men. It really bothered me. Growing up, my sports were team sports; basketball was my favorite. Then I played baseball, softball. I loved track and field. You know, the professional sports. To me, to be a professional always meant you’re the best.

  “I then get into tennis, my last sport ever, which I didn’t know anything about. I fell in love with tennis. I read the history. I learned everything I could. In my mind as I went through my journey, I was always fighting for equality, all types of equality, not only gender equality. When we finally had professional tennis I wanted the men and women to have the same association. The men rejected us. They said no. Plan B was to start a women’s professional tennis, which we were lucky to be able to do.

  “It was quite a journey, and as you go through those moments, you start to build a platform. As pro athletes, we are very fortunate that we have exposure. It’s our job to use it as long as we’re careful, thoughtful, and kind. But also tough. It’s amazing to have this opportunity. It’s a blessing. That’s how I feel every day when I wake up. I count my blessings, and think, What can I do today to make the world a better place? If you think that way, you’ll notice opportunities to speak up. That was why I played Bobby Riggs. It was no athletic feat to beat him. It was an opportunity for social change.

  “Before 1972 there were classroom quotas. For instance, as a woman, if you wanted to go to medical school at Harvard, the quota in the classroom before 1972 for women was five percent. If your daughter wanted to study medicine at Harvard, before 1972, she had a five percent chance of getting in because of the quota. I want to get fifty-fifty all the time, that was our battle. Today it’s about fifty-seven percent women. When people who have been oppressed get the doors open, they take advantage of it. It’s like breathing. It’s like truly breathing the air for the first time. That’s what we did with the WTA.

  “As I said, when I decided to play Bobby Riggs, it was about social change. It wasn’t about tennis. What happened during that match was important on two fronts. One was a chance to change the world’s perception of women as athletes, change not only men’s perception of women, but also a woman’s perception of what she was capable of. The second was we got tennis exposed to the world like never before in the history of our sport. We’re a new sport professionally. So the timing for both men’s and women’s pro tennis was fantastic. That was the explosion of the country’s and the world’s interest in tennis. It was because of that match. The match was seen by ninety million people worldwide and around forty or fifty million here.

  “Within six months, you couldn’t get a tennis court. Men in the league never really talk about it. They never bring it up or mention it. Yet it’s helped give tennis players and the associations a lot more exposure. That was the reason. It wasn’t the pro tours. The pro tours got their first network contracts because of that match as well. No one talks about it in connection to the match. That match really changed the way the world perceived professional tennis. It is the same as speaking out about issues that are important to you. It’s not how you perceive it but how the world perceives it. That’s what we try to change. At that time it was important how the world perceived it.

  “It’s no different, James, from what you are doing by speaking out about your incident with the police officer. You are trying to do the right thing and speak out for people of color. What’s been happening to young African American boys, is just not right. I remember hearing Hillary’s first campaign speech at the David Dinkins ev
ent at Columbia. That was her first campaign speech. It was all about the incarceration of young African Americans. It was an amazing speech, discussing what she would do to try to make it better. I thought that as the subject matter for her first campaign speech it was amazing. We have to keep trying to do the right thing, to speak out for people who don’t have your voice or platform. I think any time I can speak out, then good. I’ve had so many opportunities to speak out. But you have to think about what you’re doing, not just feel impassioned to do it. You have to be careful emotionally when you become active, because sometimes it takes on a life of its own.”

  I knew exactly what King meant by “it takes on a life of its own.” When I decided to speak to the media about my incident in New York, I had no idea that I might end up where I am today, as an advocate for victims of police misconduct or the author of a book about sports activism. As such, I was curious about how King prepared for her role as an advocate. Every athlete prepares for protest differently. How did she prepare for advocacy—to make a statement or to commit an act of activism? And how should a young athlete go about it, or is it something that just comes naturally? Clearly there is no handbook about activism, yet it’s a role that athletes have found themselves in for decades.

  “First of all they need to read history,” King answered almost immediately. “The more you know about history, the more you know about yourself. I read Founding Sisters, for instance. These are the women who sacrificed everything so that women could vote. Then I read books about male gender too, because I like both. My advocacy isn’t limited to only one gender. I’m really big on including everyone, men, women. Just trying to get equality in the workplace to be equal. It’s the pay, it’s the advancement. It’s the opportunity, empathy. All the things that are important. It’s not only about diversity and inclusion. You can have inclusion if you have diversity, and diversity with no inclusion. For me, it’s about equality across the board. In the workplace it starts on the corporate level.

  “Of course I fight for girls and women in sports. We founded the Women’s Sports Foundation in 1974. We are the guardian angels of Title IX in sports. If you read something about girls in sports it’s usually based on our research. We’ve given out more than eighty million dollars in grants to girls and organizations that empower them. We also do a program with espnW called Sports 4 Life. It offers grants to increase Latinas’ and African American girls’ participation in sports. They are the ones who are often left behind. If they get into sports they’ll do better academically. They’ll graduate.

  “After I played Bobby Riggs I started the Women’s Sports Foundation. I had an opportunity, I had a platform. I had exposure. People knew who I was. I knew Title IX could be weakened over the years. How important it was to vote for it. It’s only thirty-seven words, but what it really states is, ‘No discrimination based on sex.’ Which meant girls can’t be discriminated against. If things had been reversed, the boys would have been as behind as the girls were. Whatever the situation may be, it’s about equality. Those are the things I care about. Everything I care about is based on equality.

  “If you’re in collegiate or professional sports, you have an opportunity to stand up and be counted. Make sure you think about how you want to speak out. What’s at stake? You have to decide carefully when you do something, because it’s with you forever. You have to decide if that’s the way you want to express yourself. There’s a lot of thought that should go into it. If you don’t think it through, your intention won’t be clear. For instance, take the Rooney Rule. Even though the intention was one hundred percent good you’re not guaranteed how it will be received.”

  King’s point about the Rooney Rule and its intention is an interesting one. The Rooney Rule is named after Dan Rooney, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the chairman of the league’s diversity committee. It was created by the National Football League in 2003 and requires every franchise to interview at least one minority candidate for the head coaching position when there is a vacancy. The rule is clear that a minority candidate must be interviewed for a head coaching position when one opens up. It says nothing, though, about actually having to hire one. This can be considered a loophole. A team can follow the rule by interviewing a minority member for a head coaching position without really considering him as a possible candidate.

  I agree with King that the Rooney Rule is well intentioned, and some people believe that there are African American coaches who were able to secure their positions because of the rule. Some people in the football community believe that is how Mike Tomlin got the head coaching position for the Steelers, which is owned by the Rooney family, primarily by Dan Rooney and his son Art II. But I don’t believe it has made the difference that it was supposed to or that people hoped it would.

  In addition to knowing your history and thinking through your statement or act so your intentions are not misconstrued, did King have any other advice on how to prepare for advocacy or activism? Also, with all the protests in the months before our talk in 2016, has she found any difference today in the activist athlete culture from that in the ’70s, when she had her epic match and started on her path to activism?

  “Those are the kinds of things I think everyone who wants to create change should think about,” King replied. “When I give lectures and talks I always tell the audience that it’s about them, it’s not about me. It’s about their influences on life and on others. And that it’s really important to actively listen. When they have the urge or the spirit moves them to speak, you have to be kind, and you have to be careful, but also bold. Think about it, plan it out, and then go for it. When you go for it, you go per volley. I think it really is good if you’re calm, thoughtful, and maybe ask others who have spoken out in the past. Think it through. If you have time. Sometimes you don’t have time. When I haven’t had time to think something through I just go with my truth, whatever it is. Just go with it. As long as I’m trying to be kind and good and thoughtful, and truthful, I figure I’ll be okay.

  “As for the difference between the activism during my playing years and today, I think the seventies were an amazing time. There were so many things changing, and the movement for women’s equality and rights for women was very strong at that time. Women couldn’t get a credit card until 1973 without a man cosigning for it. So much has changed since then, clearly. Then there was a gap when athletes were quiet. No one said anything for a while. To me I never felt I knew Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods as human beings. For a while they dominated sports. I always felt that they were on a pursuit of excellence. I can understand that, especially operating at their level athletically. But what did they feel about society? What did they feel about people of color? What did they think? They never talked about their personal take on those things. So I thought there was a big gap there for a while. Today the athletes are much more active, and much more into activism than they’ve ever been.”

  I agree with King. Activism since the ’70s has changed drastically, because in the ’70s there was an activist culture. Then there was definitely a huge gap, particularly during the time Michael Jordan was widely reported to have said, “Republicans buy sneakers too.” This quote has been debunked, but it is indicative of the era at that time. That gap could have been because of corporate sponsorship, either fear of losing endorsers or fear of not attracting them. Today there has been a huge surge in sports activism. For instance, LeBron James has advocated on two fronts. He used his voice to endorse Hillary Clinton for president and he also uses his substantial economic resources to create change in communities that need it. And Steph Curry, who had been pretty quiet and low key on the activism front, recently spoke out because he disagreed with Kevin Plank, the Under Armour CEO, who said that Donald Trump was an asset.

  Athletes today are more willing to speak up. Social media has also changed our reach. Every athlete has a direct link to his or her fans all the time. This is something athletes did not have on the same level in the ’80s or ’90s
. Also, in those days, the beat reporters in the locker rooms would ask questions specific only to the game just played, not about athletes’ points of view of social issues, which we’re seeing more of today. So the fans did not get to know them in those days. As Billie Jean King said, fans didn’t know Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, we didn’t know how they felt about society. Today, you can find out such information through the 24/7 news cycle or from social media. There is so much more the professional athlete can talk about. We all have a point of view. Today we are able to learn about athletes on a more personal level, about their personalities and their perspective on society. Did King think there was more athletes could be doing today to spark change, and if so, what? And should athletes feel a responsibility to be involved in advocacy and activism? Is this a role we can and should take on? King didn’t need to pause for her answer.

  “Yes, I do believe that athletes are in a position to create change. With the money and the wealth today’s athletes have, they can take more chances now. More risk as well. It’s not like when I was making fourteen dollars a day. And even then I was almost suspended. The Original Nine who started women’s professional tennis—we were threatened that we’d never get to play again. So when you’re making no money, that’s one thing, but at the levels so many of these athletes are playing at today it is a lot tougher. I’ve always loved LeBron because he speaks out. He loves Cleveland and has tried to improve his community. He’s very different from Michael Jordan. He’s gonna make a big difference in the world. To me it’s always been much more important what I did off the court, than what I did on. I always wanted to be a force off the court. That’s what matters most to me in my life.