Billie Jean King's Real Name: Billie Jean Moffitt

Quick answer: The tennis champion is known professionally as Billie Jean King. Her official biography and an International Tennis Hall of Fame profile both record that she was born Billie Jean Moffitt on November 22, 1943, in Long Beach, California. Those accounts agree on the professional name she later used after marriage; they differ on the year of that marriage.

Real name and early life

The official biography says Billie Jean Moffitt was born on November 22, 1943, in Long Beach, California, to Bill, a firefighter, and Betty, a homemaker. The Hall of Fame independently gives the same date and city, and says she was raised in Long Beach. Both accounts say she attended California State University, Los Angeles. The official biography dates that attendance to 1961 to 1964 and says she married law student Larry King in 1965. The Hall of Fame says she married lawyer Larry King in 1966. The sources differ on the marriage years. The official biography also says she first played tennis after a friend introduced her to the sport and that she practiced on Long Beach public courts.

Career highlights

Both accounts say she first attracted international attention in 1961, when she and Karen Hantze Susman became the youngest pair to win the Wimbledon women's doubles title. Both record her first major singles championship at Wimbledon in 1966, later world No. 1 rankings, a record 20 Wimbledon titles, and a career total of 39 major titles in singles and doubles. The official biography says that in 1971 she became the first woman athlete to earn over $100,000 in prize money; the Hall of Fame independently calls her the first woman in the history of sports to win $100,000 in a single year. Both discuss the founding of the Women's Tennis Association, with King as its first president, and the campaign that made the U.S. Open the first major tournament to offer equal prize money. Both also discuss her 1973 "Battle of the Sexes" match against Bobby Riggs, which the official biography says she won 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. Both name World TeamTennis and the Women's Sports Foundation, and both record her 1987 induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Billie Jean King or Billie Jean Moffitt are looking for the same tennis champion. The married name is the professional name used in both sources.