I was watching TV the other night and I found a documentary in HBO about Billie Jean King. The documentary explores the personal and professional life of this tennis legend, using rare footage, archival photos and interviews with King's partner Ilana Kloss, Rosie Casals and sports journalist Frank DeFord. For those that don't remember who she is, here is a little of history. She was the first female athlete to earn $100,000 in a year, which got her a congratulatory phone call from President Nixon. She was winner of a record 20 Wimbledon titles. An ardent feminist who had an abortion in 1973. Best buds with Elton John, who wrote "Philadelphia Freedom" in her honor. Founder of the Women's Tennis Assn., which pushed for bigger paydays for women players. Married for years before being outed in 1981 in a palimony suit, and named by Life magazine as one of the 100 most important Americans of the 20th century.
This documentary not only talks about what we watched in the video "Dare to compete". They also talked about her childhood, how her life change after being outed, all the things she had done for women in sports, and what is she doing lately.
I think this documentary helped me to understand more about women in sport history, and to learn more about this great women and athlete.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment