Former professional tennis player Billie Jean King gives a presentation titled “Women In Sports, Title IX, Careers in Sports, and World Team Tennis” as a final lecture for Olin’s Sports Management course.

Former professional tennis player Billie Jean King came to the University as part of an Olin Business School special presentation: “Women In Sports, Title IX, Careers in Sports, and World Team Tennis.”

The presentation, which served as the final lecture for Olin’s Sports Management course, also featured former player and current CEO and Commissioner of World Team Tennis, Ilana Kloss. Professors Todd Milbourn and Seth Abraham, the instructors for the course, said that the event was in the planning stages for two years.

“I think the big thing this does is to take two phenomenal professional athletes, arguably one of the greatest ever, who then made the transition into the business side of it,” Milbourn said. “And for us, it shows everything you want the course to highlight: If this is your passion, go after it, and there’s a success story.”

King and Kloss also spoke with Washington University athletes about their college and athletics experiences.

In an interview with the media before the lecture itself, King discussed a range of topics, including the importance of her famed 1973 “Battle of the Sexes.” In the match, she defeated Robert Larimore “Bobby” Riggs, once the men’s No. 1 overall player, in what was considered a landmark victory for women in sports.

“What I really wanted to do more than anything else was to beat Bobby Riggs, because I wanted to start, at least, to change the hearts and minds of the people to match Title IX,” King said, “and that is to have equality of federal funds going to both boys and girls.”

Title IX, a law that was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1972 that bans gender discrimination in high school and collegiate athletics, was a key point of King’s discussion, especially after recent news that several Division I schools have “played around” with their rosters to circumvent the regulations.

“Title IX was passed June 23, 1972, and I played Bobby in September ’73, so I knew it was about social change,” King said. “It was at the height of the women’s movement in this country.

“Title IX was one of the reasons I started the [Women’s Sports] Foundation,” she added. “It was to change attitudes. Attitudes have definitely changed.”

Kloss and King drew parallels between sports and success.

“As an athlete, you are always getting immediate feedback,” Kloss said. “The gun goes off and you’ve got to play. It doesn’t matter if it’s windy or cold or if you couldn’t sleep well, it really does teach you to accept responsibility and make the very best of every situation. You learn quickly and adjust, that’s what is great about sports. I think people who succeed in life have the ability to put themselves on the other side of the table, the other side of the net, so you can understand both sides.”

“Athletes have an unbelievable advantage in life if they would just use what they learned on the field or in the court,” King added. “Every single day of my life, I use something I learned in sports.”

King shared what they planned to speak to the students about during their meeting, which focused on success in life and in business.

“There are three points in life that I think are really important,” King said. “Learn how to learn; relationships are everything; be a problem solver. That’s what you are as an athlete…you are always solving the challenge of the moment.”

“It’s about participating and being the best that you can be,” Kloss added. “I think…it’s really about setting a goal, and you try to accomplish that goal. It’s more about your personal goal, not the goal that other people are setting for you. It’s really about being the best you can be, whatever that is.”

King said that men and women struggle to work together, partly because they are not used to it.

“It’s very difficult [for women to move into sports management positions]. Women and men are not used to being 50-50 in a group,” King said. “It’s like, what do we do now? They didn’t know what to do.”

However, King conceded that there has been progress.

“It’s all about equal rights and opportunities,” King said. “Nothing’s changed, for everyone. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, you do it for both genders, you can’t lose. You always win.”