Larry King (tennis)
Larry King | |
|---|---|
_copy.jpg) | |
| Born | Lawrence William King January 30, 1945 Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | May 29, 2026 (aged 81) Grass Valley, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Attorney from University of California/Sports Promoter |
| Known for | Founder of World Team Tennis |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Lawrence William King (January 30, 1945 – May 29, 2026) was an American sports promoter.
Early life and education
King was born in Dayton, Ohio, and raised in Eagle Rock, California. He met Billie Jean Moffitt at California State University, Los Angeles, in 1963, when he played on one of the school's best men's tennis teams, coached by Scotty Deeds. He married Billie Jean on September 17, 1965, in her hometown of Long Beach, California.[1]
Career
In 1973, along with Dennis Murphy, Jordan Kaiser, and Fred Barman, King developed the concept of World Team Tennis, and started the league the following year.[2] In 1974, King and Billie Jean co-founded and began publishing WomenSports magazine.
In 1976, King invented a smokeless ashtray, called The Clean Air King. In 1984, Billie Jean became the major owner of World Team Tennis.
King and Dennis Murphy also founded Roller Hockey International, a professional hockey league that operated from 1993 to 1999.[3] Previously, Murphy had also been instrumental in the founding of the American Basketball Association and the World Hockey Association.
King, a director and master duplicate bridge player, founded the Money Bridge tour.[4] He also founded Bridge University to promote bridge throughout the country.
Marriage, personal life and death
King had a significant impact on the rise of his first wife's fame. Billie Jean King was not always a feminist icon; in the 1960s he encouraged her to start thinking about the lack of sports scholarships for women. He never tried to tear down Billie Jean's aspirations of becoming a tennis superstar and promoted her success continuously.[5]
In 1971, Billie Jean King had an abortion that was made public in a Ms. magazine article.[6] Larry had revealed Billie Jean's abortion without consulting her.[6]
In 1973, Billie Jean defeated Bobby Riggs in a well-publicized match. In 2017, the film Battle of the Sexes was released. In the film, King was shown as becoming aware, that year, of Billie Jean's infidelity with another woman, and decided to ignore it; King said that was false.[7]
Billie Jean King had an affair with her former secretary, Marilyn Barnett, during Larry and Billie Jean's marriage. In 1981, Billie Jean admitted publicly that the relationship had taken place, in response to a lawsuit by Barnett that asked for palimony.[8] King and Billie Jean divorced in 1987.[9]
King lived in Grass Valley, California, with his wife. According to the film Battle of the Sexes, Billie Jean King and her partner Ilana Kloss are godparents to the Kings' children.
King died from prostate cancer on May 29, 2026, at the age of 81.[10]
References
- ↑ "Billie Jean King of Her Family", Long Beach Press-Telegram, November 23, 1965, page C-4
- ↑ Collins, Bud "A Look at the History of World Team Tennis", World Tennis magazine, July 24, 2010, accessed June 24, 2011.
- ↑ Robb, Sharon "It Looks Like Hockey — but On Wheels"[link removed], South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., June 5, 1993, accessed June 24, 2011.
- ↑ Granovetter, Matthew (June 14, 2004). "Tennis or Bridge Anyone?". Bridge Today. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
- ↑ Ware, Susan (2015). Game, set, match: Billie Jean King and the revolution in women's sports. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9781469622033.
- 1 2 Stanley, Alessandra (April 26, 2006). "The Legacy of Billie Jean King, an Athlete Who Demanded Equal Play". The New York Times. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
- ↑ Hein, Michael (November 28, 2017). "Larry King Calls 'Battle of the Sexes' Lesbian Subplot 'Total BS'". Movies. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
- ↑ "Billie Jean King wins palimony case". UPI. November 19, 1982. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
- ↑ Westfall, Sandra Sobieraj (August 11, 2021). "Billie Jean King Reveals Her 'Secret' 2018 Marriage and Thoughts on New Generation's 'Fluid' Sexuality". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
- ↑ "Larry King, ex-husband of Billie Jean King who helped with growth of women's pro tennis, dies at 81". AP News. May 30, 2026. Retrieved May 30, 2026.
External links
- Larry King at IMDb