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1943-
Opened minds by beating Bobby Riggs in 1973 "Battle of the Sexes"; opened doors by helping establish Women's Sports Foundation in '74.

King's biggest wins had impact far beyond the court.   Walter Iooss Jr.

Never mind the 39 Grand Slam titles, 695 match victories or the redoubtable career that lasted more than two decades. Mention Billie Jean King's name and the images first conjured are not of a tennis champion. Instead, King's legacy is that of a trailblazer who used her fame on the court to smooth the pavement for the next generation of female athletes.

The daughter of a fireman and a homemaker, King was imbued with an activist spirit as a middle-class prodigy trying to infiltrate a country-club sport. While she practiced tirelessly on the public courts of Long Beach, Calif., less skilled but better-connected players always seemed to get noticed first. Years later, traveling the circuit as an amateur, King grew weary of winning large events only to go uncompensated. So in 1968 she helped usher in tennis's open era by joining with several other women in signing professional contracts. In '70, angered by the fact that male players were being paid significantly more for victories than females, King and eight other women signed with Gladys Heldman, founder of what would become the Virginia Slims Tour. The next year King became the first female athlete to surpass the $100,000 benchmark in annual prize money.

King will forever be known for her 1973 victory over Bobby Riggs in the so-called "Battle of the Sexes." The match, played in the cavernous Houston Astrodome and televised nationally, was as much burlesque as tennis. But at the height of the women's liberation movement, its significance transcended sport. In defeating Riggs, the aging male chauvinist oink-oink, in three decisive sets, King laid to rest notions that testosterone was a prerequisite for athletic ability and intestinal fortitude. "Before that, women were chokers who couldn't take the pressure," says King. "Except, of course, in childbirth." Truth be told, King was so nervous before the match that she vomited in the locker room.

Her devotion to causes wasn't limited to tennis. In 1974 she helped create the Women's Sports Foundation, and she has long been a vocal supporter of Title IX. Today, in addition to serving on the board of a Fortune 500 corporation, the 56-year-old King (who retired from competitive tennis in '84) captains the U.S. Federation Cup team and remains active in, as she puts it, "growing the game of tennis" -- a game now filled with millionaire female athletes who are international celebrities. "Like the slogan says, We've come a long way," says Lindsay Davenport. "And we owe a big debt to Billie Jean King.

--L. Jon Wertheim

Athletes were selected by Sports Illustrated For Women, Sports Illustrated and CNN/SI editors, writers and correspondents who considered the athletes' on-field performance and achievements, plus their contributions to women's sports. Because athletic achievement was a key criterion, women whose contributions were made solely in administration and coaching are not included.

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