Billie Jean King

(photo taken by Molly Choma and kidnapped from billiejeanking Instagram)

Billie Jean King is a name that I've always known. My father's parents were tennis-lovers who played doubles at their country club for years, so the game and the players were discussed often. Billie Jean seemed like someone that everyone I knew admired, but aside from that I knew nothing about her, until around 2015 when I saw the documentary To Russia With Love. It was about gay Olympians and the Winter Olympics being held in Russia in 2014 and especially about the anti-gay policies of the country. The main focus was on a figure skater who went on about how much he loves Russian culture to the point where he learned to speak the language fluently. At one point he met with a young gay Russian teen who poured his heart out and said that because he was outted as gay, he is a pariah who is mistreated by everyone at his school including the teachers. He is beaten by classmates and threatened with rape. Their meeting at the figure skater's hotel ends with him inexplicably gifting the boy one of his fancy scarves. Then a day or so later that same young man, Vladislav Slavskiy, approaches Billie Jean King outside the stadium and tells her what he is going through, just as he did to the skater. I don't know if it's because the word rape holds so much fear and anxiety for women or if it was Billie Jean's maternal instinct to nurture, but she listened intently and then asked if she could hold him, to hug and comfort him. Then she asked what she could do to help and when Vlad said he didn't know and seemed genuinely distressed, Billie Jean turned to the person from the State Department and another with the American Embassy to ask what can be done. She got them to take down his information so that she could get in touch with him and possibly help. A few days later Billie Jean contacted government staffers in Sochi to help Vlad get a visa to the US. She then went on to contact the athletic director at Cal State Los Angeles who made it possible for the university to sponsor a student visa for Vlad so that he would be able to stay in the States and seek asylum. While the scarf was nice (although utterly useless) what was better was Billie Jean King's relentless assistance in getting Vlad out of Russia and to safety in the United States; to rescue him from further abuse and injury. As if inspiring people around the globe with her skill on the court, all of her efforts as a feminist and fighter for equality, and her activism for the LGBT+ community wasn't enough of a legacy, she saved a young man's life, simply because she could. 

I instantly adored her after this documentary and looked for more docs on her life. I bought her memoir, All In, on Audible so I could listen to her tell me everything she experienced and how it shaped her into the brilliant woman she is today. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about her childhood, her wonderful parents and her relationship with her baby brother. The times her voice broke with emotion or she giggled while telling certain stories made her narration perfection and it showed that she's really a human rather than the superhero she appears to be. 

There's so much to admire about this woman. She seems incredibly genuine and kind, she's smart without being intimidating, she's confident but doesn't come across as a show-off, she's strong and caring and listening to her audiobook made me adore her even more than ever. (Oh, and I love that she proudly wears glasses, too!) Billie Jean King is a class act and continues to teach me through her own actions and how she moves through life. She is making me a better person.