More than sixty years after leaving college to pursue a professional tennis career, Billie Jean King finally walked across the graduation stage on Monday. The 82-year-old icon earned her bachelor’s degree in history from California State University, Los Angeles. “It is never, ever, too late to finish what you have started,” Billie Jean posted on X.
For King, whose life and career reshaped women’s sports and LGBTQ+ rights in the United States, this moment was filled with significance. During her final semester, the tennis legend studied and wrote about movements she had personally helped lead, including Title IX and LGBTQ+ equality.
King originally enrolled at what was then called Los Angeles State College in 1961. She stepped away in 1964 to focus entirely on tennis. By that time, she had already begun making her mark on the sport by winning her first Wimbledon doubles title while still a student.
What followed was one of the most influential careers in sports history. King won 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 singles crowns, 16 women’s doubles titles, and 11 mixed doubles championships. She also co-founded the Women’s Tennis Association and fought for equal opportunities and pay for women in sports.
Her activism and influence earned her some of the highest honors in the United States. These include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
King said her drive to return to university grew stronger after she discovered a little over a year ago that she was only one year shy of graduating. She resumed her studies last year, taking remote classes in historical research, writing, and historiography—the study of how history is interpreted and recorded.
On graduation day in Los Angeles, King wore a gold stole that read “student athlete” and “G.O.A.T.” She celebrated the occasion by hitting tennis balls from the stage to fellow graduates after receiving her diploma from university president Berenecea Johnson Eanes.
