The Battle of the Sexes, 1973 - YouTube The Battle of the Sexes, 1973 Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Mar 16, 2012 In 1973, middle-aged Bobby Riggs challenged reigning women's champion Billie Jean King to an exhibition match which drew the largest crowd ever to watch tennis.

Audio from the book "And the Crowd Goes Wild." Category Billie Jean King Wins the ‘Battle of the Sexes,’ 40 Years Ago - History in the Headlines Billie Jean King Wins the ‘Battle of the Sexes,’ 40 Years Ago September 20, 2013 By Jesse Greenspan Share this: Billie Jean King Wins the ‘Battle of the Sexes,’ 40 Years Ago Author Billie Jean King Wins the ‘Battle of the Sexes,’ 40 Years Ago URL Google On September 20, 1973, women’s tennis star Billie Jean King faced off against Bobby Riggs in an exhibition match dubbed the “Battle of the Sexes.” The 55-year-old Riggs, a former Wimbledon champion, believed he could still beat any woman player, and, after much prodding, King eventually took him up on the challenge.

Riggs hyped the contest with a slew of misogynistic comments, including that “the best way to handle women is to keep them pregnant and barefoot.” Yet King ended up eviscerating him 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in front of more than 30,000 fans at the Houston Astrodome, then the largest crowd ever to watch a tennis match. King’s victory—along with the passage of Title IX, an anti-gender-discrimination law—is often credited with sparking a boom in women’s sports. Despite losing much of his prime to World War II, Riggs was once considered the best tennis player in the world. In 1939 he won the men’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon, purportedly collecting over $100,000 in the process by betting on himself. He also won a few U.S. championships, both as an amateur and a professional. Craving a return to the spotlight, Riggs decided in early 1973 to challenge some of tennis’ top women players. King, who at that point had already won 10 major singles titles, repeatedly turned him down. But then-No.

1-ranked Margaret Court took the bait in return for a $10,000 payday. On May 13, Riggs used a variety of lobs, drop shots and spin shots to defeat Court 6-2, 6-1 in what became known as the “Mother’s Day Massacre.” “I didn’t expect him to mix it up like that,” Court told reporters afterward. “We girls don’t play like that.” Riggs immediately turned his sights back on the 29-year-old King, whom he called the “women’s libber leader.” “I’ll play her on clay, grass, wood, cement, marble or roller skates,” Riggs said. “We got to keep this sex thing going. I’m a woman specialist now.” This time around, King agreed. At a July press conference announcing the $100,000 winner-take-all match (plus at least $75,000 each in ancillary money), Riggs said, “I’ll tell you why I’ll win.

She’s a woman and they don’t have the emotional stability.” King responded by calling him a “creep.” A media blitz then ensued in which Riggs promised to jump off a bridge if he lost. He also resumed his male chauvinist rants, declaring on one occasion, “women belong in the bedroom and kitchen, in that order.” Another time, he said, “Women play about 25 percent as good as men, so they should get about 25 percent of the money men get.” In contrast to the extensive training he did before the Court match, Riggs reportedly spent most of the summer partying and schmoozing. King, on the other hand, continued with her normal routine on the women’s tour. On September 20, 30,492 fans squeezed into the Houston Astrodome to witness the so-called “Battle of the Sexes,” while an estimated 90 million people worldwide watched on television. King entered the court a la Cleopatra, riding in a gold litter held aloft by toga-wearing members of the Rice University men’s track team.

Riggs, meanwhile, came in on a rickshaw surrounded by scantily clad women known as “Bobby’s bosom buddies.” King then presented Riggs with a squealing baby pig and in return received a large “Sugar Daddy” lollipop. In keeping with the carnival-like atmosphere of the contest, King wore blue suede sneakers, and Riggs played the first three games wearing a yellow jacket with the “Sugar Daddy” logo on the back. Normally a serve-and-volley player, King made a conscious effort to wear Riggs down with baseline rallies. She won the first set 6-4, striking a number of winners and securing the final point on a Riggs double fault. Though Riggs broke King’s serve in the first game of the second set, he would go on to lose it 6-3. Visibly tiring, he then lost the third set 6-3 as well. When he hit a high backhand volley into the net on match point, King flung her racket into the air in celebration. “I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn’t win that match,” she said later.

“It would ruin the women’s tour and affect all women’s self-esteem.” For his part, Riggs told reporters that King simply “played too well.” The two eventually became friends, and even spoke a few days before Riggs died of prostate cancer in 1995. Over the years, rumors surfaced that Riggs threw the match for money. Just last month, a former assistant golf pro in Florida told ESPN that he had overheard two mob bosses discussing Riggs’ proposal to lose intentionally. In return, Riggs allegedly had $100,000 in gambling debts wiped clean. Riggs himself never admitted to this, nor did the executor of his estate. Moreover, a mafia lawyer accused by the former assistant golf pro of arranging the fix didn’t mention it in his tell-all book, even as he took credit for, among other things, playing an indirect role in President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. “That was not really in Bobby’s interest in any way to lose that match,” King told ESPN. Either way, the “Battle of the Sexes” turned King into arguably the first superstar female athlete in the United States.

After receiving her $100,000 check from boxer George Foreman, one of the many celebrities on hand at the Astrodome, King landed a string of endorsements for such products as Adidas sneakers, Wilson tennis rackets, Colgate toothpaste and Sunbeam hair curlers. The following year, her income reportedly neared $1 million. King retired from competitive singles tennis in 1983, having won 12 major titles, including six Wimbledons and four U.S. Opens. She also helped found a women’s players union, a women’s sports magazine, a nonprofit advocacy group for female athletes and a team tennis league. Yet she still remains best known for a single victory. “I know that when I die, nobody at my funeral will be talking about me,” she once said. “They’ll all just be standing around telling each other where they were the night I beat Bobby Riggs.” Tags Was 1973 'Battle Of The Sexes' Tennis Match Thrown? : NPR Was 1973 'Battle Of The Sexes' Tennis Match Thrown? Embed Embed Was 1973 'Battle Of The Sexes' Tennis Match Thrown?

Was 1973 'Battle Of The Sexes' Tennis Match Thrown? Embed Embed Email August 26, 20134:46 PM ET Melissa Block speaks with Don Van Natta Jr., a senior writer with ESPN, about new evidence that the famous Battle of the Sexes tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King may have been thrown to cover Rigg's gambling debts to the Mafia. ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel. MELISSA BLOCK, HOST: And I'm Melissa Block. Forty years ago next month, 50 million Americans tuned in to watch a prime-time, televised spectacle: a tennis match promoted as the Battle of the Sexes. Fifty-five-year-old Bobby Riggs, a former Wimbledon and U.S. singles champion as well as a self-described male chauvinist pig, challenged the reigning women's champion, 29-year-old Billie Jean King. Amid wild hype and theatrics, they played at the Houston Astrodome.

And Billie Jean King crushed Bobby Riggs in straight sets: 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST) HOWARD COSELL: Excitement engendered all over the country as Billie Jean hugs her husband, Larry King. It began to become a cause celebre - equality for women. BLOCK: But was it all a sham? Did Bobby Riggs intentionally throw the match for a big payday? That rumor has swirled for years and now, it's bolstered by an ESPN investigation, which finds new evidence that Riggs threw the match. And it makes this claim: that he did so to cover his gambling debts to the Mafia. ESPN's Don Van Natta reported the story, and he joins me now. Don, welcome to the program. DON VAN NATTA JR.: Thanks, Melissa. Great to be with you. BLOCK: Let's talk first about the hoopla that surrounded this match, Riggs versus King, right? Riggs, a loudmouth, showboat, hustle; and then Billie Jean King, a champion for women's rights. Describe the scene as they were brought into the Astrodome, in Houston.

VAN NATTA: They're carried in. Billie Jean King is carried in looking like Cleopatra, by muscled men. Bobby Riggs was carried in and his "Bosom Bodies" - young women - were surrounding him as they - brought into the Astrodome. BLOCK: Why were there rumors over the years that this match was, in fact, thrown? VAN NATTA: I think the tennis people were just astonished at how Bobby Riggs didn't look like the Bobby Riggs that they knew; and that they had seen just four months earlier when he defeated Margaret Court, who was the No. 1 ranked player in the world. Four months after that, he just looked nothing like that. He had a great service game, and yet he missed his first serves nearly half the time, and some of his return shots barely made it to the net. BLOCK: OK, well, let's talk about these new allegations. You talked to a man named Hal Shaw, and he described hearing a late-night conversation 40 years ago, before the match. What did he tell you?

VAN NATTA: Well, Hal Shaw was in the pro shop at the Palma Ceia Golf Club in Tampa, Fla., and he heard voices and looked through a window of a door. And he saw Frank Ragano, who was a member of Palma Ceia and a mob attorney, come in first, followed by two of the most infamous mob leaders of the 20th century whom Shaw says he recognized from their newspaper photographs. The first was Santo Trafficante Jr., who led the Florida mob. The second man was Carlos Marcello, who was the leader of the mob in New Orleans. And there was a fourth man there who Shaw didn't recognize. They sat down, and Shaw says he was astonished to hear them talking about Bobby Riggs. Ragano tells the men that Riggs has brought them a proposal that he's going to play two exhibition matches against the top women players of the time - Margaret Court and Billie Jean King. Ragano says Riggs is going to beat Margaret Court, but then purposefully lose the match against Billie Jean King. Ragano mentions Riggs owed them more than $100,000 in gambling debts.

And they - after about an hour of discussion, they agree in principle to go forward with this plan. And Shaw hears every word of it, and repeats it to us for this story. BLOCK: He's telling you he heard this through a closed door, right? And he was 20 feet away. Was there any doubt in your mind that he could have heard what he claims to have heard? VAN NATTA: I spent a lot of time with Hal Shaw before we decided to do this story, Melissa, and I had known him previously with work I had done on a book about Babe Didrikson. So I knew him to have a great memory. And every single time I've asked him over a number of months, he's told the story the same way, with the same details. BLOCK: Why would Hal Shaw come forward with this for the first time, 40 years after it happened? VAN NATTA: Because he feared retribution from the mob. For decades, there were mob killings, gangland killings; and he was worried if he had said anything prior to this, that it would get out and his life would be on the line. BLOCK: And he doesn't worry about that now?

VAN NATTA: He says he doesn't. He felt strongly that he wanted to - as he put it - set the record straight, and let the world know that the match that they watched on that September evening in 1973 was not what it was purported to be. BLOCK: Well, apart from Hal Shaw telling you this, is there anybody else who backs up his version of events? VAN NATTA: This was really, just where I started. I kept finding out more and more things that corroborated what Hal Shaw said. For instance, Larry Riggs, who was Bobby Riggs' son, says that yes, in fact, his father did know quite a few Mafia leaders. One of the more interesting things that Larry Riggs says is there was a mobster named Jackie "The Lackey" Cerone, who was No.

2 in the mob in the '70s in Chicago, who his dad played golf with, and played cards with; and that Jackie Cerone actually had men of his, who Larry Riggs recognized, come out to California - where Bobby Riggs was preparing for the Battle of the Sexes - and meet with Bobby Riggs several times in the weeks leading up to the match with Billie Jean King. BLOCK: OK. Well, you put this allegation to Billie Jean King - this claim that Bobby Riggs intentionally threw the match against her, or tanked. Let's listen to some of what Billie Jean King told you in response. (SOUNDBITE OF RECORDING) BILLIE JEAN KING: There is no question. I have played matches where players have tanked, and I know what it feels like, and I know what it looks like; and he did not. BLOCK: You know, Don, I was 11 years old when this match was played. And I remember distinctly, even at that age, thinking this was a big moment; something happened here. And I feel like this is a say-it-ain't-so kind of feeling right now, that maybe this wasn't what it appeared to be.

VAN NATTA: Well, I've had that feeling throughout the reporting of this piece since the late spring, when I began. I watched it as well. I was 9 years old and was really swept up in all the hoopla leading up to it. But at every turn in this reporting, I found out things that seemed more convincing that this was not on the level. Bobby Riggs, for instance, did not practice at all in the four months prior to playing Billie Jean King - which was not like him. His son, Larry Riggs, was so upset about it that he actually bet on Billie Jean King to beat his father. And he just was partying in Beverly Hills. He gained 15 pounds. And Gardnar Mulloy, a great tennis legend who's 99 years old, told me that he was absolutely convinced Bobby threw it. Bobby hung around with mobsters and as Mulloy puts it, Bobby Riggs didn't really even have to throw it. He didn't put himself in position to physically win.

BLOCK: But Billie Jean King there, saying "I won this fair and square"; Bobby Riggs, up until the end, said "got to hand it to her; she played a great match." VAN NATTA: Right. But, you know, in our interview, Billie Jean was surprised to hear that Bobby had these mob connections. At one point, she was saying, "That's not Bobby; he didn't know mobsters" when in fact, he did. He knew quite a few of them. But what I was really struck by, too, in the reporting, Melissa, is how many people in the tennis world have just assumed this for 40 years. When I went to Wimbledon this summer and talked to some of the old guard of tennis, many people that I spoke with sort of just said, well, we just always assumed he threw it because of the way he played, how he didn't prepare and also because of who Bobby Riggs was. BLOCK: That's Don Van Natta. His piece for ESPN is titled "The Matchmaker: Bobby Riggs, The Mafia, and The Battle of the Sexes." Don, thanks so much. VAN NATTA: Thank you. Melissa.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) SIEGEL: You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, from NPR News. Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc. , an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. woa.tv :: The Battle of the Sexes Match The Battle of the Sexes Match (1973) I want [Billie Jean] King. I want the womens lib leader. Bobby Riggs, before the match The historic Battle of the Sexes tennis match that took place on September 20, 1973, was part carnival and part contest, but, in the end, it was all-important to the advancement of womens sports. Billie Jean King , then the reigning womens Wimbledon titlist, took on retired pro Bobby Riggs, 26 years her senior.

Held at the Houston Astrodome, the showdown was about saving face. For Riggs, it would be an embarrassment to be beat by a girl; for King, a chance to prove that a woman could play every bit as hard as a man. The Battle Begins A self-proclaimed male chauvinist pig, Riggs was a retired champion and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. At age 55, he boasted that he could beat any female opponent; an avid hustler, he wanted to do so in a public event. Margaret Smith Court, a top-ranked Australian player, took Riggs up on the challenge. Jittery from his misogynistic trash talk, she was shockingly defeated, 6-2, 6-1, in a match held on Mothers Day, 1973. The win encouraged Riggs, and his sexist rhetoric continued. He began to bait King to play against him. Politically conscious and active in the Womens Liberation Movement, King felt she had to avenge Courts loss. The 29-year-old agreed to a one-time-only, winner-take-all, best-of-five match.

A date was selected and prize money set at US$100,000. (However, both players received US$150,000 to play in the event.) Oddsmakers picked Riggs as an 8-5 favorite to win. A Spectacle Sport However Riggs would fare on the court, he excelled as the matchs promoter. Interest in the event was so crushing that King didnt have time for all the interviews (she turned down 2,000 requests). Riggs was more than happy to make up for it. He sang sexist songs and regularly told the press that women were best barefoot and pregnant. Before the big day, letters of encouragement poured in for King from girls and women. In the interviews she could do, King pointed out economic injustices between the sexes: Women earned less than men for the same job; a woman couldnt get a credit card without her husbands signature. The event was a spectacle, with elephants dressed in tuxedos in the stands. Even Salvador Dali, the artist, was in the audiencea testament to just how surreal the showdown was.

Howard Cosell and Kings doubles partner Rosie Casals offered the play-by-play for TV, and Helen Reddy performed her hit song, I Am Woman, before the game began. Wearing a couture tennis dress, King was carried onto the court by college football players decked out in ancient Egyptian garb. Riggs entered in a rickshaw, escorted by female models. King presented her opponent with a gifta pig. In return, Riggs offered her a giant lollipop, or sucker. King dominated the match. Her strategically placed shots ran Riggs ragged. Her powerful returns overwhelmed him, as did the overhead slams she whacked when he attempted his trademark moon-ball lobs. When he employed his arsenal of junk shots, King handled them, too. She defeated Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. More Than a Match After she crushed Riggs, King declined a rematch. Women have enough problems getting to compete against each other at high-school and college levels, King said. Their programs are terribly weak.

Why do we have to worry about men? Rather than set about defeating men, King spent the rest of her career reforming tennis, helping to create the first all-female professional circuit and popularizing the womens game. Thanks in part to her efforts, today three-quarters of surveyed tennis fans say they prefer the womens tour to the mens. After his defeat, and out of the limelight, Riggs and King maintained an acquaintanceship. In 1995, just before Riggs passed away, she called and spoke with him. Even on his deathbed, Riggs joked about a rematch. King didnt just win Riggs respect on that September day in 1973, nor did she just win a tennis match. By winning the Battle of the Sexes she laid the groundwork for generations of women and girls to be taken seriously in athletics. As she later said of her historic victory: I didnt feel it was a very big accomplishment athletically. But, psychologically and emotionally, it was a big deal.

I knew it might provide a springboard for girls and women in sports. :: woa.tv staff Bobby Riggs - IMDb IMDb Actor Bobby Riggs was probably most famous for losing to Billie Jean King in the famous September 20, 1973 Battle of the Sexes match at the Houston Astodome. What is often forgotten is that Bobby Riggs was at one point the number 1 tennis player in the world and a former Wimbledon and United States Champion. He was reputed to have bet on myself to win ... See full bio » Born: a list of 5865 people created 11 months ago Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How much of Bobby Riggs's work have you seen? User Polls 1974 Love, American Style (TV Series) Bobby (segment "Love and the Competitors") 2001 ESPN SportsCentury (TV Series documentary) Himself 1979 The Ultimate Impostor (TV Movie) Himself 1977 Good Morning America (TV Series) Himself 1977 Greatest Sports Legends (TV Series) Himself - Episode #14.107 (1976) ...

Himself - Tennis Pro - Episode #14.59 (1975) ... Himself - Pro Tennis Player - Episode #13.23 (1974) ... Himself - Tennis Pro 1975 Rickles (TV Movie) 1974 Celebrity Tennis (TV Series) Co-Host 1973 The Odd Couple (TV Series) Himself 1952 A Sporting Oasis (Documentary short) Himself 2015 The Seventies (TV Series documentary) Himself - 1939 Wimbledon Champion 2013 American Masters (TV Series documentary) Himself 2013 Nine for IX (TV Series documentary) Himself 2013 Makers: Women Who Make America (TV Mini-Series documentary) Himself, former professional tennis player 2003 I Love the '70s (TV Series documentary) Himself Annimated likeness on a package of Super Sugar Daddy (candy, 1978) Publicity Listings: Did You Know? Personal Quote: If I can't play for big money, I play for a little money.

And if I can't play for a little money, I stay in bed that day. See more » Trivia: He defeated Margaret Court in his first "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match during the early 1970s. His outspoken gloating and trumpeting of male chauvinism afterward drew the ire of ranking women's champion Billie Jean King who finally accepted his challenge and defeated Riggs when his second "Battle of the Sexes" tennis contest occurred, in Houston, Texas, on September 20, 1973. Star Sign: Was 1973 'Battle Of The Sexes' Tennis Match Thrown? | KUER Was 1973 'Battle Of The Sexes' Tennis Match Thrown? By editor • Aug 26, 2013 Related Program: Originally published on August 27, 2013 3:30 pm Transcript This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel. MELISSA BLOCK, HOST: And I'm Melissa Block.

Forty years ago next month, 50 million Americans tuned in to watch a prime-time, televised spectacle: a tennis match promoted as the Battle of the Sexes. Fifty-five-year-old Bobby Riggs, a former Wimbledon and U.S. singles champion, as well as a self-described male chauvinist pig, challenged the reigning women's champion, 29-year-old Billie Jean King. Amid wild hype and theatrics, they played at the Houston Astrodome. And Billie Jean King crushed Bobby Riggs in straight sets: 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Excitement engendered all over the country as Billie Jean hugs her husband Larry King. It began to become a cause celebre, equality for women. BLOCK: But was it all a sham? Did Bobby Riggs intentionally throw the match for a big payday? That rumor has swirled for years. And now, it's bolstered by an ESPN investigation, which finds new evidence that Riggs threw the match. And it makes this claim that he did so to cover his gambling debts to the Mafia.

ESPN's Don Van Natta reported the story, and he joins me now. Don, welcome to the program. DON VAN NATTA JR.: Thanks, Melissa. Great to be with you. BLOCK: Let's talk first about the hoopla that surrounded this match, Riggs versus King, right? Riggs, a loudmouth, showboat, hustler, and then Billie Jean King, a champion for women's rights. Describe the scene as they were brought into the Astrodome in Houston. JR.: They're carried in. Billie Jean King is carried in looking like Cleopatra by muscled men. Bobby Riggs was carried in, and his bosom bodies, young women were surrounding him as they were brought into the Astrodome. BLOCK: Why were there rumors over the years that this match was, in fact, thrown? JR.: I think the tennis people were just astonished at how Bobby Riggs didn't look like the Bobby Riggs that they knew. And that they had seen just four months earlier when he defeated Margaret Court, who was the number one ranked player in the world. Four months after that, he just looked nothing like that.

He had a great service game, and yet he missed his first serves nearly half the time, and some of his return shot barely made it to the net. BLOCK: OK. Well, let's talk about these new allegations. You talked to a man named Hal Shaw, and he described hearing a late-night conversation 40 years ago before the match. What did he tell you? JR.: Well, Hal Shaw was in the pro shop at the Palma Ceia Golf Club in Tampa, Florida, and he heard voices and looked through a window of a door, and he saw Frank Ragano, who was a member of Palma Ceia and a mob attorney, come in first, followed by two of the most infamous mob leaders of the 20th century whom Shaw says he recognized from their newspaper photographs. The first was Santo Trafficante Jr., who led the Florida mob. The second man was Carlos Marcello, who was the leader of the mob in New Orleans. And there was a fourth man there who Shaw didn't recognize. They sat down, and Shaw says he was astonished to hear them talking about Bobby Riggs.

Ragano tells the men that Riggs has brought them a proposal that he's going to play two exhibition matches against the top women players of the time - Margaret Court and Billie Jean King. Ragano says Riggs is going to beat Margaret Court, but then purposefully lose the match against Billie Jean King. Ragano mentions Riggs owed them more than $100,000 in gambling debts. And they - after about an hour of discussion, they agree in principle to go forward with this plan, and Shaw hears every word of it and repeats it to us for this story. BLOCK: He's telling you he heard this through a closed door, right? And he was 20 feet away. Was there any doubt in your mind that he could have heard what he claims to have heard? JR.: Well, I spent a lot of time with Hal Shaw before we decided to do this story, Melissa, and I had known him previously with work I had done on a book about Babe Didrikson. So I knew him to have a great memory. And every single time I've asked him over a number of months, he's told the story the same way with the same details.

BLOCK: Why would Hal Shaw come forward with this for the first time 40 years after it happened? JR.: Because he feared retribution from the mob. For decades, there were mob killings, gangland killings, and he was worried if he had said anything prior to this that it would get out and his life would be on the line. BLOCK: And he doesn't worry about that now? JR.: He says he doesn't. He felt strongly that he wanted to, as he put it, set the record straight and let the world know that the match that they watched on that September evening in 1973 was not what it was purported to be. BLOCK: Well, apart from Hal Shaw telling you this, is there anybody else who backs up his version of events? JR.: This was really just where I started. I kept finding out more and more things that corroborated what Hal Shaw said. For instance, Larry Riggs, who was Bobby Riggs' son, says that yes, in fact, his father did know quite a few mafia leaders.

One of the more interesting things that Larry Riggs says is there was a mobster named Jackie The Lackey Cerone, who was number two in the mob in the '70s in Chicago, who his dad played golf with and played cards with. And that Jackie Cerone actually had men of his who Larry Riggs recognized come out to California where Bobby Riggs was preparing for the Battle of the Sexes and meet with Bobby Riggs several times in the weeks leading up to the match with Billie Jean King. BLOCK: OK. Well, you put this allegation to Billie Jean King, this claim that Bobby Riggs intentionally threw the match against her or tanked. Let's listen to some of what Billie Jean King told you in response. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) BILLIE JEAN KING: There is no question I have played matches where players have tanked, and I know what it feels like, and I know what it looks like, and he did not. BLOCK: You know, Don, I was 11 years old when this match was played, and I remember distinctly, even at that age, thinking this was a big moment, something happened here.

And I feel like this is a say it ain't so kind of feeling right now that maybe this wasn't what it appeared to be. JR.: Well, I've had that feeling throughout the reporting of this piece since the late spring when I began. I watched it as well. I was 9 years old and was really swept up and all the hoopla leading up to it. But at every turn in this reporting, I found out things that seemed more convincing that this was not on the level. Bobby Riggs, for instance, did not practice at all in the four months prior to playing Billie Jean King, which was not like him. His son, Larry Riggs, was so upset about it that he actually bet on Billie Jean King to beat his father. And he just was partying in Beverly Hills. He gained 15 pounds. And Gardnar Mulloy, a great tennis legend who's 99 years old, told me that he was absolutely convinced Bobby threw it. Bobby hung around with mobsters. And as Mulloy puts it, Bobby Riggs didn't really even have to throw it. He didn't put himself in position to physically win.

BLOCK: But Billie Jean King there saying I won this fair and square. Bobby Riggs up until the end said got to hand it to her. She played a great match. JR.: Right. But, you know, in our interview, Billie Jean was surprised to hear that Bobby had these mob connections. At one point, she was saying that's not Bobby. He didn't know mobsters when, in fact, he did. He knew quite a few of them. But what I was really struck by, too, in the reporting, Melissa, is how many people in the tennis world have just assumed this for 40 years. When I went to Wimbledon this summer and talked to some of the old guard of tennis, many people that I spoke with sort of just said, well, we just always assumed he threw it because of the way he played, how he didn't prepare and also because of who Bobby Riggs was. BLOCK: That's Don Van Natta. His piece for ESPN is titled "The Matchmaker: Bobby Riggs, The Mafia and The Battle of the Sexes." Don, thanks so much. CHRISTOPHER BYERS: Thank you. Melissa.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) The Straight Dope: Was the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs fixed? Was the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs fixed? December 17, 2010 Dear Cecil: As I just turned 70 and know my time on earth is limited I'd appreciate an answer to my question. Years ago I watched on TV the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. Just before the match it was announced that King would be able to hit to the doubles court while Riggs would have to hit to the smaller singles court, and also that he would only get one serve to her two. I cannot get confirmation of this. I have searched all over for a video of the match and it doesn't exist. My question: was the tennis match played fairly? — Wayne Cecil replies: Don't worry, Wayne. I bumped your question to the front of the line so you can die a happy man.

Let's go back to a year in history featuring an unpopular President embroiled in scandal, a pointless war that was winding down after killing thousands of American troops and untold numbers of the enemy, and a country sliding into recession. No, I don't mean 2008, I mean 1973. The architect of the manufactured drama in tennis that year was Bobby Riggs, who’d been a number-one-ranked singles player in the 1940s but at age 55 was well past his prime. Possibly envious of the big bucks women tennis players were starting to command and fully aware of male grumbling about women's lib, Riggs decided to stage a money-making publicity stunt: a showdown between himself and a top female player, to demonstrate that women’s tennis was plainly inferior to the men’s game. Riggs pursued Margaret Court, Chris Evert, and Billie Jean King, three of the top four women’s players that year. King and Evert turned him down, but Court, attracted by a prize of $10,000 even if she lost, accepted. Big mistake.

Riggs went on a months-long heavy-duty training regimen and waged a relentless campaign in the press aimed at psyching Court out. His strategy worked, and their match on Mother's Day, 1973, became known as the "Mother's Day Massacre," with Riggs dominating the best-of-three-sets event 6-2, 6-1. Riggs — a genuinely maddening figure to feminists of the day — then stepped up the media blitz, giving bombastic interviews, appearing in photo shoots as Henry VIII, even playing a match in drag. He hounded King for a second battle of the sexes. After much soul-searching, King agreed to a $100,000 winner-take-all purse plus at least $75,000 per player in ancillary rights. But this time things were different. King scrutinized Riggs's match with Court and determined to play hard and keep him running, using his age against him. Twenty-nine and at the peak of her game, she trained like a prizefighter, while Riggs spent the time before the match drinking, sleeping with assorted admirers, and keeping up a constant stream of media antics, rarely setting foot on a tennis court to practice.

Nonetheless, Jimmy the Greek gave Riggs 5-2 odds to win. The pair met in the Astrodome on September 20, 1973. The preliminaries were pure kitsch — King was carried in on a litter like an eastern potentate, Riggs rode in a gilded rickshaw pulled by a squad of women. But things got serious once the match began. With the inimitable Howard Cosell in the broadcast booth, 30,492 spectators in the building plus millions watching on TV saw King kick Riggs's butt. She relentlessly attacked with a fierce net game, and Riggs soon knew he was in trouble. "Comedy has gone out of Bobby Riggs," Cosell intoned. By the end of the match, which he lost 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, Riggs felt every one of his 55 years. Was it all (you should pardon the expression) rigged? My assistant Una acquired a tape of the original broadcast and watched the entire match, commercials and all. She confirmed that the competitors played by the same rules and said King clearly dominated from the start.

Riggs, though outclassed, gave no impression of taking a dive — on the contrary, he was so apparently confident he'd get a second wind that after losing the first game he tried to make a $10,000 bet he'd win the match. He later took a much publicized lie detector test to support his insistence he hadn't thrown the contest, a story he stuck with to his dying day. You and other doubters are likely conflating the King-Riggs event with a 1992 match between Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova, which Una also watched on video. This was a far less heated affair, with the two players amiably discussing beforehand how the game would raise awareness of the sport. But the 40-year-old Connors was a much more formidable competitor than Riggs had been, having reached the U.S. Open semifinals the previous year, and Navratilova was 35 herself. So, to even things up, Connors was limited to one serve per point and Navratilova was allowed to hit into half of the doubles alley on each side of the court.

Despite the handicap Connors won 7-5, 6-2, taking just 88 minutes to make half a million bucks. — Cecil Adams NEW: THE STRAIGHT DOPE PODCAST! No time for retro print technology? Listen to the Straight Dope while you multitask! Launch iTunes, then search for “Straight Dope” in the iTunes Store. Click on “subscribe” and Cecil’s latest installment of wisdom will be automatically delivered each week. Comment on this answer References Amdur, Neil "Mrs. King Defeats Riggs, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, Amid a Circus Atmosphere New York Times 21 September, 1973. "BACKTALK; 'I Was Quick. I Was Agile. I Had the Heart' " New York Times 27 August, 1995. Berger, Phil. "TENNIS; Connors, Navratilova Play Just For Fun" New York Times 24 September, 1992.

Holden, Anthony "Battle of the Sexes" Sports in the 20th Century - CBS Sports "How Bobby Runs and Talks, Talks, Talks" Time 10 September, 1973. Oates, Bob "His Last Match Can't Be Rigged - In Ill Health at 77, Tennis' Greatest Hustler Recounts His Triumphs--and a Memorable Defeat" Los Angeles Times 15 April, 1995. Reeves, Phil " Tennis: Money takes all in the sex war: Phil Reeves in Las Vegas sees dollars minted on court as Jimmy Connors overwhelms Martina Navratilova" The Independent 27 September, 1992. Roberts, Selena. A Necessary Spectacle: Billie Jean King, Bobby Riggs, and the Tennis Match That Leveled the Game Random House, 2005. "Sport: How King Rained on Riggs' Parade" Time 01 October, 1973.

Recent Additions: King triumphs in Battle of Sexes - Sep 20, 1973 - HISTORY.com This Day In History: 09/20/1973 - King Wins Battle of Sexes In this This Day in History video clip, learn about different events that have occurred on September 20. Some of the events include Magellan circumnavigating the globe and the unification of Italy. Also, Hugo Chavez calls Bush the devil and Billy Jean King wins battle of the sexes. Lead Story King triumphs in Battle of Sexes Share this: King triumphs in Battle of Sexes Author King triumphs in Battle of Sexes URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1973, in a highly publicized “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match, top women’s player Billie Jean King, 29, beats Bobby Riggs, 55, a former No. 1 ranked men’s player. Riggs (1918-1995), a self-proclaimed male chauvinist, had boasted that women were inferior, that they couldn’t handle the pressure of the game and that even at his age he could beat any female player.

The match was a huge media event, witnessed in person by over 30,000 spectators at the Houston Astrodome and by another 50 million TV viewers worldwide. King made a Cleopatra-style entrance on a gold litter carried by men dressed as ancient slaves, while Riggs arrived in a rickshaw pulled by female models. Legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell called the match, in which King beat Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. King’s achievement not only helped legitimize women’s professional tennis and female athletes, but it was seen as a victory for women’s rights in general. King was born Billie Jean Moffitt on November 22, 1943, in Long Beach, California. Growing up, she was a star softball player before her parents encouraged her to try tennis, which was considered more ladylike. She excelled at the sport and in 1961, at age 17, during her first outing to Wimbledon, she won the women’s doubles title. King would rack up a total of 20 Wimbledon victories, in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, over the course of her trailblazing career.

In 1971, she became the first female athlete to earn more than $100,000 in prize money in a single season. However, significant pay disparities still existed between men and women athletes and King lobbied hard for change. In 1973, the U.S. Open became the first major tennis tournament to hand out the same amount of prize money to winners of both sexes. In 1972, King became the first woman to be chosen Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsperson of the Year” and in 1973, she became the first president of the Women’s Tennis Association. King also established a sports foundation and magazine for women and a team tennis league. In 1974, as a coach of the Philadelphia Freedoms, one of the teams in the league, she became the first woman to head up a professional co-ed team. The “mother of modern sports” retired from tennis with 39 Grand Slam career titles. She remained active as a coach, commentator and advocate for women’s sports and other causes. In 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open, was renamed in King’s honor.

During the dedication ceremony, tennis great John McEnroe called King “the single most important person in the history of women’s sports.” Related Videos ESPN.com: Billie Jean won for all women Billie Jean won for all women By Larry Schwartz Special to ESPN.com Billie Jean King won six Wimbledon singles championships and four U.S. Open titles. She was ranked No. 1 in the world five years. She defeated such magnificent players as Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Margaret Court. It isn't a reach to say that Billie Jean King has done the most for women in their fight for equality in sports. Yet of all her matches, the one that is remembered most is her victory against a 55-year-old man. History has recorded all King accomplished in furthering the cause of women's struggle for equality in the 1970s. She was instrumental in making it acceptable for American women to exert themselves in pursuits other than childbirth. She was the lightning rod in starting a professional women's tour. She started a women's sports magazine and a women's sports foundation. But what is remembered most about her is that she humbled Bobby Riggs. Let's get that match out of the way.

Riggs, a 1939 Wimbledon champion turned hustler, had already massacred Court on Mother's Day 1973. So King, who previously had rejected Riggs' advances for a match, accepted his latest challenge. "I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn't win that match," she said. "It would ruin the women's tour and affect all women's self esteem." The "Battle of the Sexes" captured the imagination of the country, not just tennis enthusiasts. On Sept. 20, 1973 in Houston, she was carried out on the Astrodome court like Cleopatra, in a gold litter held aloft by four muscular men dressed as ancient slaves.

Riggs was wheeled in on a rickshaw pulled by sexy models in tight outfits, "Bobby's Bosom Buddies." King, then 29, ran the con man ragged, winning 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a match the London Sunday Times called "the drop shot and volley heard around the world." "Most important perhaps for women everywhere, she convinced skeptics that a female athlete can survive pressure-filled situations and that men are as susceptible to nerves as women," Neil Amdur wrote in The New York Times. But King was much more than the woman who undressed the self-proclaimed "male chauvinist pig" before a worldwide television audience estimated at almost 50 million. Above all, even more significant than her winning 39 Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed-doubles titles, she was a pioneer. "She has prominently affected the way 50 percent of society thinks and feels about itself in the vast area of physical exercise," Frank Deford wrote in Sports Illustrated.

"Moreover, like (Arnold) Palmer, she has made a whole sports boom because of the singular force of her presence." Navratilova said, "She was a crusader fighting a battle for all of us. She was carrying the flag; it was all right to be a jock." ZONE POLL Previous poll results It was for King's crusading that Life magazine in 1990 named her one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century." Not sports figures, but Americans. She was the only female athlete on the list, and one of only four athletes (Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali were the others). She was born Billie Jean Moffitt on Nov. 22, 1943 in Long Beach, Calif., the daughter of a firefighter father and homemaker mother. Her younger brother Randy would become a major-league pitcher. She developed into a star softball shortstop before her parents decided that she should pursue a more "ladylike" sport and give up playing baseball and football. Her father suggested tennis, because it involved running and hitting a ball. "I knew after my first lesson what I wanted to do with my life," she said.

Developing her game on the Long Beach public courts, the pudgy adolescent first gained international recognition as a 17-year-old in 1961 by winning with Karen Hantze the doubles championship at Wimbledon. It was the first of her 20 titles (10 doubles and four mixed to go with the six singles) on the hallowed English grass. In 1966, King (by now she had married law-student Larry King) won her first singles Wimbledon title and was ranked No. 1, the first of three straight years at the top. The next year, the myopic pepper pot repeated at Wimbledon and won her first U.S. championship. After having to get by on $100 a week as a playground instructor and student at Los Angeles State College while at the same time shining at Wimbledon, King became a significant force in opening tennis to professionalism. She carried a deep sense of injustice from her amateur days. With the birth of the "Open" era in 1968, King turned pro. This time she received more than a trophy for winning Wimbledon. She was on her way to earning $1,966,487 in career prize money.

In those days, women players received much less money than men earned. King's voice was heard loudest in the quest for equality. When a new women's tour was started, with Philip Morris sponsoring a new brand of cigarette, King was perceived as a "radical" heading a breakaway group. The Virginia Slims Tour was marketed with the slogan "You've Come a Long Way, Baby." Things improved financially. King became the first woman athlete to earn $100,000 in prize money in a year (1971), and President Richard Nixon called to congratulate her. She convinced her colleagues to form a players' union, and the Women's Tennis Association was born. King was its first president in 1973. King, who received $15,000 less than Ilie Nastase did for winning the U.S. Open in 1972, said if the prize money wasn't equal by the next year, she wouldn't play, and she didn't think the other women would either. In 1973, the U.S. Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money for men and women.

The next year, King founded WomenSports magazine, started the Women's Sports Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting and enhancing athletic opportunities for females, and with her husband, formed World Team Tennis. In 1975, Seventeen magazine polled its readers and found that King was the most admired woman in the world. Golda Meir, who had been Israel's prime minister until the previous year, finished second. Despite her promotions and activities away from the court, the 5-foot-4 King still played outstanding tennis. The same aggressive, hard-hitting net rusher she had been, she hated to lose. "Victory is fleeting," she said. "Losing is forever." When she hit the perfect shot, she would become ecstatic. "My heart pounds, my eyes get damp, and my ears feel like they're wiggling, but it's also just totally peaceful," King said. "It's almost like having an orgasm -- it's exactly like that." Unlike most athletes, King's sexual preference became a matter of public record. Two decades ago, having a lover of the same sex was viewed quite unkindly, and was sensational news.

In 1981, King admitted her bisexuality amid a palimony suit brought by a former woman lover. While King's former personal assistant lost the suit, King estimated the episode cost her and her husband millions in endorsements. Eventually, King and her husband were divorced. After retiring from competitive tennis, she remained in the game -- as an announcer, coach and author. She gave clinics, became director of World Team Tennis, and played on a Legends tour. Her legs might have given out, but not her passion for the game. King believes that she was born with a destiny to work for gender equity in sports and to continue until it's achieved. "In the '70s we had to make it acceptable for people to accept girls and women as athletes," she said. "We had to make it OK for them to be active. Those were much scarier times for females in sports." Bobby Riggs vs. Billie Jean King: Tennis Battle of the Sexes (TV Movie 1973) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This!

Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Bobby Riggs vs. Billie Jean King: Tennis Battle of the Sexes ( 1973 ) 2h a list of 1314 titles created 29 Dec 2013 a list of 3739 titles created 15 Oct 2014 Title: Bobby Riggs vs. Billie Jean King: Tennis Battle of the Sexes (TV Movie 1973) 7.4/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. See more awards » Photos Add Image Add an image Do you have any images for this title? 20 September 1973 (USA) See more » Filming Locations: (United States) – See all my reviews One of the great sporting events of the twentieth century was given first- class coverage in this truly epic live broadcast. As a personal challenge and grudge match, it offered high drama, incredible excitement, and mesmerizing television.

Anyone who saw this take place live will echo the acclaim given here to what was the greatest tennis match of all time. Nothing like it has happened since and it's almost impossible to equal something of this magnitude. Unforgettable in every way, this staggering event fulfilled the potential of television to capture the attention of a nation and overwhelm viewers with pure emotion. It was simply television at its very finest, breathtaking in presentation and spectacularly produced. 0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes

Question: Who defeated Bobby Riggs in the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ tennis match in September 1973?
Answer: Billy Jean King