{"id":328237,"date":"2026-05-22T19:36:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/328237\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T19:36:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:36:45","slug":"billie-jean-king-82-earns-a-bachelors-degree-65-years-after-her-first-college-class-long-beach-post-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/328237\/","title":{"rendered":"Billie Jean King, 82, earns a bachelor’s degree 65 years after her first college class \u2022 Long Beach Post News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billie Jean King<\/a> raised her right arm in triumph. Not for another victory on the tennis court. This time, the Long Beach native and Poly High grad was celebrating earning a college degree 65 years after she first took classes.<\/p>\n

The 82-year-old\u00a0sports and equality icon<\/a>\u00a0received her bachelor\u2019s of art in history from Cal State Los Angeles on Monday, walking across the stage in hot pink glasses and royal blue sneakers at the Shrine Auditorium with about 6,000 others in the Class of 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never too late, whatever age you are, whatever your abilities are, go for it if you want it,\u201d she said afterward.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tennis legend Billie Jean King, left, receives her diploma from California State University, Los Angeles, President Berenecea Johnson Eanes during commencement in Los Angeles, Monday, May 18, 2026. AP Photo by Jae C. Hong.<\/p>\n

King\u2019s black gown was accented with a gold graduation stole personalized by a friend. One side included her initials and the letters G.0.A.T., referring to greatest of all time. A multi-colored tennis racket was embroidered on the other side.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot more to me than I thought,\u201d she said afterward. \u201cI am so glad I did it. My hope is that one other person will go back to school.\u201d<\/p>\n

King announced two years ago that she would work on completing her degree at the school where her bronze statue stands outside the physical education building. She\u2019s the first member of her immediate family to graduate from college, similar to the majority of her fellow graduates. The school has a predominantly Hispanic and Latino student body.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a student-athlete didn\u2019t mean I had a scholarship,\u201d she told the crowd. \u201cFinancial support wasn\u2019t available to women in 1961, even though my friends Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith were both scholarship students on the men\u2019s teams at UCLA and USC.\u201d<\/p>\n

King committed to working toward equality and inclusion for all.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can never understand inclusion unless we\u2019ve been excluded,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

At one point, a screaming baby in the balcony interrupted King.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it that bad?\u201d she asked, as the crowd laughed.<\/p>\n

She punctuated her speech with a cry of \u201cSi se puede!\u201d The audience erupted in cheers and applause to the phrase meaning \u201cYes you can!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Tennis legend Billie Jean King raises her fist after being called to receive her diploma during California State University, Los Angeles, commencement in Los Angeles, Monday, May 18, 2026. AP Photo by Jae C. Hong.<\/p>\n

Joined by student athletes and the school mascot, King hit autographed tennis balls into the crowd.<\/p>\n

She initially enrolled at the campus five miles east of downtown in 1961, the same year she won the first of her record-tying 20 Wimbledon titles, this one in women\u2019s doubles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings were different then,\u201d she told the students. \u201cWinning a Wimbledon doubles title today is worth close to half a million dollars. In 1961, I think we won a $45 gift voucher to a local store.\u201d<\/p>\n

She soon left school to pursue becoming No. 1 in the world, winning 39 major championships, and earning an historic victory over Bobby Riggs in the 1973 \u201cBattle of the Sexes.\u201d King helped establish the current women\u2019s pro tour while pushing for expanded prize money and opportunities for women.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tennis legend Billie Jean King prepares to toss tennis balls to graduates after delivering remarks during a California State University, Los Angeles, commencement ceremony in Los Angeles, Monday, May 18, 2026. AP Photo by Jae C. Hong.<\/p>\n

The biggest difference between learning in the \u201860s and today? \u201cIt\u2019s so much more virtual,\u201d she said. \u201cGosh, we had to be in class. I didn\u2019t go all the time, but I loved talking to the professors and I loved learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite her many successes on and off the court, King carried a nagging feeling about not earning her degree. She always corrected anyone assembling her biography that stated she had graduated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Don\u2019t ever say graduated, I haven\u2019t earned it yet,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI was thinking today coming over here for the first time actually they can say I graduated now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Would King go for a master\u2019s degree?<\/p>\n

\u201cI just turned on the news and there\u2019s Shaq walking across at LSU getting his master\u2019s,\u201d she said. \u201cI just think it\u2019s wonderful to keep learning.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billie Jean King raised her right arm in triumph. Not for another victory on the tennis court. This…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-328237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}