Billie Jean King Graduates College at 82, 65 Years Later

At 82 years old, Billie Jean King raised her right arm in triumph one more time, but this victory had nothing to do with tennis. The sports icon just earned her bachelor's degree in history from Cal State Los Angeles, completing a journey she started in 1961.

King crossed the stage Monday at the Shrine Auditorium wearing hot pink glasses and royal blue sneakers beneath her graduation gown. She was one of 6,000 graduates in the Class of 2026, and the first person in her immediate family to earn a college degree.

"It's never too late, whatever age you are, whatever your abilities are, go for it if you want it," King said after the ceremony. She announced two years ago that she would return to finish what she started 65 years earlier at the campus where her bronze statue now stands.

The timing of her original enrollment shows just how far things have come. King first took classes at Cal State LA in 1961, the same year she won her first Wimbledon title in women's doubles. That championship came with a $45 gift voucher to a local store, while today's winners receive close to half a million dollars.

But King had to leave school to pursue tennis because scholarships weren't available for female athletes. "Financial support wasn't available to women in 1961, even though my friends Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith were both scholarship students on the men's teams at UCLA and USC," she told the crowd.

King went on to win 39 major championships and defeat Bobby Riggs in the historic 1973 "Battle of the Sexes." She helped establish the women's professional tennis tour and fought tirelessly for equal prize money and opportunities for women in sports.

Yet despite all her achievements, King always carried a nagging feeling about her unfinished degree. She carefully corrected anyone writing her biography who said she had graduated. "I said, 'Don't ever say graduated, I haven't earned it yet,'" she explained.

Why This Inspires

King's return to the classroom shows that our unfulfilled dreams don't have an expiration date. She connected deeply with her fellow graduates at Cal State LA, a school with a predominantly Hispanic and Latino student body where most students are also first-generation college graduates.

During her commencement speech, King committed to continuing her work toward equality and inclusion for all. "We can never understand inclusion unless we've been excluded," she said, drawing on her own experiences as a woman in sports and as an LGBTQ+ advocate.

The ceremony had its lighter moments too. When a baby started crying in the balcony during her speech, King laughed and asked, "Is it that bad?" She ended by shouting "Si se puede!" (Yes you can!) to thunderous applause, then hit autographed tennis balls into the crowd.

The degree means more to King than she expected. "I am so glad I did it," she said. "My hope is that one other person will go back to school." And she's already looking ahead, mentioning Shaquille O'Neal's recent master's degree and adding, "I just think it's wonderful to keep learning."