Game, Set, Match

by Susan Ware

  74 Nancy Scannell, “Proposals on Title 9 Criticized,” Washington Post, March 14, 1979, D1, D4.

  75 Sandler, “Title IX,” 483; U.S. Department of Education, Secretary's Commission for Opportunity in Athletics, Open to All: Title IX at Thirty (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2003), 2. See also Donna Lopiano to Howard McKeon, May 15, 1995, in U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education, Training and Life-Long Learning of the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities, Hearing on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 104th Cong., 1st sess., May 9, 1995 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1995).

  76 Quoted in Jessica Gavora, Tilting the Playing Field: Schools, Sports, Sex, and Title IX (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2002), 73. This became known as the “Field of Dreams” rationale, following the 1989 movie of that name.

  77 Ware, Title IX, 75–76.

  78 Polivy oral history, Dunkle, SL. The NCAA wasn't just interested in women's sports: it was also engaged in a turf war with the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). For more, see Wushanley, Playing Nice and Losing.

  79 Nancy Scannell, “Déetente's Gone Awry in Wake of NCAA, AIAW Conventions,” Washington Post, January 13, 1980, N9. Tongue-in-cheek, Candace Lyle Hogan compared the NCAA's interest to the contemporary energy crisis: oil has been discovered in the AIAW, and it is valuable. Hogan, “NCAA Discovers Women Athlete: A Valuable Resource,” New York Times, March 30, 1980, S2.

  80 Affidavit of Donna A. Lopiano, October 9, 1981, Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 157, 119. A similar process occurred in the South after Brown v. Board of Education, where black educational leaders lost their positions and power when schools were consolidated.

  81 “Strides,” Women's Sports, May 1980, 61–62. At the New Agenda Conference in November 1983, Donna de Varona noted: “We’ve always had warning signals. The shift came when the NCAA changed and embraced women's sports and we had to start to define ourselves through the establishment.” Jane Leavy, “women's Sports Seeks Visibility,” Washington Post, November 4, 1983, C1.

  82 Bart Barnes, “Lack of Money Halts Boom in Women's Sports,” Washington Post, July 5, 1981, D4. A good summary is United States Commission on Civil Rights, More Hurdles to Clear: Women and Girls in Competitive Athletics.

  83 Kathryn Jay, More Than Just a Game: Sports in American Life Since 1945 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004), 162.

  84 A prime example is Gavora, Tilting the Playing Field.

  85 Quoted in George Vecsey, “Help on Way for Title IX,” New York Times, April 22, 1984, 53.

  86 Diane Heckman, “The Glass Sneaker: Thirty Years of Victories and Defeats involving Title IX and Sex Discrimination in Athletics,” Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal 13 (Winter 2003): 551–614. She first used the phrase in Heckman, “Women and Athletics: A Twenty Year Retrospective on Title IX,” University of Miami Entertainment and Sports Law Review 9 (1992). The women's Sports Foundation based its conclusion on figures provided by the National Federation of State High School Associations for 2006–7. Press release posted on WSF website 〈http://womenssportsfoundation.org〉 (October 22, 2007).

  87 Barnes, “Lack of Money,” D4.

  88 In this case, it actually peaked in 1976–77.

  89 Candace Lyle Hogan anticipated this conclusion in “From Here to Equality: Title IX,” womenSports, September 1977, 16. These conclusions are based on my analysis of participation figures from the National Federation of State High School Associations from 1970 to 2005; and “Comparative Analysis—Increase in Membership and women's Sports,” in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, The Sports and Recreation Programs of the Nation's Universities and Colleges, Report #7 (1985), 23–27.

  90 Hogan, “Football is Hardly Sugar Daddy,” 52.

  91 Hogan, “From Here to Equality,” 17, 18. For another early warning about the decline in women coaches and administrators, see Linda Jean Carpenter, “The Impact of Title IX on women's Intercollegiate Sports,” in Arthur T. Johnson and James H. Frey, eds., Government and Sport: The Public Policy Issues (Totawa, N.J.: Rowman and Allanheld, 1985), 67–69.

  92 Barnes, “Lack of Money,” D4.

  Chapter Three

  1 Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, womenSports, January 1976, 4. Of that list, the one business venture that went nowhere was Billie Jean's broadcasting career. With great fanfare she was signed by ABC to a multiyear contract in January 1975 for a reported $200,000, but then became, in Sports Illustrated's apt phrase, “TV's version of a missing person.” King claimed she wanted to do more shows, but she had not really cut back on her tennis at that point and didn't seem to have the time or the inclination to retool herself for a career in broadcasting, as had other female sports figures such as Donna de Varona and, later, Mary Carillo. Melissa Ludtke, “King Does Not Reign on ABC,” Sports Illustrated, March 8, 1976, 48. See also “People in Sports,” New York Times, December 19, 1974, 97.

  2 Christine Terp, “A Whole New Ball Game,” Christian Science Monitor, May 22, 1981, 12; “King Explains Abilities Gap,” Washington Post, September 3, 1974, D1.

  3 Mary Kates, “Tennis Tycoon: Billie Jean King Finds Sport Profitable Even When She Isn't Playing,” Wall Street Journal, September 19, 1973, 1; William Wong, “Tennis, No One? Billie Jean King Faces Financial Setback Because of Her Teaching Firm's Trouble,” Wall Street Journal, February 10, 1975, 26; Robin Herman, “Court Queen and Women's Lib Symbol,” New York Times, September 10, 1974, 47.

  4 Elizabeth Wheeler, “The Men Behind the Women: Five Men Who Have Helped Shape Women's Sports,” Women's Sports, December 1980, 23–24. Larry also was president of Future, Inc., which served as the business agent for Billie Jean King and twenty-three other athletes, including her brother Randy and golfer Jane Blalock. Larry King, “My Wife, Billie Jean King by her Husband,” Ladies’ Home Journal, April 1974, 146; Kates, “Tennis Tycoon.”

  5 Frank Deford, “Mrs. Billie Jean King,” Sports Illustrated, May 19, 1975, 81. According to Grace Lichtenstein, Larry King was known on the tour as an “over-zealous ‘pusher.’“Grace Lichtenstein, A Long Way, Baby: The Inside Story of the Women in Pro Tennis (New York: William Morrow, 1974), 178.

  6 Kates, “Tennis Tycoon.” Ironically TennisAmerica, a company founded in 1969 by the Kings and fellow player Dennis Van der Meer to teach tennis, was one company that failed to fly. The Kings probably lost several hundred thousand dollars when the company went bankrupt in 1975. See Kates, “Tennis Tycoon,” for a fuller description of the Kings’ role in this enterprise, which was not insubstantial. The final bankruptcy was reported in “TennisAmerica Attorneys File for Bankruptcy,” Washington Post, February 16, 1975, 53. See also Wong, “Tennis, No One?”

  7 See chapter 4.

  8 Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, womenSports, November 1975, 4; Robin Herman, “Billie Jean King's Lifestyle: Innovate and Take a Chance,” New York Times, June 15, 1975, 51. For example, Newsweek noted that Billie Jean King “has sometimes been criticized for launching projects like the women's organization, grabbing public attention and then abandoning them to the stewardship of outsiders or her traveling secretary Marilyn Barnett.” “Sportswomanlike Conduct,” Newsweek, June 3, 1974, 52.

  9 Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, womenSports, June 1974, 4; Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, womenSports, July 1974, 4.

  10 Jay Searcy, “Magazine Venture is a Risky Game for Mrs. King,” New York Times, September 8, 1974, 248; Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, womenSports, January 1978, 4. In her initial publisher's letter in June 1974, King prominently mentions the financial risk involved (“I’m willing to risk my earnings”), but never gives a figure of how much she and Larry actually invested. Searcy, “Magazine Venture,” said melodramatically (and inaccurately, it seems), “If the magazine fails, it could wipe her out financially.” There never is a
ny mention again of major money lost, so presumably this investment was fairly negligible and involved the goodwill of King's name and time as much as cash.

  11 Stephanie Wilkinson, “The Visionary of Tennis,” Working Woman, September 1988, 86–87. Diamond concluded: “The magazine has become a relative success, but not under Billie's guidance, which is unfortunate.”

  12 Joan Ryan, “Something-for-Everyone Theory Gluts Magazine Market,” Washington Post, June 13, 1976, 38; Jill Gerston, “New Magazine Says Right Things About Women,” New York Times, September 16, 1973, 232. The Sportswoman got circulation up to 12,000 but suspended publication in 1976 when it was sold to Allen Hanson, the publisher of Bicycling. A May 1976 issue of the Sportswoman found at the Schle-singer Library at Radcliffe pitches it as the “only magazine that covers the national amateur and collegiate championships in every major sport.”

  13 Kates, “Tennis Tycoon.” The article referred to it as forthcoming for November, but it didn't hit the newsstands until the following May, with a June 1974 date.

  14 Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, June 1974. On Pat Carbine: “I think she's a tremendous human being; she has a lot of humor. She helped Larry a lot with getting our magazine started.” “Playboy Interview: Billie Jean King,” Playboy, March 1975, 60.

  15 This account of Ms. magazine draws heavily on Amy Erdman Farrell, Yours in Sisterhood: Ms. Magazine and the Promise of Popular Feminism (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998). See also Amy Farrell, “Attentive to Difference: Ms. Magazine, Coalition Building, and Sisterhood,” in Stephanie Gilmore, ed., Feminist Coalitions: Historical Perspectives on Second-Wave Feminism in the United States (Ur-bana: University of Illinois Press, 2008).

  16 Kates, “Tennis Tycoon”; Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, June 1974. The magazine received an especially warm welcome at the offices of the Project on the Status and Education of Women in Washington, D.C., which was delighted to receive a copy of the inaugural issue autographed by Billie Jean King. Bernice Sandler to Eva Atkin, July 1, 1974, PSEW, SL.

  17 For Larry's role, see Searcy, “Magazine Venture.” See Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, womenSports, July 1975, 4, about the potential conflict between wearing two hats as publisher and athlete, and Rosalie Wright's determination to get the best stories and different points of view, even if King might disagree. Wright was recruited for the job from her position as managing editor of Philadelphia magazine. Another staff member (secretary at first, soon assistant editor) was former junior tennis champion Anne Lamott, later a successful writer.

  18 Joan F. Healey, Harrison, N.J., to editors, and editors’ response, womenSports, September 1974, 7. “I was a little embarrassed by the number of advertisements in the first issue of womenSports that were for products I endorse. Because I have a close relationship with those companies, they were willing to help support the launching of womenSports” Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, July 1974.

  19 Le Anne Schreiber, Publisher's Letter, womenSports, May 1977, 4; Deborah Larned, “The Bodacious Billie Jean King,” womenSports, May 1977, 26. King made suggestions for the article but asked for no changes. As editor Le Anne Schreiber put it, “She didn't mind being characterized as a woman who held grudges, for instance; she just wanted to make sure that we got her grudges straight.” Schreiber, Publisher's Letter, May 1977.

  20 Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, womenSports, December 1974, 4. They received 1,000 responses, but only analyzed the first 500.

  21 Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, womenSports, October 1974, 4.

  22 Farrell, Yours in Sisterhood, 6. The sentence is about Ms., but every word of it applies to womenSports.

  23 Ellen Weber, “The Title IX Controversy,” womenSports, June 1974, 74–77; Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, womenSports, January 1975, 4; “Here Come the Carpetbaggers,” womenSports, September 1974, 49–52; Dori Niccolls, “Update: Power Grab in the Locker Room,” womenSports, June 1975, 18; Candace Lyle Hogan, “NCAA and AIAW: Will the Men Score on women's Athletics?” womenSports, January 1977, 46; Hogan, “The Rumormongers,” womenSports, November 1977, 60; Elizabeth Wheeler, “NCAA v. AIAW: The Battle for Control of women's Collegiate Athletics Heats Up,” women's Sports, June 1980, 20–23; and “Strides,” women's Sports, January 1981, 60.

  24 In July 1976, womenSports joined thirty women's magazines to discuss the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the bicentennial; its November 1976 insert—an eight-page essay on Ford and Carter by Doris Kearns Goodwin—was done jointly with Ladies’ Home Journal, Redbook, and American Home.

  25 Jane Leavy, “Sports Chic,” womenSports, March 1977, 53–57. Examples include Bud Collins, “Billie Jean King Evens the Score,” Ms., July 1973, 39–43, 101–102; Brenda Feigen Fasteau, “Giving Women a Sporting Chance,” Ms., July 1973, 56–58; Ann Crittenden Scott, “Closing the Muscle Gap: New Facts about Strength, Endurance—and Gender,” Ms., September 1974, 49–52; and Carolyn Kane, “Why Can't a Woman Throw More Like a Man?” Ms., April 1976, 88–89. See also chapter 5.

  26 Collins, “King Evens the Score”; Billie Jean King, “How to Win,” womenSports, June 1974, 34–38.

  27 Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, womenSports, November 1975, 4.

  28 See womenSports, August 1974, November 1974, and May 1977, respectively.

  29 “The Third Annual womenSports Scholarship Guide,” womenSports, September 1977, 31. The product was Sheer Energy pantyhose.

  30 Andy Meiser, “Nobody Stops womanSport of the Year Linda Jefferson,” womenSports, June 1975, 28–30. Alas, Jefferson's planned trip to New York to receive the award personally from Billie Jean King was cancelled at the last minute due to a scheduling conflict. And to maintain her AAU eligibility (she only received expense money when she played football), Jefferson had to turn down the new automobile that went with the prize. Lena Williams, “Award Brings Only Publicity for Halfback,” New York Times, June 8, 1975, 221.

  31 See the ballot in womenSports, January 1977, 61, which describes the procedures and gives the earlier winners. From then on, the choices were fairly obvious: well-known Olympic athletes and personalities who had the highest name recognition in a fairly narrow palette of sports.

  32 Farrell, Yours in Sisterhood, chapter 4; Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, July 1974.

  33 Denise Douchette, Sarasota, Fla., to editors, womenSports, July 1975, 6.

  34 Martha Rockwell, West Lebanon, N.H., to editors, womenSports, October 1974, 8; Lynn Vera and Elaine Esty, Milton, Vt., to editors, womenSports, September 1977, 6. Rockwell was identified as America's top female cross-country skier.

  35 Lois Vuono Mullarkey, Summit N.J., to editors, womenSports, June 1975, 6; Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, July 1975.

  36 Shelly Gardner, Minneapolis, Minn., to editors, womenSports, September 1974, 8; Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, December 1974.

  37 Farrell, Yours in Sisterhood, 86.

  38 Catherine Vrdolyak, Chicago, Ill., to editors, womenSports, April 1975, 6; Joanne Dyke [sic], Shushan, N.Y., to editors, womenSports, November 1974, 13. See Farrell, Yours in Sisterhood, 34, 73–74, 78–79, and 166–69 for how Ms. covered lesbian issues. Sometimes it had nothing to do with the articles. The September 1974 Ms. cover featuring two bicyclists was known informally as the “Dykes on Bikes” cover, according to Leavy, “Sporting Chic.”

  39 March Schultz, Sacramento, Calif., to editors., womenSports, January 1975, 11; Miriam Stern, Athens, Ga., to editors, and editors’ response, womenSports, May 1975, 6.

  40 Diane P. Kertkhoff, Kettering, Ohio, to editors, womenSports, July 1975, 6; Debbie Davis, Pittsville, Md., to editors, womenSports, October 1975, 7; Chrissie Maclay, Big Cedar Lake, Wis., to editors, womenSports, August 1975, 7.

  41 “How to Pick up Men and Throw Them against the Wall,” womenSports, August 1974; Ad found in womenSports, July 1974; Editorial, women's Sports, November 1982, 4; Jan Cunningham memorandum, February 21, 1975, NOW, SL. She suggests subscribing
to the Sportswoman (published in Culver City, Calif.) instead.

  42 Wright quickly found another job as a contributing sports editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. She publicly aired her feelings when she sent a congratulatory letter to the Sportswoman, which they ran in May 1976: “It is lively, well-written and probably just the kind of magazine womenSports should have been had not the advertising department insisted on diluting the hard sports aspects we originally hoped to cover. We wanted to get the nonathletic woman involved in sports as well as appealing to the active competitor, but I think you’re right in keeping your scope focused instead of trying to be all things to all people.” Soon after the Sportswoman ceased publication. To understand the Cosmopolitan reference, see Jennifer Scanlon, Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).

  43 Susan Cheever Cowley, “Kings and the Court,” Newsweek,June 9, 1975, 86; Philip H. Dougherty, “Time Magazine's Audience Study,” New York Times, September 18, 1975, 67. Charter owned 81 percent of the magazine, which suggests the Kings’ financial liability was more limited than they let on. Philip H. Dougherty, “Setting New Goals for womenSports,” New York Times, October 18, 1977, 65.

  44 Dougherty, “Setting New Goals for womenSports”; Barry Lorge, “Set for Final Fling at Wimbledon, King Continues Crusade,” Washington Post, June 27, 1976, 42.

  45 Billie Jean King, Publisher's Letter, January 1978.

  46 “Sports Fanfare,” Washington Post, January 4, 1978, D7.

  47 Douglas Latimer, Publisher's Letter, women's Sports, January 1979, 9.

  48 See Virginia M. Leath and Angela Lumpkin, “An Analysis of Sportswomen on the Covers and in the Feature Articles of women's Sports and Fitness Magazine, 19751989,” Journal of Sport and Social Issues 16 (December 1992): 121–26.