Billie Jean King walked across the stage at Cal State Los Angeles on Monday—65 years after she first began classes—celebrating the completion of her bachelor’s degree in history and urging others to return to school, regardless of age.
LOS ANGELES — Billie Jean King raised her right arm in triumph, but this wasn’t the familiar arc of a tennis victory.
On Monday, the 82-year-old sports and equality icon earned a bachelor’s of art in history from Cal State Los Angeles. She crossed the stage at the Shrine Auditorium with about 6,000 others in the Class of 2026, wearing hot pink glasses and royal blue sneakers.
“It’s never too late, whatever age you are, whatever your abilities are, go for it if you want it,” King said after receiving her degree.
Her black gown carried personal touches that spoke to how long she’d been chasing this moment. A gold graduation stole—customized by a friend—featured her initials and the letters G.0.A.T., referring to “greatest of all time.” On the other side, a multi-coloured tennis racket was embroidered.
“It means a lot more to me than I thought,” King said afterward. “I am so glad I did it. My hope is that one other person will go back to school.”
King had 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 said she was motivated by a simple, personal desire—and a broader belief about opportunity.
She is the first member of her immediate family to graduate from college, a milestone she said mirrors what many of the students around her are living through as well. The school’s student body is predominantly Hispanic and Latino.
“Being a student-athlete didn’t mean I had a scholarship,” King told the crowd. “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.”
From her platform, King also returned to the cause that has shaped her life outside sport.
King committed herself to working toward equality and inclusion for all, telling the audience: “We can never understand inclusion unless we’ve been excluded.”
During her address, a baby began screaming from the balcony, briefly stealing the attention of the packed room. King looked up and asked, as the crowd laughed, “Is it that bad?”
Then she punctuated the speech with “Si se puede!”—a cry that sent the audience erupting in cheers and applause. Joined by student athletes and the school mascot, King threw autographed tennis balls into the crowd.
Her path to Monday’s ceremony began in 1961, when she initially enrolled at the campus about five miles east of downtown Los Angeles. That same year, she won the first of her record-tying 20 Wimbledon titles—this one in women’s doubles.
“It means a lot more to me than I thought,” she later added, linking today’s graduation back to how different everything was when she first stepped into the classroom.
“Things were different then,” King told the students. “Winning 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.”
She soon left school to pursue her rise to No. 1 in the world. Over the years, she won 39 major championships and delivered an historic victory over Bobby Riggs in the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes.”
King also helped establish the current women’s pro tour while pushing for expanded prize money and opportunities for women.
Asked what learning looks like now compared with the 1960s, King pointed to the shift in day-to-day classroom life.
“It’s so much more virtual,” she said. “Gosh, we had to be in class. I didn’t go all the time, but I loved talking to the professors and I loved learning.”
Even with all her success on and off the court, King carried a persistent reminder that she hadn’t earned her degree. She said she corrected anyone who described her as having graduated.
“I said, ‘Don’t ever say graduated, I haven’t earned it yet,’” King recalled. “I was thinking today coming over here for the first time actually they can say I graduated now.”
As she left the ceremony, the question of what comes next hung in the air.
Would she go for a master’s degree?
King said she had just seen an example on television.
“I just turned on the news and there’s Shaq walking across at LSU getting his master’s,” she said. “I just think it’s wonderful to keep learning.”
Billie Jean King Cal State Los Angeles graduation Class of 2026 history degree Wimbledon Battle of the Sexes equality inclusion