Double Match ~ It's a Tennis Line

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2024: Week 34 (MEMBER OF THE CLUB)

We regularly receive a notable connection email from WikiTree.

The connections are usually in the 13-41 degrees from Chris or I, and only a few are actually related. 

Even knowing that I check every email that comes, and usually the lines are full of yellow (denoting in-law matching), and not green (noting directly matching). 

February 2024 the notable match email arrived from WikiTree for KINGS.

Featured Connections:

As always I clicked on each of the potential connections with little hope of seeing anything except yellow & was shocked to see a solid line of green for tennis star Billie Jean King to Chris' maternal line.

I decided that day to save her for MEMBER OF THE CLUB since it fit nicely for a tennis star!

This week I began adding the connections to our our Bramble Bush.

While adding I ended up duplicating a line that resulted in tedious merges. 

The duplication occurred because there are crossovers between Chris' mother's paternal line and my mother's maternal line. 

These are the 2 solid colonial lines so I wasn't surprised to find the crossover.

Billie Jean (nee Moffitt) King is my 10th cousin X1 removed, and Chris' 9th cousin X1 removed. The connections are via a 1st and 2nd marriage so Chris and I are not actually related, but the descendants from that spot are.

Chris and I are proud to call Billie Jean cousin. 

"One of the greatest tennis players of all time and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient for her advocacy for women in sports and LGBTQ rights, Billie Jean King won 39 Grand Slam titles in her tennis career and led the fight for equal pay in tennis. Known for beating Bobby Riggs in 1973’s “Battle of the Sexes,” King also helped establish the Women’s Tennis Association, the organization that oversees women’s professional tennis."  1 

"King retired from competitive tennis in 1984 and the same year became the first woman commissioner in professional sports in her position with the World TeamTennis League. She was inducted into the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1980, the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987, and the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1990. King remained active in tennis and since the mid-1990s served as coach for several Olympic and Federation Cup teams; in 2020 the Federation Cup was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup. The United States Tennis Association honoured King in August 2006, when it renamed the National Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. In 2009 King was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She published the autobiographies Billie Jean (1974; with Kim Chapin), The Autobiography of Billie Jean King (1982; with Frank Deford), and All In (2021; with Johnette Howard and Maryanne Vollers). Her other books included We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women’s Tennis (1988; with Cynthia Starr) and Pressure Is a Privilege: Lessons I’ve Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes (2008; with Christine Brennan)." 2 

"Today, King, 77, is considered a human rights pioneer. When she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the Oval Office in 2009, Barack Obama told her the Battle of the Sexes had had a huge impact on him as a father. 

“You don’t realize it, but I saw that match at 12,” he told her. “Now I have two daughters and it has made a difference in how I raise them. 

In 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, Queens, home to the upcoming US Open, was rededicated as the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, in honor of the integral part she has played in promoting parity between the men’s and women’s game and equality in general."  3

"Billie Jean King won her first tennis championship when she was just fourteen years old. She went on to win thirty nine Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed double titles over a career spanning two decades. A champion for the women's movement, she drew attention to the inequality in prize money afforded to women's champions in comparison to men. She was the first American athlete to acknowledge having a homosexual relationship. King retired from professional play in 1984 and now serves on the boards of the Women's Sports Foundation as well as the Elton John AIDS Foundation." 4

"As a female athlete, King achieved a number of “firsts”. In 1971, she became the first female athlete in any sport to earn more than $100,000 in a single season, and in 1974, she became the first woman to coach a co-ed team in professional sports, the Philadelphia Freedoms. In 1984, King became the first woman commissioner in professional sports history.

...

King is the author of numerous books, including, Pressure is a Privilege: Lessons I”ve Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes. In 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

King’s groundbreaking achievements spearheaded the women’s movement in tennis, affording today’s female athletes equal opportunity in the world of sports." 5

"American tennis great Billie Jean King broke down barriers by pushing for equal prize money for women and becoming one of the first well-known openly gay athletes." 6

"Visionary. Pioneer. Legend. As a tennis champion and social activist, Billie Jean King lives her life according to the principles of equality, empowerment, and access.
...
Named one of the “100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century” by LIFE magazine, Billie Jean King’s greatest desire is to empower the next generation with the tools to do better than the one before it. An influential visionary who is both highly respected and strikingly innovative, Billie Jean King’s legacy is ever-evolving."  7

When you find relatives who are easy to admire!!! 

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Footnotes:

1  Billie Jean King. National Women's History Museum. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/billie-jean-king

2  Billie Jean King. Encyclopedia Brittanica.  Retrieved August 24th 2024 from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Billie-Jean-King

3  How Billie Jean King was outed by her secret lover, then shunned by the world. By Gavin Newsham. New York Post. Originally Published August 14th 2021. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from 
https://nypost.com/2021/08/14/how-billie-jean-king-was-outed-by-her-secret-lover-then-shunned-by-the-world/

4 Billie Jean King (née Moffitt). by Mary McCartney. chromogenic print, 2008. National Portrail Gallery. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from 
https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp122819/billie-jean-king-nee-moffitt

5 Billie Jean King. National Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/billie-jean-king/

6 Billie Jean King. Biography.com. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from 
https://www.biography.com/athletes/billie-jean-king

7 Billie Jean King. Official Website. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from
https://www.billiejeanking.com/

Sources:

Billie Jean King. Official Website. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from
https://www.billiejeanking.com/

Billie Jean King. Biography.com. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from 
https://www.biography.com/athletes/billie-jean-king

Billie Jean King. Encyclopedia Brittanica.  Retrieved August 24th 2024 from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Billie-Jean-King

Billie Jean King. International Tennis Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from 
https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/billie-jean-king

Billie Jean King. National Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/billie-jean-king/

Billie Jean King. National Women's History Museum. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/billie-jean-king

Billie Jean King (née Moffitt). by Mary McCartney. chromogenic print, 2008. National Portrail Gallery. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from 
https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp122819/billie-jean-king-nee-moffitt

How Billie Jean King was outed by her secret lover, then shunned by the world. By Gavin Newsham. New York Post. Originally Published August 14th 2021. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from 
https://nypost.com/2021/08/14/how-billie-jean-king-was-outed-by-her-secret-lover-then-shunned-by-the-world/

King, Billie Jean Moffitt. Encylcopedia.com. Retrieved August 24th 2024 from
https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/king-billie-jean-moffitt

Clips:

Featured Connections. Retrieved February 28th 2024, email from WikiTree

Billie Jean Moffitt connection to myself. WikiTree retrieved August 24th 2024 from  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Moffitt-719 

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

______________________________________________________________