Billie Jean King, 82, Earns College Degree After 65-Year Gap
LOS ANGELES — Billie Jean King raised her right arm in triumph — not for another victory on the tennis court, but for a milestone she had waited more than six decades to achieve. At 82 years old, the tennis legend and equality advocate received her Bachelor of Arts in History from California State University, Los Angeles, on May 18, 2026 — 65 years after she first enrolled as a student in 1961.
King walked across the stage at the Shrine Auditorium alongside approximately 6,000 fellow graduates of Cal State LA’s Class of 2026, wearing hot pink glasses, royal blue sneakers, and a black gown accented with a gold graduation stole featuring her initials, “G.O.A.T.,” and a multi-colored tennis racket, according to The Associated Press via NBC News.
A 65-Year Journey
King first enrolled at what was then called Los Angeles State College in 1961 — the same year she won her first Wimbledon title, a women’s doubles championship with partner Karen Hantze at just 18 years old. She left in 1964 after three years to pursue professional tennis full-time, a decision that led to one of the most decorated careers in sports history.
Over the following decades, King amassed 39 major championships, including 12 Grand Slam singles titles, and was ranked No. 1 in the world for six years. She defeated Bobby Riggs in the historic 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” match, founded the Women’s Tennis Association, and became a pioneering advocate for gender equality. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 and became the first individual female athlete to receive the Congressional Gold Medal in 2024.
Yet throughout her extraordinary career, the unfinished degree remained a persistent concern. As The Guardian reported, King always corrected anyone assembling her biography who stated she had graduated. “I said, ‘Don’t ever say graduated, I haven’t earned it yet,’” she recalled. “I was thinking today coming over here for the first time actually they can say I graduated now.”
Returning to Finish What She Started
King announced her intention to complete her degree in October 2024 during the unveiling ceremony of her bronze statue at Cal State LA. Initially believing she had only completed two years of coursework, research by her staff revealed she was only one year away from graduating. She re-enrolled and fulfilled her missing credits through remote courses, including classes in LGBT Political History in the United States, Historiography, and Gender and Historical Research and Writing, according to the Cal State LA Newsroom.
King is the first member of her immediate family to graduate from college — a reality she shares with many of her fellow graduates at Cal State LA, a university ranked number one in the United States for upward mobility of its students.
‘It’s Never Too Late’
In her commencement speech, King wove together her personal academic journey with her lifelong advocacy for equality. She pointedly noted that as a female student-athlete in 1961, she could not receive an athletic scholarship — a contrast to her male contemporaries Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith, who were scholarship students at UCLA and USC.
“We can never understand inclusion unless we’ve been excluded,” King told the crowd.
She punctuated her speech with a cry of “Si se puede!” — “Yes, you can!” — as the audience erupted in cheers. At one point, a screaming baby in the balcony interrupted her. “Is it that bad?” she asked, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Reflecting on the achievement, King said: “It means a lot more to me than I thought. I am so glad I did it. My hope is that one other person will go back to school.” She added: “It’s never too late. Whatever age you are, whatever your abilities are, go for it if you want it.”
What’s Next?
When asked whether she might pursue a master’s degree, King pointed to another sports icon who recently returned to school. “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.”
King’s graduation serves as a powerful testament to lifelong learning and the idea that educational paths are not always linear. Her journey — spanning 65 years from enrollment to graduation — highlights that institutions can accommodate students at any stage of life, and that it is never too late to finish what one has started.
“More than 60 years have passed before I returned to the classroom to complete my degree in history,” King said. “Talk about delayed gratification, and I came back with a purpose. I had unfinished business, and it is important to me to finish what I started. It’s like shaking hands at the net after a match.”