| Larry King | |
| Birth Date: | 30 January 1945 |
| Birth Place: | Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Attorney from University of California/Sports Promoter |
| Known For: | Founder of World Team Tennis |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 2 |
Larry William King (born January 30, 1945) is an attorney, pilot, real estate broker, American sports promoter, and the ex-husband of former World No. 1 professional tennis player Billie Jean King.
King was born in Dayton, Ohio, and raised in Eagle Rock, California. He met Billie Jean Moffitt at California State University, Los Angeles in 1963, when he played on one of the school’s best men's tennis teams, coached by Scotty Deeds. He married Billie Jean on September 17, 1965 in Long Beach, California.[1]
In 1971, King conceived the idea of a professional tennis tour for women and helped organize a group of nine (the Original Nine) top women players: Billie Jean King, Rosie Casals, Judy Dalton, Julie Heldman, Kerry Melville, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kristy Pigeon, Nancy Richey, and Valerie Ziegenfuss. He obtained the backing of Gladys Heldman of World Tennis Magazine and Joe Cullman, CEO of Philip Morris, and the Virginia Slims pro circuit was started. In 1973, along with Dennis Murphy, Jordan Kaiser and Fred Barman, King developed the concept of World Team Tennis, and started the league the following year.[2] In 1974, King and Billie Jean co-founded and began publishing WomenSports magazine.
In 1976, King invented a smokeless ashtray, called The Clean Air King. In 1984, Billie Jean became the major owner of World Team Tennis.
King and Dennis Murphy also founded Roller Hockey International, a professional hockey league that operated from 1993 to 1999.[3] Murphy had also been instrumental in the founding of the American Basketball Association and the World Hockey Association.
King, a director and master duplicate bridge player, founded the Money Bridge tour.[4] He also founded Bridge University to promote bridge throughout the country.
King had a big impact on the rise of his wife's fame. Billie Jean was not always a feminist icon; in the 60s he had helped her start to think about the lack of scholarships for sports for women. He never tried to tear down Billie Jean's aspirations of becoming a tennis superstar and promoted her success continuously.[5]
In 1971, Billie Jean had an abortion that was made public in a Ms. magazine article.[6] Larry had revealed Billie Jean's abortion without consulting her.
In 1973, Billie Jean defeated Bobby Riggs in a well-publicized match. In 2017, the film Battle of the Sexes was released. In the film, King was shown as becoming aware, that year, of Billie Jean's infidelity with another woman, and decided to ignore it; King said that was false.[7]
Billie Jean was sexually involved with her former secretary, Marilyn Barnett, during Larry and Billie Jean's marriage. In 1981, Billie Jean admitted publicly that the relationship had taken place, in response to a lawsuit by Barnett that asked for palimony.[8] King and Billie Jean divorced in 1987.[9]
King lives in Grass Valley, California, with his wife, Nancy, a cardiologist technician and pilot, and two children, Sky and Katie. According to the movie Battle of the Sexes, Billie Jean King and her partner Ilana Kloss are godparents to the Kings' children.