Billie Jean King Earns College Degree at 82 and Says “It’s Never Too Late”

By Erik Gudris | Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Photo credit: Cal State LA

Tennis icon Billie Jean King has achieved much in her legendary life both on and off the court. Now she can add college graduate to those accomplishments. 

The 82-year-old King received her bachelor’s degree in history from California State Los Angeles this week. 

“More than 60 years have passed before I returned to the classroom to complete my degree in history,” King said to her fellow graduates during the diploma ceremony. “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. I like completing things. It’s like shaking hands at the net after a match.”

Why did it take King so long to finish her degree? Simply because back when she first enrolled in classes in 1961, she eventually left the school three years later to focus on her tennis career.

King also shared on Instagram a photo of her in a graduation gown with the caption, “It is never, ever, too late to finish what you have started. #Classof2026.”

King, enrolled in classes in the same year she won one of her 20 Wimbledon titles.

“Things were different then,” she said to the audience. “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.”

“Being a student-athlete didn’t mean I had a scholarship. 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.”

Photo credit: Cal State LA

King added, “We can never understand inclusion unless we’ve been excluded.”

Photo credits: Cal State LA

The iconic leader for human rights praised graduates for their journeys to diploma day.

“Each person, you don’t know their journey, what they went through, and also what their families went through,” King said. “Being back at where I started means a lot to me.”

King won a total of 39 major titles in both singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, along with winning the famous “Battles of the Sexes” match against Bobby Riggs in 1973. 

King, who founded the WTA Tour, is also the recipient of the United States’ two highest civilian honors.

In 2009, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 2024 she became the first individual female athlete to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.

During Cal State LA’s 50th anniversary celebration in 1997, the university and California State University bestowed on King an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in recognition of her athletic achievements and the distinction those accomplishments brought to her alma mater.

In 2025, she became the first woman to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame under the category of sports entertainment.

For 20 years, she hosted the Billie Jean King & Friends event at Cal State LA, raising more than $4.5 million for athletic scholarships.