BOOKED for the evening, The Westport Library’s signature fundraising event, will celebrate its 25th anniversary in high style in 2024, welcoming one of the greatest figures in the history of sport and a revered trailblazer in the fight for equality.
Tennis legend and social justice pioneer Billie Jean King will be this year’s awardee, honored in the Library’s Trefz Forum on Thursday, September 12. Tickets for the event will go on sale to the general public in mid-July.
King comes to the Library fresh off the 2024 US Open, whose grounds were named in her honor in 2006. In that ceremony, she told the crowd of 20,000-plus, “Mi casa es su casa, my house is your house, this house is our house.” That demonstration of openness and emphasis on community has been an enduring hallmark of King’s unparalleled life and career — one which she’ll share on September 12, in conversation with Chris McKendry, a Westport resident and host for ESPN’s tennis coverage.
“We are delighted to welcome tennis great and sporting pioneer Billie Jean King as our 2024 BOOKED for the evening honoree,” said Bill Harmer, Westport Library executive director. “Having Billie Jean King as our guest of honor for this milestone 25th anniversary is especially significant. Her unparalleled achievements and unwavering dedication to equality and justice resonate deeply with the values our library and community.
“This silver anniversary is a time to reflect on our shared commitment to fostering knowledge, inclusivity, and progress, and there is no one more fitting to inspire us than Billie Jean King. Her enduring impact on sports and society makes her a beacon of hope and change, and we are thrilled to celebrate her remarkable legacy with our community.”
BOOKED for the evening annually honors an individual whose work reflects the purpose of the Library: to nurture a love of learning and to enhance our understanding of the world. There is perhaps no other figure in the history of sports who has done more to fulfill that mission than King.
The International Tennis Hall of Famer stands as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. She was one of the game’s premier stars in the 1960s and 70s, and in her career won an astounding 39 Grand Slam titles, 12 in singles, and finished No. 1 in the world on five occasions.
For her all accomplishments on the court, she is best known today for championing equality and fairness — in sport and in society. Her victory over Bobby Riggs in the famed Battle of the Sexes match in 1973 was a seminal moment in professional sports, and in many ways the culmination of her work championing equality in the years preceding.
In 1970, she launched the Virginia Slims Tour — the first professional tennis tour for women, a groundbreaking move at the time — and in 1971 she became the first woman athlete to earn more than $100,000 in prize money. Yet, when she won the US Open in 1972, she received $15,000 less than the men’s champion Ilie Năstase.
The following year, resolute to create lasting change, King leveraged her position and her clout to spearhead the formation of the Women’s Tennis Association, becoming its first president. In that position, she lobbied for equal prize money at the US Open — and succeeded. The US Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money to both men and women, something none of the other three Grand Slams accomplished regularly until the Australian Open followed suit in 2001, nearly three decades later.
In the ensuing years, King continued to exercise her voice as a champion for equal rights and gay rights, emerging as one of the world’s most outspoken advocates against discrimination and for the fair treatment for all people, all the time, everywhere.
“One thing we stressed in the WTA, and the older players at the time when we started, was: This is a platform,” King told PBS NewsHour at the 2023 US Open. “We have an opportunity. We actually have an obligation to help make this world a better place.”
King’s accolades are many:
She was elected to 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.
In 2006, the renaming of the US Open grounds — now recognized as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center — made King the first woman to have a major sports venue dedicated in her honor. (King grew up learning to play tennis on the public courts of Long Beach, California, and the National Tennis Center is the one of the world’s largest public tennis facilities, making this another fitting tribute.)
In 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama for her advocacy work on behalf of women and the LGBTQ community, becoming the first woman athlete to receive the distinction.
In 2014, she founded the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to addressing the critical issues required to achieve diverse, inclusive leadership in the workforce.
In 2020, the International Tennis Federation renamed the Fed Cup, the world cup of women’s tennis and the largest annual global team competition in women’s sports, the Billie Jean King Cup.
In 2021, she was honored with the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, the legendary magazine’s highest honor.
And most fitting for this occasion, King also has a library named after her. In 2019, the Long Beach City Council honored her by naming its new library the Billie Jean King Main Library.
“I believe in the power of dreaming big and never giving up,” King said, adding separately, “The legacy I would like to leave is that it’s OK to be yourself, and it’s OK to be different.”
Previous BOOKED for the evening award recipients include 2023 guest of honor Laura Linney, the award-winning actress and acclaimed humanitarian, as well as luminaries such as Tom Brokaw, E.L. Doctorow, Calvin Trillin, Wendy Wasserstein, Pete Hamill, Martin Scorsese, Arthur Mitchell, Doris Kearns Goodwin, David Halberstam, Oscar Hijuelos, Adam Gopnik, Will Shortz, Patti Smith, Barry Levinson, Jon Meacham, Nile Rodgers, Lynsey Addario, Ron Chernow, Alan Alda, Justin Paul, Frederic Chiu, Itzhak Perlman, and Shonda Rhimes.
