Larry King (born January 30, 1945) is an American attorney, a real estate broker, a promoter, one of the founders of World Team Tennis, and the former husband of tennis star Billie Jean King.
Video Larry King (tennis)
Early life
King was born in Dayton, Ohio, and raised in Eagle Rock, California.
Maps Larry King (tennis)
Personal life
He met Billie Jean Moffitt at California State University, Los Angeles in 1963, when he played on one of the schools best men's tennis teams, coached by Scotty Deeds. He married Billie Jean on September 17, 1965 in Long Beach, California. In 1971, Larry King conceived the idea of a professional tennis tour for women and helped organize a group of Nine (Houston 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 of Philip Morris, and the Virginia Slims pro circuit was started. In 1973, King along with Dennis Murphy, Jordan Kaiser and Fred Barman, developed the concept of World Team Tennis, and started the league the following year. Also in 1971, Billie had an abortion that was made public in a Ms. magazine article. Larry had revealed Billie Jean's abortion without consulting her. In 1976, King invented a smokeless ashtray, called The Clean Air King. Billie Jean became the major owner of World Team Tennis in 1984. Larry and Billie Jean King divorced in 1987.
When Larry and Billie Jean lived in San Mateo, California, they became close personal friends with Charles Schulz, creator of the cartoon Peanuts, along with his wife, Jean. They played tennis in Schulz' Indoor Hockey Arena in Santa Rosa, California with many other professional players.
King and Murphy were also founders of Roller Hockey International, a professional hockey league that operated from 1993 to 1999. Murphy had also been instrumental in the founding of the American Basketball Association and the World Hockey Association.
King is an avid duplicate bridge player. He was the founder of Bridge University to promote bridge throughout the country.
King lives in Grass Valley, California, with his wife, Nancy, and two children, Sky and Katie. According to the movie Battle of the Sexes, Billy Jean King and her partner Ilana Kloss are godparents to King's children.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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