Posted on 08/27/2013 6:47:52 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Forty years ago, the battle of the sexes took a more literal turn in the world of sports, and captured the imagination of the country — and the world. By then a fading star in men’s tennis, Bobby Riggs challenged rising women’s tennis star Billie Jean King to a three-set match to settle whether women could compete against men on an even field. But how even was the field? ESPN and ABC report that Riggs may have thrown the match in cahoots with the Mafia:
The “Battle of the Sexes,” a 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and a former Grand Slam champion, was rigged by the mob, according to a new report.
The tennis match between King and the late Bobby Riggs, a former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champ, was a spectacle watched by millions around the world Sept. 20, 1973. More than 30,000 people packed the Houston Astrodome to see whether King, 29 at the time, could defeat a man.
King beat Riggs, who was 55 at the time of the match, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. The win gave women’s tennis a huge boost in terms of respect and gender equality, but an ESPN “Outside the Lines” report says the whole match was fixed because Riggs owed mobsters more than $100,000 and threw the match to erase the debt.
If you weren’t around for this, it may be difficult to relate just what a big deal this match was. From schoolyards to business offices, people chose sides and argued vehemently about the possible outcomes and the relative skills of the two professional athletes. Those who cheered for Riggs became known (mostly by choice) as “Rigg’s Pigs,” a reference to the insult “male chauvinist pigs” thrown at those opposed to the feminist movement at the time. Riggs, who certainly knew how to promote the match, cut a deal with Sugar Daddy candies, if I recall correctly, and surrounded himself with a bevy of beautiful women to stoke interest. The match itself drew 90 million viewers worldwide, making it one of the most-watched sporting events ever, and easily the most-watched tennis match in the US at least to that time.
This report is based on one overheard conversation from months earlier, one that didn’t even involve Riggs. That makes it a little thin, and for her part, King vehemently denies that Riggs threw the match:
“I was on the court with Bobby and I know he was not tanking the match. I could see in his eyes and body language he wanted to win,” she said.
“It was 40 years ago and I won the match and I am 100 percent sure Bobby wanted to win as badly as I did. Those who bet against me lost money but the result is the same today as it was 40 years ago.”
Riggs’ son Larry admits that his father knew mobsters at the time, and allows that it might be “possible” that they talked to Riggs about the game. However, I’m pretty skeptical about this, and not just because the intense media spotlight on the game would have made it more difficult to pull off. Riggs was almost twice the age of King at the time of this match, 55 years old to her 29, and both were world-class athletes. Even today, when 55 is a lot younger than it used to be, a 29-year-old woman on a tennis court will have fresher legs and more stamina than a 55-year-old man, especially one who threw himself more into promotion than practice in the weeks leading up to the match. In retrospect, Riggs seems fortunate to have made it as competitive as he did, losing in three straight sets and two service breaks down in each of the final two sets.
For those who weren’t around at the time, Bob Costa had a good recap in his book And the Crowd Goes Wild:
Let's see. One of the top women's tennis players in the world beats a 55 year-old guy, and that's supposed to be boost for "gender equality?" LOL.
A 99 mph serve is not a fast serve to a man by the way. I could hit that before with wood rackets.
I'm older now and would not myself cringe at a 99 mph serve today. The male pros would eat them up and spit them out as great as these ladies are IMO.
Riggs was a dinker, lobber, and he often just blocked back shots to take the speed off. He just played different than anyone else but he did win a lot.
Tic tock, tic, tock:
Their fifteen minutes of fame expired forty years ago!
If I recall correctly McEnroe said something like “they would crushed by (male) unranked college players”. He was castigated for his comments but he was right.
I’d like to watch the whole match but I can’t find it on GoogTube. Anyone have a link?
From the few clips I have seen it does look like Riggs is not really trying to win.
I remember watching it on TV on ABC that night (CBS as I recall was showing Bonnie & Clyde). I never really thought Riggs was really trying that hard.
I knew the nutritionist in LA that worked with Riggs for months before the match to bring him to the best possible level of strength and health. Clearly, Riggs was trying.
So you think Riggs went from beating the crap out of Margaret Court a month before, to losing badly to a player who was lesser than Court.
I’ve known a lot of women’s libbers and none of them would have accepted a game in which the odds were totally against them winning. Billy Jean King just would not have let herself be set up for that much embarrassment.
Riggs was milking the whole thing for all he could get.
He asked King for a rematch which would have given him a chance to make even more money by winning this time.
King refused.
I can’t see two VERY heavyweight Outfit Crime Boss Guys like Trafficante and Marcello waltzin’ into some golf course clubhouse, late at night, without at least 4 of their big burly bodyguards comin’ inside with ‘em. Well, might have happened, who knows?
Bobby threw the match because he felt sorry for the girl.
Possibly.
But I remember at the time (at age 12-14)of thinking among my friends any boy could easily outdo any girl of the same age in physical activity so any man of similar age should do as well.
When we realized Riggs was a much older man, even us kids knew it wasn’t a “real” contest though many girls insisted King won far and square and “any girl could do anything a boy could do”
Which is what King, as an radical, leftist, lesbian, feminist wanted and that’s why she and her kind went all along with it.
A corrupt bargain all along and Bobby Riggs was a foolish old man if he really thought he could beat an much youger woman at the top of her game.
McEnroe was a real pr^ck but one thing he took seriously was tennis
I believe him....
Apparently you haven’t read the thread. Riggs did beat a woman at the top of her game. He beat Margaret Court who was the number 1 ranked woman in the world at the time.
He also beat her very easily.
Jimmy Connors mopped the floor with Navratilova, but that didn’t fit the agenda.
And it may have been part of the setup.
A big movie at the time was “The Sting” starring Robert Redford and Paul Neuman.
This maybe the real life version of the sting with Riggs and the American Public as the “mark”
Hmmmm. I watched the match. I seem to recall that King was playing with a single’s court. Rigs was defending a doubles court with the alleys. Hmmmm. Time for some research.
Gwjack
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