Long before Billie Jean King won dozens of Grand Slam tennis titles, founded the Women’s Tennis Association, became part owner of the Dodgers and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she enrolled at what was then called Los Angeles State College.
Three years later in 1964, King left unqualified to devote full attention to his burgeoning tennis career.
Failing to earn these degrees worried him, Nkosi would correct anyone who claimed to be successful.
“I said, ‘Don’t you ever say ‘you’re done.’ I haven’t got it — yet,’” she said.
“Yet” became a reality Monday when King, 82, received his history degree from the same school he attended more than 60 years ago — now Cal State Los Angeles — walking across the Shrine Auditorium stage with the rest of the Class of 2026.
King served as the commencement speaker, telling the nearly 6,000 graduates, “It’s an honor to be here.
“Yes, my child, only 61 years!”
King said that “like many of you,” no one in his family had graduated from college.
He noted that his lifelong fight against discrimination began when he realized at the age of 12 that almost everyone in tennis clubs was white.
“I asked myself, ‘Where are all the others?'” King said. “From that day forward, I dedicated my life to equality and inclusion for all people. Tennis is a global sport and became my platform, but equality was my dream – to make the world a better place.”
“We cannot understand inclusion unless we are excluded.”
Known at the time as Billie Jean Moffitt, she chose Los Angeles State because tennis coach Scotty Deeds trains men and women together. She quickly became an international star, winning the Wimbledon tournament twice at the age of 18 with Karen Hantze, who was only 17.
She married her college sweetheart Larry King in 1965 and divorced in 1987. After that, King and Ilana Kloss, a successful tennis player herself, were a couple for decades before they married in 2018 in a secret ceremony at the apartment of former New York City Mayor David Dinkins.
“You find your truth, and it doesn’t have to stay that way,” King told People magazine at the time. “I only liked boys when I was young, I didn’t think about girls, and then suddenly I asked myself, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on?’ My reality was changing over time. It took me forever.”
King became an advocate of LGBTQ+ and women’s rights and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 in part for her advocacy of equality. King and Kloss co-founded the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative to promote inclusive and gender-equal workplaces.
Shortly after they married, King and Kloss became part owners of the Dodgers and Sparks, receiving undisclosed small stakes in the franchises at the invitation of controlling owner Mark Walter.
“We believe that all professionals, as well as professional sports, should be more inclusive and equal,” Walter said at the time.
King returned to Cal State LA for the spring semester of 2025. He also received course credit through his interactions with other students enrolled in the University’s Graduate Program in Prison.
“They are committed to improving their lives through education,” he said, and “getting their degree will change their lives.”
The king now knows the feeling firsthand. At the graduation ceremony on Monday, she wore a gold dress emblazoned with a multi-colored tennis racket and the letters GOAT – the biggest of all.
“It means more to me than I thought,” he told reporters. “I’m very happy that I did it, my hope is that someone else will go back to school.
“It’s never too late, no matter how old you are, no matter how talented you are, go for it if you want it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
