{"id":831735,"date":"2026-05-30T06:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/831735\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T06:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:10:16","slug":"larry-w-king-ex-husband-of-tennis-icon-billie-jean-king-dead-at-81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/831735\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry W. King, ex-husband of tennis icon Billie Jean King, dead at 81"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Larry W. King, the former husband of Billie Jean King who partnered with her on the creation of the WTA Tour and the \u201cBattle of the Sexes\u201d tennis match, died Friday. <\/p>\n<p>He was 81.<\/p>\n<p>King died at his home of prostate cancer, said his wife, Nancy Bolger King.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.50810015;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39531419\" width=\"890\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/billie-jean-king-husband-larry-129136793.jpg\" alt=\"Billie Jean King and husband Larry smiling and hugging.\" class=\"wp-image-39531419\"  \/>Billie Jean King and her husband Larry before they leave for Wales where Billie Jean plays in the Welsh Tennis Championships, 3rd July 1966. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Larry King and Billie Jean King met at Cal State-Los Angeles and married in 1965. Billie Jean King credited him as \u201cone of the unsung heroes in the establishment of women\u2019s professional tennis in the early 1970s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLarry\u2019s intelligence, love, commitment and humor helped me navigate my career for more than 20 years,\u201d Billie Jean King added in a statement, saying: \u201cWe were married for 22 years and in business together for decades. He was involved behind the scenes when the Original 9 signed our $1 contracts and he and I co-owned several tournaments on the Virginia Slims Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.66894531;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39531420\" width=\"395\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/larry-king-husband-billie-jean-129136783.jpg\" alt=\"Larry King, husband of Billie Jean King, smiling and wearing a white t-shirt with a picture of Billie Jean King and the slogan &quot;Love Billie... Zero Bobby.&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-39531420\"  \/>Larry King and Billie Jean King met at Cal State-Los Angeles and married in 1965. Sports Illustrated via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Together, Larry and Billie Jean King founded World TeamTennis, after Billie Jean was long interested in a team format for the sport. Larry King designed the colorful courts and revamped scoring system that helped popularize the sport.<\/p>\n<p>He played a major role in a breakthrough for women\u2019s tennis in 1973. The WTA Tour was formed that year, before King went on to beat Bobby Riggs in the \u201cBattle of the Sexes,\u201d which remains the most-watched tennis match in history.<\/p>\n<p>Larry and Billie Jean King divorced in 1987. He later married Nancy Bolger King, whom he met on the women\u2019s tour in the late 1980s. They moved a few years later to Grass Valley, where he co-founded Roller Hockey International, a professional roller hockey league played on inline skates; and Bridge Pro Tour, a professional bridge tour.<\/p>\n<p>Besides his wife, King is survived by son Sky King and daughter Katie King, and their families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Larry W. King, the former husband of Billie Jean King who partnered with her on the creation of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":831736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[48],"tags":[36441,5416,11656,62,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-831735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-billie-jean-king","tag-deaths","tag-obits","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116662044712801882","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}