Meeting Billie Jean

Imagine, for a minute, that you wrote a book on the history of physics at Princeton and got to give a copy to Albert Einstein. 

Or perhaps you wrote a book on the history of aerospace engineering at Princeton and had a chance to present it to Neil Armstrong? 

You get the point. And if you do, then you understand how TigerBlog felt Saturday morning, when he was able to present one of his books on the first 50 years of women's athletics at Princeton to Billie Jean King.

During the week TB told a few people that he'd be giving his book to, in his words, "the most famous woman athlete of all time." Every single person responded quicky: "Billie Jean King?"

They all said it in a way that might as well have been: "Billy Jean King. Is there anyone else it could be?"

The answer, of course, is no. There has never been anyone who did more to advance the cause of women's athletics and women's athletic equality than Billie Jean King did back in the 1970s. And then there she was, the icon of women's athletics icons, at Princeton Saturday for the Princeton-Dartmouth field hockey game.

The short story is that she is a family friend of one of the players and she said she'd come to a game at some point. That point was Saturday.

She arrived slightly after 11 and met with the Tigers in one of the team rooms at Class of 1952 Stadium. She spoke for about 20 minutes, and were it not for that pesky game that had to be played, she could have talked for hours and never had anyone complain.

As she spoke, TB looked around the room and saw something that is a rarity these days. Not a soul was on her phone. Everyone was at attention, completely engrossed in what she was saying. She has amazing presence, for sure.

And what did she say?

She exhorted them to be in the moment. She asked them to think about a time they were "in the zone" and what that was like for them. She quizzed them on Title IX. She talked about her own career as an athlete, how she'd never heard of tennis until someone in fifth grade asked her to play and she said "what is that?"

She talked about teachers who made a huge difference on her back when she grew up in California. She mentioned how her parents had never asked her or her brother (Randy Moffitt, who pitched for 11 years in the Major Leagues with the Giants, Astros and Blue Jays) if they won or how their games went; they'd ask them how their day went and then let them tell them if they wanted.

As for Princeton field hockey, she asked about team culture. What is leadership? Are your team values clearly established?

More than anything, she left them with two of her philosophies: "Pressure is a privilege" and "Champions adjust." 

As she spoke, TB considered what a team comprised entirely of players born in the 21st century knew about Billie Jean King and what her impact had been on them. Whether they knew it or not, that impact was immense.

After she left, she went into the stands to watch the game. TB has no idea how many pictures she posed for, but there were a lot of them. 

Siobhan Devlin, the color commentator on ESPN+ for Princeton field hockey, wanted to meet her. A former athlete and coach and currently an official, Devlin referred to King as her "idol." She wanted to get a picture with her that she sprinted down at halftime and then sprinted back up the stands to the press box. When she got back, she was out of breath but beaming at the picture, and how nice she'd been about it.

Of course, TB was one of the people who asked to get a picture with her, and of course she obliged, just as she had for everyone else there. They had about a minute or so to talk, and she seemed genuinely interested in his book. 

The title of his book is "I Can Do Anything," which refers to the Helen Reddy song that was, along with King's win over Bobby Riggs in what was known as "The Battle of the Sexes," the most important mileposts of the women's movement. Before he gave the book to Tiger head coach Carla Tagliente to give to King along with a few other team gifts, TB wrote this in it: "To Billie Jean King, who opened the door to allow so many to walk through and show that she truly could do anything."

TB told her that as he researched it, almost every former Princeton athlete he spoke to who competed at Princeton in the 1970s or early 1980s referenced her in one way or another. She appeared to be flattered, and a bit embarrassed.

Now she's 78 years old. She walked slowly. She smiled easily. She loved talking to the players, and to anyone who came up to her. In all that time she never once talked about her own pro tennis career or took any of the credit for the movement that she inspired.

She didn't have to, of course. 

When you're the greatest, everyone already knows it.