” Off the Wire ” proudly sponsored by Pete’s Auto Body
With the Billie Jean King Cup tennis playoffs recently, I got thinking about Bobby Riggs and stumbled across a story I’d never heard before.
Riggs was a prominent men’s player, # 1 in the world rankings for a large portion of the 1940s.
A hustler, and reportedly a gambler, Riggs re-emerged in 1973 to play a pair of exhibition matches against top female players, Margaret Court ,and then later Billie Jean King
The suggestion was that Riggs was sexist.
The suggestion was that Riggs was trying to belittle women’s tennis.
The suggestion was that Riggs was trying to further promote the sport
And the suggestion was that Riggs was looking to turn a buck.
Whatever, in what was dubbed the ” Mother’s Day Massacre “, Riggs swept Court almost with ease 6-2 & 6-1.
After previously declining the Riggs invitation, Billie Jean King relented and accepted the challenge, facing Riggs on September 20th 1973 in the Houston Astrodome.
If you’re my age, you remember the hype and promotional leadup to the match.
Of course, I was 13 at the time, a child, and now almost 50 years later I recently read an article suggesting there was an angle being played beyond the game
The oddsmakers favored Riggs who built an early lead, but King would rally and won in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 & 6-3 grabbing the $100,000 winner-take-all prize
The allegation has arisen that Riggs took advantage of the odds against King and threw the match to get his debts to the mafia forgiven
Some connected say they heard this topic being discussed by the gangsters, while others claim Riggs was never in debt to the mob
Regardless, there’s an element of doubt and a gimmicky sporting match remains very topical almost 50 years later.