Robert Larimore "Bobby" Riggs was actually a very fine tennis player and in the late 1930s was ranked No.1 in the world. His reputation as a star of the game faded badly, however, and in 1973 at age 55, he achieved a new and, oddly, more widespread and lasting celebrity when he challenged one woman too many to a "battle of the genders" tennis match.
The colorful Riggs, who liked to gamble on tennis, including his own matches, made headlines like never before when he challenged reigning women's champ Billie Jean King. King declined, but Margaret Court agreed to play him. Riggs told the media that even the highest-ranked woman could never beat a male player. He won this Mothers Day match, after which Billie Jean King agreed to play him.
The world was watching this September 1973 match, in which King, age 30, easily beat Riggs. He was gracious in defeat, as was she in victory, and the two became very good friends from then until Riggs' death from cancer in 1995 at age 77.
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