Billie Jean
King Becomes Team Owner
Sports icon and World TeamTennis co-founder Billie Jean King is
the first woman owner of a Professional Bowlers Association League
team.
PBA Commissioner Tom Clark announced that King, the winner of 39
Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed doubles tennis titles, including a
record 20 championships at Wimbledon, will be the owner of the New York City
WTT KingPins which includes franchise player and PBA Hall of Famer Pete
Weber, 13-time Tour winner Tommy Jones, 2010-11 Rookie of the Year Scott
Norton,two-time Tour winner Jack Jurek, John Szczerbinski and supplemental
pick Brad Angelo.
"The model for the Professional Bowlers Association League
closely matches the format of World TeamTennis, my core business,” said King.
“I am a big believer in the team concept and excited this is definitely
not your typical bowling league. It’s new, it’s groundbreaking and it
is definitely going to be competitive.”
King joins Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul, former
Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl champion running back Jerome Bettis, former NFL
all-pro receiver Terrell Owens, actor/comedian Kevin Hart, comedian Chris
Hardwick, and Pittsburgh Steelers all-pro linebacker LaMarr Woodley as owners in
the ESPN-televised PBA League which debuts as part of the PBA Detroit
Winter Swing Jan. 19-27 at Thunderbowl Lanes in the Detroit suburb of Allen
Park, Mich.
“Billie Jean is an icon, a transcendent figure not only in sports
history but American history and bringing her competitive spirit, ideals for
sport and brilliant mind to our new professional bowling league as a team
owner is a very proud moment for everyone at the PBA," said Clark. "While we
know the League will benefit from her presence, the other teams should also
be well aware that above all else, she is in this to win it."
ESPN will televise five weeks of PBA League competition beginning
Sunday, Jan. 27, plus the PBA League Elias Cup finals in April. The
celebrity owners will not compete on the lanes as part of official PBA
League competition.
During the first four days of the Detroit Winter Swing, the PBA
will conduct a series of open-field tournaments (the Carmen Salvino
Classic, Mark Roth Classic, Don Carter Classic and Earl Anthony
Players Championship). Those four events will award individual PBA Tour titles
and the qualifying scores posted by each PBAL team member will be combined
to produce the team qualifying scores for the ESPN telecasts. All PBAL
matches on ESPN will be Baker Format matches, where each team member will bowl
two
frames in each game.
For a Detroit Winter Swing schedule click on PBA
Tour schedule http://www.pba.com/Tournaments/PBATour/
This year will mark the 40th anniversary of
King’s historic match against Bobby Riggs and the 40th anniversary of her
founding of the Women’s Tennis Association. King also founded the Women’s Sports
Foundation in 1974.
King is also the owner of the Philadelphia
Freedoms, one of the professional teams in Mylan World TeamTennis. She
co-founded the league, which showcases the best in professional team tennis
competition playing an innovative team format based on a concept of gender
equity.
In 2009 King was awarded the Presidential Medal
of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. She was the first female
athlete to receive that honor which was presented to her at the White House by
President Obama. In 1990 Life Magazine named her one of the "100 Most Important
Americans of the 20th Century."
Currently she serves on the boards of the
Women’s Sports Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
Billie Jean King
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