.Sep 17, 2024, 09:18 PM ETWASHINGTON-- Billie Jean King will certainly end up being the very first personal women's professional athlete to be awarded the Legislative Gold Medal.Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and also Mikie Sherrill of New Shirt announced Tuesday that their bipartisan regulation had passed your house of Panels and would certainly be sent out to Head of state Joe Biden for his signature.The bill to honor King, the tennis Hallway of Famer and activist, had currently passed unanimously in the Senate.Sherrill, a Democrat, mentioned in a claim that King's "life time of proposal and also hard work altered the yard for girls and also girls on the court, in the classroom, and the work environment." The bill was actually launched in September 2023 on the 50th wedding anniversary of King's success over Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes," still the most-watched ping pong suit of all time. The medal, awarded through Our lawmakers for prominent achievements as well as additions to society, has actually formerly been actually provided to sportsmens, including baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente and also golf enthusiasts Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson as well as Arnold Palmer.King had actually presently been actually awarded the Presidential Medal of Liberty in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican politician, says she possesses "busted barricades, led undiscovered pathways, and also influenced countless people to stand proudly along with tenacity and strong belief in the defend what corrects.".