Billie Jean King, the world’s most beloved tennis champion would have never picked up a racquet had it not been for an invitation from a friend and free instruction at the city park.

“I had my first instruction from Clyde Walker at Houghton Park,” says King, who celebrates her 65th birthday on November 22. “Without (Long Beach City Parks and Recreation) giving free instruction, I never would have been a tennis player, I owe so much to Long Beach. Without the city parks, Long Beach tennis patrons, Long Beach Century Club, Harold Guiver and Clyde Walker, I would not have made it. You don’t do it alone, you do it because others help you and believe in you. All the stars got into alignment for me.”

During a telephone interview from her home in New York City, talking with King, who inspired the number one Elton John song, “Philadelphia Freedom,” is more like a chat with a cherished friend than an interview with an international icon. Her vitality and warmth is infectious and makes you realize her demeanor is more “living” than the “legend” that was named one of Life magazine’s 100 most important people of the twentieth century.

In Mrs. Delph’s fifth grade classroom at Los Cerritos Elementary School, King sat next to Susan Williams, whose father had just been transferred from New York. Sharing a love for sports, the two became fast friends. Williams invited King to play tennis at the Virginia Country Club.

Playing team sports all her life with her brother Randy, who became a professional baseball player, King was not familiar with tennis. She wanted to try the game because she got to hit a ball and jump. Another synchronicity connected when her softball coach at Houghton Park mentioned the city offered free tennis instruction on Tuesdays.

“I lit up like a Christmas Tree,” says King. “That’s how I started playing tennis.”

Musing that she literally grew up on the “wrong side of the tracks,” King remembers walking under railroad tracks on the way to attend elementary school. Her parents required that the 11-year-old earn the money for her first tennis racquet to prove how much she wanted to play. She saved $8 from odd jobs and selling bubble gum at a half-cent profit to buy her racquet with maroon strings from Brown’s Sporting Goods on Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach.

King later told her mother that she would someday be the number one tennis player in the world. Betty Moffit dismissed the notion as “nice” and reminded her daughter she had homework to complete and a piano lesson to practice. Decades later, King says she felt “relief” to have won Wimbledon. She would go on to win the tournament 20 times.

“I was excited to win for one second, then it was just relief,” says King. “It’s really the journey that got me there that I take pride in.”

When King attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, there were few competitive athletic teams for girls. She recalls that the principal wouldn’t allow her to miss school to attend a tennis match in Los Angeles, even though she had good grades. She got a zero for missing that half-day, even though the boys’ basketball and football teams were permitted to skip school for games.

“I tried to explain what tennis was going to do for me as a human being, and it would not compute,” says King. “ I went anyway because I would only miss two classes. I got a zero, which is worse than an F.”

Without missing a beat, King interjects how much she loves “Poly,” the affectionate nickname for her alma mater. Famous for it’s world-class athletes, Long Beach’s flagship high school is the “Home of Scholars and Champions.”

Crossing the threshold of the school, you are greeted by two messages: “Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve” and “Scholars and Champions.” Those mottos still inspire King.

“I saw those (slogans) every day and I loved them,” says King. “I loved that scholars was before champions and champions can mean champions in life. I looked at those every single day and thought about them.”

The queen of the court lived up to her high school motto. King is an undisputed champion, winning 39 Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed doubles tennis titles, including a record 20 titles at Wimbledon. She is the only woman to win the U.S. singles title on four surfaces—grass, clay, carpet and hard courts. Her excellence was recognized in 2003 when she was one of six inaugural inductees into the Court of Fame at the USTA National Tennis Center.

King paved the way for equality and financial fairness in sports. She was one of nine players who revolted against the tennis establishment and accepted $1 contracts from tennis promoter Gladys Heldman. Their rebellion led to the inception of women’s professional tennis and the formation of the Virginia Slims Tour and Women’s Tennis Association.

“Men and women working together having equal contribution to the team effort and on an equal playing field,” says King of her life philosophy that inspires her vision and activism for equality. “I want a little girl or little boy to see men and women working together, both in supportive and leading roles.”

The crowning jewel came in 1973, when King hit a grand-slam for equality and the women’s rights movement. By defeating Riggs, a former Wimbledon men’s champion, in the “Battle of the Sexes,” she earned her place in history for empowering women and educating men.

This August, she released her eighth book, Pressure is a Privilege: Lessons I’ve learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes, about the life lessons that helped her win that historic match against Riggs.

“My parents (Bill and Betty Moffit) and brother (Randy) gave me great principles to live my life by,” says King about the inspiration for her most recent book. “I dedicated my book to them.”

King led the crusade to ensure equal prize money for men and women in the U.S. Open. Prior to her victory in 1973, women won only 37.5 percent of what men were paid. Several years later, the Australian Open offered equal spoils. It was only last year that Wimbledon and The French Open bestowed equal prize money.

In 1971, King’s financial success set the record. Winning $117,000 in prize money, she was the first female athlete in any sport to earn more than $100,000 in a single season.

Now she has more marketing partnerships than at any other time in her career. She currently appears in print and television advertising campaigns for Merrill Lynch, Geico and NutriSystem. She also addresses public and private audiences presenting motivational speeches.

“We have come a long way, but we have a long way to go,” says King, who was the first woman to have a major sports venue, the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, named in her honor in 2006. “Another thing that really gets me crazy is when women do anything it’s just for women, but when men do something it’s for everyone. People come up to me and say thanks for what you’ve done for women’s tennis. They would never go up to a guy and say thanks for what you’ve done for men’s tennis. I fought for pro tennis for both genders.”

At seven years old, while washing dishes with her mother, King was flooded with the notion that she would someday do something great. A year after her victory over Riggs, she founded the Women’s Sports Foundation that has awarded more than $50 million to promote females’ participation and leadership in athletics. An international champion and tireless advocate for equality, King’s legacy has exceeded her greatest childhood expectations.