By all accounts the late Bobby Riggs was a hustler, the kind
of guy who was neither above throwing a tennis match nor taking it to the
grave. Given what the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match symbolically meant to our
society we seemed to be alarmed by this despite claiming we’ve “matured” as a
country. As a proud father of a beautiful young woman I could care less if the
match was (unbeknownst to King) “fixed”;
there are far more egregious crimes that have over time led to unintended
positive outcomes- like the original eugenics based aims of Planned Parenthood
for example. The only thing I find disturbing is how adamant and defiant King
is all these years later, as if the revelation would somehow erase the irrefutable
progress women have made as a result of this landmark event. Her response is so
naïve that it serves as a primer in what wrestlers used to call “living the
bit” and King dare I say is taking her
role as female trailblazer to extreme levels of tunnel vision. So, in the
spirit of history and as a little education for my feminist friends who may not
be so aware of the Organized Crime resume allow me to present a few of the Mobs
“Greatest Hits”.
At the time of “The Battle of the Sexes” the Mob controlled most
aspects of human activity in this country through the takeover of unions. In
fact you couldn’t do anything in New York including building a skyscraper
without paying a Mob Tax. Even the tennis outfit on Kings back had to be
transported somewhere, and the Mob controlled the trucking via the garment
district. If they chose to squeeze the manufacturer of Kings Garments she
wouldn’t receive them no matter how much she was able to pay or the apparel
company that endorsed her. All illegal gambling was still being controlled by
the mob in 73’, and they probably had their tentacles into the unions of the
cameramen who recorded the event. The Chicago Mob shut down the movie industry
back in the 40’s by way of union, and even Francis Ford Coppola ceded editorial
approval to gangsters when making “The Godfather” only 2 years before your
match. That’s right Billie; if Vinnie in Yonkers isn’t satisfied with a
kickback the event never happens, and maybe Title 9 is pushed backed 5 years.
In fact if certain factions of the Mob wanted you to play the match in Sinatra’s
backyard we’d have timeless footage of “Ole Blue Eyes” serenading you with “The
Lady is a Tramp” after the match. Your selling them short if you think they
couldn’t fix a tennis match in 1973 especially one involving a compulsive
gambler who ended up working at the Tropicana ( A Vegas Mob joint) when he
couldn’t swing a racket anymore.
The Mob was commissioned during World War Two to protect the
New York Harbor from the Germans, imagine the most powerful country in the
world needed Lucky Luciano- a guy already in Prison for “Compulsory
Prostitution” to flex his street muscle on the waterfront. The Mob also had
boots on ground in the “Bay of Pigs” because they lost millions in Cuba when Castro
took over; do they teach this history to tennis prodigies? Santo Traficante and
Carlos Marcello (mentioned in ESPN’s Outside the Lines piece) are alleged to
have had an interest in killing President Kennedy due to that “Bay of Pigs”
fiasco and Bobby Kennedy’s dogged persecution of Mob bosses. They also succeeded
in “whacking” Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in 1938 and he was sitting next to
President Roosevelt when they did it! By lone “nut” of course, your match was
just another easy score Billie- not even outside of the realm of “daily chores”.
They are rumored to have fixed the elections of 1948 (Dewey
Defeats Truman!) and 1960 so fixing a tennis match is not a problem. The
Organization worked on the outer fringes of the criminal world and worked with
the CIA for the better part of your life Billie, don’t think for one minute
that what you were doing for women was too “big” for men who have taken aim at
Political figures foreign and domestic.
But let’s get back to Sports.
Ever heard of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal? Who do you think
fixed that series? Arnold Rothstein, the Godfather of illegal gambling-also a
man who viewed athletes as “rubes”. The ran the “action” in horseracing and
often fed J Edgar Hoover “winners” that he gladly cashed in at the ticket
booth, later he would stalk any movement pushing for civil rights. What about
that little 1951 College Basketball point shaving scandal that entangled Adolph
Rupp’s “holier than thou” Kentucky basketball machine?- ask Connie Hawkins if
the mob was prevalent in sports during your time. The Mob ran Boxing when Don
King was in diapers (or jail) from the 1930’s through the rise of Cassius Clay-
I’m sure you were old enough to remember when “The Greatest” knocked Sonny
Liston loopy with a slap to the head. Unlike you he had the termerity to yell
"Get up you bum, aint nobody gonna believe this!”
Sonny Liston didn’t even get a shot at the title until he was
well past his prime, he was a union leg breaker for the same kind of men who
wouldn’t give a rats ass about the social implications of your tennis match Ms.
King. In 1960 the Senate Subcommittee convened an investigation into Boxing and
determined Liston should severe ties with the Mob, and they still may have
fixed both of his fights with Ali- someone we’ll talk about 100 years from now.
If you were “in” to these guys as Bobby “The Happy Hustler” Riggs was the
impetus would be to get out of the red before something bad happened, something
a lot of sheltered, self-congratulatory hippies don’t understand.
I only hope this little primer can enlighten and serve as a
little slice of reality to those who are so “cause” oriented they lose track of
harsh truths that will never be changed. Bad men sometimes profit from much
needed social change, in fact they often fund it for ulterior gains. The
Prophets of the 60’s and 70’s were merely human; many of them were brave but
were too young and powerless to control the swirling corruption that surrounded
them.
If Gloria Steinem can cash a CIA check Billie Jean King can
be victim of a gambling coup, the bottom line is my daughter is better for both
women having “done their thing”. Ms. King you should be contented in the fruits
of the game not the game itself, because without the game the world would be a
much different place for millions of women. You my dear are unforgettable, and the
shadowy men who may have impacted that particular event are relegated to
Biography Channel documentaries and hackneyed Mob movies. History is written by
the winners, but we no longer have to blindly take their words as truth, isn’t
that what your generation was about? Your victory was much bigger in the prism
of history but in 1973 the Mafia was “King”- accept your long-term contribution
with the grace and dignity the manicured greens of tennis enforce, you have
nothing to be ashamed of Billie.
Love, Set, Match….King
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