.Sep 17, 2024, 09:18 PM ETWASHINGTON-- Billie Jean Master will certainly become the 1st specific ladies's athlete to be granted the Legislative Gold Medal.Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and also Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey declared Tuesday that their bipartisan legislation had actually passed your house of Reps and would be actually sent to Head of state Joe Biden for his signature.The costs to recognize King, the tennis Hallway of Famer and protestor, had actually currently passed unanimously in the Senate.Sherrill, a Democrat, stated in a claim that King's "lifetime of campaigning for and effort altered the landscape for females as well as women on the court, in the classroom, as well as the workplace." The bill was introduced in September 2023 on the 50th wedding anniversary of Master's triumph over Bobby Riggs in the "Fight of the Sexual activities," still the most-watched tennis match of all time. The medal, rewarded by Our lawmakers for prominent achievements and payments to community, has actually recently been actually given to sportsmens, consisting of baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente and also golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.King had already been actually granted the Governmental Medal of Freedom in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, states she has "damaged barriers, led undiscovered roads, and motivated many people to stand up proudly with nerve and principle in the fight for what corrects.".