Posted on 08/26/2013 6:49:21 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Jean King, Bobby Riggs an 'elaborate mob setup'
Tennis star Bobby Riggs, top, and Billie Jean King are shown in action during the "Battle of the Sexes" match in the Astrodome in Houston, on Sept. 20, 1973.
The ultimate “Battle of the Sexes” — a 1973 match between the No. 2 -ranked woman tennis player and a retired male Wimbledon champion — was rigged so Mafia bosses could cash in on the betting, a new report claims.
The incredible claims have been lobbed at the reputation of the late hard-court hustler Bobby Riggs, by one of his former country club co-workers.
Hal Shaw told ESPN that Riggs’ famous loss to Billie Jean King was orchestrated by a mob boss who the tennis icon was into for $100,000 in gambling debts.
Riggs was a retired 55-year-old champ when he lost to King, then the world’s No. 2 women’s player, on Sept. 30, 1973, in the most-hyped match in tennis history.
Riggs — who died of prostrate cancer at age 77 on Oct. 25, 1995 — artfully played the role of male chauvinist pig in the weeks before the match. King’s win subsequently became a watershed moment in the women’s lib movement.
But it was all a huge setup, according to Shaw, who was an assistant golf pro 40 years ago at the Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club in Tampa, Fla. where Riggs was also working.
Shaw said he was toiling late one night fixing golf clubs when he saw mob lawyer Frank Ragano, notorious Florida mob boss Santo Trafficante Jr. and New Orleans crime boss Carlos Marcello enter the clubhouse.
Ragano told the men that Riggs was going to “set up two matches … against the two best women players,” Shaw told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
On a sporting event!?
Never happens.
The fact is the top 1000th man could trounce the best female tennis player. Liberal sportwriters are enamored with the idea the best female athletes are almost as good as the best male athletes. The facts are in any sport you choose that relies on strength, speed, stamina, and coordination, men will come out on top.
Wonder if he had some of his own money on the game?
“Riggs first challenged Number 1 seed Margaret Court to play and he beat her very handily. I would say easily. Embarrassingly easy.”
Maybe Court threw that match, too.
If the match was fixed i don’t think King was in on it. If Riggs threw the match why would she have to be?
Since 'prostrate' cancer would be cancer of lying down, that does seem to make sense.
King would not have played unless she knew she would win. She had watched Riggs destroy Margaret Court who was better than King at the time.
There is really only motorsports where women and men compete together and sometimes the women win. Like you said strength speed stamina and coordination do not determine who wins in motorsports. That said within the realm of motorsports I can only think of one woman who did indeed beat the best men in the sport. That would be Shirley Muldowney in top fuel drag racing. She is to me an utterly unique individual.
‘Say it ain’t so Joe’
Riggs — who died of prostrate cancer
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\
Really? Prostrate cancer. Wow! That’s definitely a rare one!
It is prostate cancer.
In matters of hand-eye coordination, many women could defeat a lot of men. For instance, Annie Oakley supposedly defeated all males who tried to best her in shooting exhibitions. But in athletic contests, women are at a disadvantage. Nothing wrong with that...they sure look a lot better. However like everything else, lib journalists can’t help but try to confound nature. Apparently, a number of them think that with the right training, women will soon be competing with men in major athletic sports. It will never happen.
Agreed.
Riggs was in his mid 50’s when he played against Billie Jean King.
Would anybody ever expect to see a 29 year-old Riggs play tennis against a top ranked woman in her 50s?
How about if the sexually confused Jean King played against a top ranked male tennis player within her age range of say 25 - 35?
She would get smoked.
The fix that was in on this match is just too obvious.
The best female athlete in any sport cannot beat the number 100 male player.
In tennis venus or Serena couldn’t return a serve. Or return a shot on the volley.
Yeah, but she couldn't parallel park worth a damn.
If this is true, then it was just like all of today’s “reality shows” (I know a little, my daughter was in one.)
Very plausible story, though some details could go one way or another, like whether King was in on the scam.
For a great read on these kinds of shenanigans, read Lee Trevino’s “The Snake In The Sandtrap”. The stories about how Titanic Thompson could make three 60 foot putts in a row on a golf course putting green, and how he could throw 30 cards out of 52 into a hat placed in an adjacent room (with the door in between closed!) are worth the entire read.
Good for him. ANy one who watched the spectacle would have said it was some kind of set up....
Nothing is true; everything is permitted.
First read that in a William Burroughs book ...
Moses fell prostate before the Lord.
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