Full Name Lawrence King Role Attorney Name Larry King | Children Sky King
Katie King Occupation Attorney | |
Born January 30, 1945 (age 79) ( 1945-01-30 ) Dayton, Ohio, U.S. Residence Grass Valley, California, U.S. Known for Founder of World Team Tennis Spouse Billie Jean King (m. 1965–1987) Marriage location Long Beach, California, United States Organizations founded World TeamTennis, Women's Tennis Association Similar People Billie Jean King, Ilana Kloss, Dennis Murphy, Goldie Hawn, Matt Letscher | ||
Lawrence "Larry" King (born January 30, 1945) is an attorney, a real estate broker, a promoter, one of the founders of World Team Tennis, and the former husband of tennis star Billie Jean King.
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Early life
King was born in Dayton, Ohio, and raised in Eagle Rock, California.
Personal life
He met Billie Jean Moffitt at California State University, Los Angeles in 1963, when he played on one of the schools best men's tennis teams, coached by Scotty Deeds. He married Billie Jean Moffitt on September 17, 1965 in Long Beach, California. In 1971, Larry King conceived the idea of a professional tennis tour for women and helped organize a group of eight top women players: Billie Jean King, Rosie Casals, Judy Dalton, Julie Heldman, Kerry Melville, Kristy Pigeon, Nancy Richey, and Valerie Ziegenfuss. He obtained the backing of Gladys Heldman of World Tennis magazine and Joe Cullman of Philip Morris, and the Virginia Slims pro circuit was started. In 1973, King along with Dennis Murphy, Jordan Kaiser and Fred Barman, developed the concept of World Team Tennis, and started the league the following year. Also in 1971, Billie had an abortion that was made public in a Ms. magazine article. Larry had revealed Billie Jean's abortion without consulting her. In 1976, King invented a smokeless ashtray, called The Clean Air King. Billie Jean became the major owner of World Team Tennis in 1984. Larry and Billie Jean King divorced in 1987.
When Larry and Billie Jean lived in San Mateo, California, they became close personal friends with Charles Schulz, creator of the cartoon Peanuts, along with his wife, Jean. They played tennis in Schulz' Indoor Hockey Arena in Santa Rosa with many other professional players.
King and Murphy were also founders of Roller Hockey International, a professional hockey league that operated from 1993 to 1999. Murphy had also been instrumental in the founding of the American Basketball Association and the World Hockey Association.
King is an avid duplicate bridge player. He was the founder of Bridge University to promote bridge throughout the country.
King lives in Grass Valley, California, with his wife, Nancy, and two children, Sky and Katie.