Named for the founder of the Women's Sports Foundation, the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center, located within the Sports Museum of America, allows visitors easy access to women's sports history through an interactive, multimedia sports experience.
“All of us at the Women's Sports Foundation are honored to be part of this exciting project. Our wing in the Sports Museum of America will be the only museum exhibit and hall of fame dedicated exclusively to all female athletes,” said Women's Sports Foundation founder Billie Jean King, whose memorabilia from throughout her tennis career is featured in the museum. “I am grateful to be included in a museum exhibit that recognizes both female and male athletes from a wide range of sports and all walks of life,” Other artifacts in the museum include Venus and Serena Williams' tennis apparel, Lyn St. James', Janet Guthrie's and Danica Patrick's Indy 500 racing helmets and Babe Didrikson's athletic paraphernalia from her golf, track, basketball and baseball careers.
In June, the Women's Sports Foundation will celebrate the triumph of creating this museum space by giving the 130 members of its International Women's Sports Hall of Fame a housewarming party. On June 9, the 2008 class will be inducted into the hall of fame, giving the greatest contemporary and historical figures in women's sports a chance to celebrate them and their new home. The Women's Sports Foundation started the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1980 and has been the keeper of the compelling legacies of world-class female athletes ever since.
Billie Jean King and Sheila Johnson will host this year's ceremony, inducting the 2008 Hall of Fame class, who are equally as accomplished, fascinating and inspiring as their predecessors. The Women's Sports Foundation proudly congratulates this year's inductees:
Shannon Miller gained notoriety when she became the first American gymnast to win an individual gold medal on the balance beam, in 1996, and continued in the sport to become the most decorated American gymnast, earning seven Olympic medals.
Algerian track star Hassiba Boulmerka is the first African woman to win a world championship title in long-distance running despite controversy and criticism throughout her career. Because Boulmerka competed in shorts baring her legs, she drew ire from fundamentalist Islamic groups and later admiration from Algerian women when she became the most decorated female runner in the 1,500m category.
Hisako “Chako” Higuchi was the first Japanese player to win a major championship on the LPGA Tour and a charter member of the Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association (JLPGA). In 1977, she won the LPGA Championship, a victory that prompted a ticker-tape parade in Tokyo. To this day, Higuchi is the only Japanese player, male or female, to capture a major championship title on either the LPGA or PGA Tours.
This year's induction of Sue Enquist, one of the most notable coaches in softball, is particularly timely, as 2008 is the last year that softball will make an appearance in the Olympic Games. Softball stars Christie Ambrosi, Jennifer Brundage, Sheila Cornell Douty, Lisa Fernandez, Stacey Nuveman, Dot Richardson and Amanda Freed were all coached by Enquist during their UCLA careers.
