Two Pros

In the statistics-conscious world of sport, where men patently run faster, jump higher and throw farther, women are doggedly becoming more visible and more valuable. Most of their recent, considerable gains have been in sports in which they compete among themselves, particularly tennis, golf, track and field. But some women have begun to enter the male domains of horse racing, motorcycling, and even baseball umpiring.

Two who have contributed dramatically to the growing success of women in professional athletics are Tennis Pro Billie Jean King and Jockey Robyn Smith. In 1971, at 27, Mrs. King became the first woman athlete in history to earn more than $100,000 in a year. She slammed and sliced her way to $117,000 in prize money (winning 19 tournaments) and picked up another $30,000 in endorsements. Robyn, 27, made much less last year, about $20,000. But she earned it by riding against some of the best male jockeys in the nation and winning 42 races.

Some men might be inclined to belittle these achievements on the grounds that Billie Jean might have trouble taking a set from any one of the world's top 100 male players, and that Robyn may never be another Willie Shoemaker. But those arguments really miss the point: Mrs. King and Miss Smith are, simply and sufficiently, two exceptional athletes who have managed to advance further in their chosen sports than any women before them.

At the same time, they have clearly advanced the cause of women in general. But that contribution, each is quick to point out, has been coincidental. Asserts Billie Jean: "I want to be treated as an athlete because that's what I am. I'm doing what I enjoy most and getting paid for it." Echoes Robyn: "I'm not trying to prove anything as a female jockey. I do it because I enjoy it so much, and I think people should do whatever makes them happy."

Both women have encountered difficulties and indignities because of their sex. For Billie Jean, sexist slights have often been compounded by tennis' traditional snootiness. In her first tournament, as a preteenager in Southern California, she was ordered out of a group picture because she was wearing shorts instead of a tennis dress. No one expects Robyn to wear a skirt while she is riding a horse, but her dressing facilities are inevitably second-rate; at Gulfstream Park, near Miami, she changes in the doctor's office.

Abortion Ad. Some women--and, indeed, some men--might regard Billie Jean as the personification of a liberated wife. When she was still an amateur player, she helped to pay her husband's way through law school at the University of California. These days she spends maybe 40 weeks a year traveling and playing professional tennis, while her husband, Larry, spends much of the time practicing law near their home in Berkeley. Says Billie Jean: "Larry is a very strong individual. Sometimes our situation bothers me, but it doesn't seem to bother him. I don't like it when he is introduced as Billie Jean King's husband, but then I would not like to be known just as Larry King's wife."

Last year Billie Jean was among 53 notable women who signed an ad that later appeared in the new women's magazine Ms. The ad stated that the signers had undergone abortions and urged repeal of all anti-abortion laws. In fact, Billie Jean has not had an abortion. "I wish I'd known more about that ad before I agreed to sign it," she admits. But she has not made an issue out of the erroneous impression her signature created, apparently because she so strongly believes in the right of women to have abortions if they want them. Actually, she says, she wants children and would quit the tennis circuit for good if she had a baby now. "If I become a mother," Billie Jean says, "I want to be a good mother."

Robyn, on the other hand, hardly thinks about marriage and children. A former Hollywood starlet, she is frequently asked for dates, sometimes by fellow jockeys. But she seldom goes out except for dinner with married friends. Her working schedule leaves little time for a social life: up at 5:30 a.m. to exercise horses, back home briefly to shower and change, off to the track to race and early to bed to rest.

Pet Rats. Except for an occasional game of golf, her main interest away from horse racing--and her only apparent idiosyncrasy--is caring for her three pet rats--Peanuts, Pepper and Paprika. When she travels to wherever the racing season takes her, Robyn carries the rats in a handbag; at her home on Long Island, N.Y., she keeps them in a terrarium. "They're nice to go home to," she says. "They're very tame and come when called."

Robyn began her career as a jockey three years ago in her home town of San Francisco. After six months of roughing it on half-mile tracks around the fair circuit, she decided to tackle the top tracks in New York and Florida. One trainer she impressed was Frank Wright; he had once said that he would not use a woman jockey until the Chicago Bears drafted a tight end from Vassar--and put her in their starting lineup.

Jockey Smith is not dependent on racing for an income; she graduated from Stanford with an A.B. in English. "I can always teach school for a living," she says. "But I don't want to." Neither does Billie Jean want to be simply a lawyer's wife. In the changing world of sport, they have found it possible to be the athletes they want to be.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.