.Sep 17, 2024, 09:18 PM ETWASHINGTON-- Billie Jean Master will certainly end up being the first personal females's sportsmen to become awarded the Legislative Gold Medal.Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Shirt announced Tuesday that their bipartisan legislation had passed our home of Panels as well as would certainly be actually sent out to President Joe Biden for his signature.The costs to recognize Master, the ping pong Hallway of Famer and also lobbyist, had actually already passed with one voice in the Senate.Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that King's "life time of proposal and also effort altered the garden for females as well as ladies on the courthouse, in the classroom, as well as the workplace." The expense was launched in September 2023 on the 50th anniversary of Master's victory over Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes," still the most-watched tennis match of all time. The award, awarded through Congress for recognized accomplishments and also payments to culture, has actually formerly been actually provided to athletes, featuring pitcher Jackie Robinson as well as Roberto Clemente as well as golf enthusiasts Port Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and also Arnold Palmer.King had already been actually rewarded the Governmental Award of Independence in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican politician, mentions she possesses "defective obstacles, led undiscovered pathways, and motivated countless folks to stand up happily along with nerve and view in the fight for what corrects.".