a moment i'm back again and introduce jane the president of the resident council here the tennis association jane if you would come up and have a few words welcome . dear friends. i'm jane and i'm the president of the rosa parks association and we are all here to date.

associate on -- ombudsman office at pbs. aarp bulletin. jane, general assignment reporter, nbc 4. john, chairman of the board and president of the u.s. tennis association. allison fitzgerald, freelance journalist, chairwoman of the speaker's attorney. i am going to skip our speaker for just a moment. dinah, reporter for "usa today," 2009 national press club president and the speaker's committee member who organized today's luncheon. david hag erty, first vice president, usta. kevin, u.s. navy retired, national press club member who serbs as the advocacy committee and military outreach. and larry bivens. thank you all. [applause] on september 20, 1973, the world watched as billie jean king stepped onto the tennis court in houston to face bobby riggs, then one of the greatest tennis stars. in the leadup to the event, riggs had posted of his -- hosted his tennis prowess. he called female tennis players inferior. indeed it was but not in the way riggs thought. just a year earlier congress had passed title 9, mandating equality at schools and universities that received federal funding. but the benefits had not yet reached women's athletics. in 1