Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer -- HBO - Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 10 p.m. (EDT)

One thing about historical turning points -- you often don't realize their significance until years later. During my first year of college, one of those really hyped events was aging male tennis star Bobby Riggs challenging Billie Jean King to a famous "battle of the sexes" match. This was no mere male vs. female grudge match. Riggs was a generation older than King; his challenge of King and pre-match bluster were designed to send a clear message that "boys can beat girls with their hands tied behind their backs." King, on the other hand, carried herself with dignity and let her playing speak for her. It says a lot that, although I watched the match in a packed room at an all-male school, I have no memory of trash talk about women or King specifically once the match was done and Riggs was humbled. I recall instead a kind of hushed respect for what King had done to silence the old blowhard. There are certainly lots of milestones in the women's movement, but I have to believe that moment in late 1973 represented a deeper change -- that no longer would it be considered in any way valid to suggest that merely being a man constitutes any kind of superiority over women. From that point on, preppy male college students took on renewed respect for their female counterparts.

Ok, scratch that last sentence. This match was but one small part of Billie Jean King's incredible legacy to be celebrated in Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer." King was the first female athlete to win more than $100,000 in prize money in a single season. Six years before Bobby Riggs, she was named Outstanding Female Athlete of the World. And later, Life magazine named her one of the 100 most important Americans of the 20th century. This special celebrates all of these accomplishments and more. This is not one of those cases where the term "pioneer" is overused.