Billie Jean King and 100 athletes to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her Women's Sports Foundation

NEW YORK (AP) — Billie Jean King started the Women’s Sports Foundation with a $5,000 check.

She’s turned that investment into $100 million and a half century of helping girls and women achieve their dreams through travel and training grants, local sports programs and mentoring athletes and coaches.

King will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the foundation by honoring the 1999 U.S. women’s World Cup champions, PWHL and Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter and the 2024 WNBA rookie class on Wednesday night in New York.

“What makes me happy is creating opportunities and dreams for others,” King told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “I look back and that’s what drives me.”

Nearly 100 female athletes will attend the awards dinner to celebrate the milestone and King, a tireless advocate for equal pay and more investment in women’s sports.

That includes awards host and soccer honoree Julie Foudy. She graduated from Stanford and played for the 1999 U.S. soccer team that won the World Cup before a record crowd of more than 90,000 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

“She’s remained a friend and mentor and such a catalyst for changing the trajectory of women’s soccer and so many sports,” said Foudy, a former president of the Women’s Sports Foundation and current soccer broadcaster for Turner and TNT.

After the World Cup win, Foudy and the team turned to King, Donna Lopiano and Donna de Verona for advice about improving pay and starting a professional soccer league.

“I’ll never forget, (King) said ‘What are you guys doing about it?’” said Foudy, regarding their collective leverage with the U.S. Soccer Federation. “And as players, that was the exact epiphany we needed at that moment.”

Foudy and the ’99ers eventually witnessed the successful struggle toward equity, helping lay the foundation for the current U.S. women’s national team to receive the same pay and working conditions as the men’s team. A players’ lawsuit against the federation resulted in a landmark $24 million settlement in 2022.

“Billie doesn’t have just one meeting. She’d check in and follow up and ask ‘What do you need?’” Foudy said. “She was at that first (WUSA professional) game in Washington D.C. (in 2001) and was a big proponent of the importance of having a league and player pool for the longevity and growth of women’s soccer.”

The current iteration is the NWSL, which formed in 2013 and now has 14 teams. Foudy is part of the ownership group of Angel City FC. New owners Bob Iger and Willow Bay acquired a controlling stake in the team in July, with a value of $250 million.

King recently joined forces with Mark and Kimba Walter to create the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), which will launch its second season in late November. U.S. Olympic gold medalist Kendall Coyne Schofield reached out to King to help unify the fractured pro hockey landscape into one viable league. King, who is part of the Dodgers' ownership group, collaborated with Walter to form the new six-team league.

The WNBA rookie class, led by No. 1 pick Caitlin Clark, will receive the Next Gen Award for “showing up, showing out and boldly carrying the torch forward.” The popularity of Indiana’s Clark and Chicago’s Angel Reese generated unprecedented WNBA attendance, more nationally televised games and record-breaking TV ratings this summer.

“Caitlin Clark is fantastic,” King said. “It reminds me of Chris Evert in 1971, when she changed everything at the U.S Open. Anytime a player can do well, she helps everybody.”

The rookie class includes Cameron Brink (Stanford), Kamilla Cardoso (NCAA champion South Carolina), Rickea Jackson (Tennessee), Jacy Sheldon (Ohio State), Aaliyah Edwards (UConn), Reese (LSU) and Alissa Pili (Utah).

The WNBA lags in pay equity, with Clark receiving only $76,000 in her rookie season compared to the NBA No. 1 pick, who gets $12 million. WNBA players may see an increase in salary in 2026 from a new 11-year media rights deal for approximately $200 million a year ahead of the next collective bargaining agreement. The players’ union is interested in increasing the WNBA revenue share from 9.3%, while NBA players receive about 50% of the money generated from TV deals, ticket sales, merchandise and licensing.

King says it may take more time to close the pay gaps because women’s sports is "still in its infancy.”

“The NBA is 78 years old, the WNBA is 28 years old,” King said. “(Former NBA Commissioner) David Stern made a huge difference, he was a marketing genius. We need to continue to do that for women’s sports.”

King and the ‘Original Nine’ helped market the early women's professional tennis circuit, and she formed the WTA with players a week before Wimbledon in 1973. She advocated for Title IX, beat Bobby Riggs and fought for equal prize money in tennis. In between, she won 39 Grand Slam titles during her career.

The next milestone for the 80-year-old King will be receiving the Congressional Gold Medal. It's one of the highest U.S. civilian honors for individuals whose achievements have a lasting impact on their field.

“The Women’s Sports Foundation, nobody knew how long it would last,” she said. “I look at the 50th anniversary as a continuation to create more opportunities. You can’t let up.”

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

FILE - Julie Foudy poses at the Women's Sports Foundation's Annual Salute to Women in Sports, Oct. 12, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Mark Walter speaks during a news conference in Los Angeles on Sept. 21, 2018. AP Photo/Alex Gallardo, File)

Tennis great Billie Jean King smiles as she is introduced as grand marshal of the 136th Rose Parade next year on the front steps of the Tournament House in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Tennis great Billie Jean King speaks after being introduced as grand marshal of the 136th Rose Parade next year on the front steps of the Tournament House in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota school district has banned a police officer from working as a substitute teacher after a series of “racially harmful” actions that officials say included putting a student on the ground for a reenactment of the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer.

The staffing agency that placed him at Woodbury High School said Wednesday that he also no longer works for them.

The man was serving as a substitute English teacher on Monday when he told students in four separate 10th and 12th grade classes that they might want to hear about his life as a police officer, school officials said in a letter to students, families and staff.

Besides the re-enactment of the actions that led to the death of George Floyd, students also complained that the substitute teacher “repeatedly made racially harmful comments,” “told sexist jokes," “spoke in disturbing detail about dead bodies he had seen,” said “cops would be the best criminals” because “they know how to get away with stuff,” and “stated that police brutality isn't real,” according to the letter.

The letter was signed by the principal of Woodbury High School and the superintendent and assistant superintendent of the South Washington County Schools district. It said the man is now prohibited from setting foot on district property. They also said they reported the incident to the Minnesota Department of Education, the state teacher licensing board and the Woodbury Police Department.

Floyd died after a white officer pinned his neck to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes despite the Black man's dying pleas of “I can't breathe.” Children were among the concerned witnesses, including a teen who captured the incident on a video widely viewed on social media. The officer, Derek Chauvin, was convicted of murder. Floyd's death touched off protests that sometimes turned violent, testing the leadership of Gov. Tim Walz at one of the state’s most consequential moments, and sparking a nationwide reckoning over racial discrimination and police misconduct.

“I specifically want to acknowledge racial harm that occurred when the substitute teacher reenacted the prone restraint that resulted in the murder of George Floyd,” Principal Sarah Sorenson-Wanger wrote.

“This reported behavior is reprehensible. I am embarrassed, and I am sorry this happened to our students. We will take as much time as students need to listen and create open space for courageous conversations that lead to healing, action and education. The reported actions are not, and will not, be tolerated at Woodbury High School or in South Washington County Schools,” the principal wrote.

The man was not identified in the letter, but it said he is not a police officer in Minnesota. Woodbury is a suburb southeast of St. Paul, and the eastern suburbs of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area extend into western Wisconsin.

The substitute was hired through Teachers on Call, a staffing agency that's part of the national Kelly Education employment network. The company said the man passed comprehensive background checks before he was placed.

“The actions of this individual were unacceptable, and the substitute teacher is no longer an employee of Teachers on Call," company spokesperson Danielle Nixon said in a statement. “We recognize the significant public trust placed in us to ensure our substitute educators maintain a safe learning environment. We have a zero-tolerance policy for any form of violent, aggressive, or harmful behavior.”

Citing the ongoing investigation, she added that Teachers on Call is not releasing any additional information on its former employee.

Woodbury Police Chief Jason Posel said in a statement Wednesday that his department is “disturbed by the preliminary information of what occurred” and will investigate this incident to the fullest extent, while showing compassion to the students impacted.”

A police spokesman, Cmdr. Tom Ehrenberg, said officials didn't know yet which law enforcement agency employs the substitute teacher.

The principal did not immediately return a message seeking further details Wednesday. The superintendent's office referred a call to the district spokesperson, who did not immediately return a message either.

Department of Education spokesperson Anna Kurth said in an email that the state agency has been in contact with the district to offer resources to students, families and staff, but that under privacy laws it can't confirm or deny the receipt of any report or investigation of alleged maltreatment of minors.

The South Washington County Schools district says it serves about 18,700 students at 25 schools in seven communities. It says 37% of its students identify as a race other than white.

FILE - Antonio Jenkins paints a mural of George Floyd at the site where he was murdered by a police officer in 2020 at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis, May 25, 2024. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP, File)