With the Sept. 29 opening of "Battle of the Sexes" — the movie starring Emma Stone and Steve Carrell about Billie Jean King's landmark 1973 tennis win over Bobby Riggs — we thought there might be renewed interest in this 2013 Peter Jamison story from the Tampa Bay Times.
The story references an ESPN.com report exploring allegations by a former assistant pro at the Palma Ceia Golf & Country Club in South Tampa that Riggs threw the match because he was indebted to the mob.
Some familiar with the history of the Florida mob expressed skepticism with the report.
Read the story below and decide for yourself:
TAMPA — A new chapter was written in the ever-expanding history of Florida's underworld when ESPN.com published a lengthy article Sunday exploring allegations that former tennis champion Bobby Riggs threw his famed match against Billie Jean King — the 1973 "Battle of the Sexes" — as part of a deal with the mob.
The story by veteran investigative journalist Don Van Natta Jr. was pinned to the curious recollections of Hal Shaw, a 78-year-old Tampa resident who said he worked at the Palma Ceia Golf & Country Club in the 1970s. Shaw asserted in the article that while working late one night, he overheard mob lawyer Frank Ragano and bosses Santo Trafficante Jr. and Carlos Marcello discussing Riggs' plan to go in the tank.
Shaw's story — which he told Van Natta he kept secret for four decades out of fear of reprisals from the mob but has now decided to reveal to "set the record straight" — is titillating, implying that King's vaunted victory in 1973 wasn't on the level.