Althea Gibson
Broke tennis's color line as the first Black player at the U.S. Nationals and Wimbledon, then won back-to-back Wimbledon titles in 1957 and 1958. Later became the first Black woman on the LPGA Tour.
Series
The Door
We kept running into the same pattern while researching women's sports history: a door gets slammed, and the women who changed things either force it open, find another one, or build a new one entirely. So we made a series about them. Every player in every league we cover walked through a door one of these women opened.
Key takeaways
- The Door is our two-part series on the women who forced women's sports open: a door gets slammed, and they force it open, find another one, or build a new one.
- Part one covers Althea Gibson, Wilma Rudolph, Patsy Mink, Billie Jean King and Donna Lopiano, the pioneers of the mid-20th century.
- Part two covers Ann Meyers Drysdale, Lisa Leslie, Venus Williams, Megan Rapinoe and Simone Biles, and ends with Caitlin Clark.
- The through line runs from Title IX's 37 words in 1972 to the leagues and salaries we cover every week.
Part one: the pioneers
Episode 13 covers five women across three chapters, from the 1950s to the birth of Title IX.
Wilma Rudolph
Overcame childhood polio to win three gold medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics, the first American woman to do it at a single Games, then refused to attend a segregated homecoming.
Patsy Mink
The first woman of color elected to Congress, and the champion of the 37 words of Title IX, the law that built the pipeline behind every league we cover.
Billie Jean King
Co-founded the WTA in 1973, beat Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes in front of 90 million viewers, and pushed the U.S. Open to become the first Grand Slam with equal prize money.
Donna Lopiano
Grew the University of Texas women's athletic budget from $57,000 to over $4 million in 18 years and won 18 national championships, proof of what happens when women's programs are funded.
Part two: the doors they kicked open
Episode 26 moves into more recent history, names a lot more of you will recognize.
Ann Meyers Drysdale
The first woman to get a full athletic scholarship at UCLA, and in 1979 the first woman to sign an NBA free-agent contract, with the Indiana Pacers, before a pioneering broadcasting career.
Lisa Leslie
Chose the WNBA's inaugural 1997 season over better-paying offers overseas, then won three MVPs, two titles, four Olympic golds, and dunked the league's first dunk in 2002.
Venus Williams
Her 2006 op-ed on prize money helped push Wimbledon to pay men and women equally starting in 2007.
Megan Rapinoe
Helped make the USWNT's equal pay fight public, which ended in a $24 million settlement with U.S. Soccer in 2022.
Simone Biles
Withdrew in Tokyo citing the twisties, then returned in Paris to win three golds, reframing what it means for athletes to set boundaries.
Caitlin Clark
Part two ends with her impact: in her rookie season, Indiana Fever home attendance rose from under 5,000 to over 17,000 a game, standing on the foundation the rest of this list built.
Why we made it
Most of our episodes follow the week's news. These two don't. The revenue numbers and record crowds we talk about now are the compounding result of the fights in these stories, and they land differently once you know them. If you came to women's sports recently, this is the backstory. For more on how that history turned into today's industry, see our business & history coverage and the $3 billion moment episode.
Listen to the series
Frequently asked questions
What is The Door on Raising the Game?
A two-part series on women's sports pioneers, told through the metaphor of doors: the barriers each athlete faced and how she forced them open. There's no news roundup in either episode, just the stories.
Who is covered in The Door?
Part one: Althea Gibson, Wilma Rudolph, Patsy Mink, Billie Jean King and Donna Lopiano. Part two: Ann Meyers Drysdale, Lisa Leslie, Venus Williams, Megan Rapinoe and Simone Biles, closing with Caitlin Clark's impact on the WNBA.
Where can I listen to The Door?
Both episodes are on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube, and each has a full written recap and transcript on this site.
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